[NA-Discuss] Getting the WHOIS word out to users

[Ross Rader]

On 22-Oct-07, at 10:22 AM, John L wrote:

> it's really nobody else's
> business, which is why he characterizes everyone else as free riders.

Actually, its just the intellectual property types that I lump in as  
free riders. They make no net contribution to the overall framework.  
While LE, etc. don't actually contribute directly in the form of $$,  
etc. you quite rightly point out that the registration system is made  
"better" with their participation.

Unfortunately, the intellectual property crowd has co-opted law  
enforcement in this discussion, and it is impossible to disentangle  
their respective demands - the last round of discussions was  
purposely scoped to attempt to bring law enforcement et al., closer  
to the discussion so that they could speak for themselves.  
Unfortunately, the intellectual property crowd hijacked the entire  
discussion and we didn't get near the input from them that we needed  
to in order to make the compromises that might get them onside.

For instance, coming out of the Portugal meeting, we had strong  
consensus around encrypting personal data but giving law enforcement  
and other "problem solvers" access to the keys necessary to decrypt  
it. I believe this approach nicely solved for both the privacy and  
access issues. Suffice to say the intellectual property crowd didn't   
like it because they largely wouldn't qualify for the same access as  
law enforcement/anti-phish, etc.

That all said, the practical reality is that registrars continue to  
quietly work with law enforcement, anti-phish, etc. to get them the  
real data that they need to solve real problems. I suspect that this  
would continue even in the absence of Whois as the really helpful  
data that registrars and host providers have aren't covered by the  
ICANN contracts and requires an ad hoc, case by case approach in  
order to be obtained.

I predict that we will quickly find out how we can live without Whois  
when registrars start to apply for exemptions under the National Law  
policy that the board is considering. U.S. based registrars will be  
able to continue to offer Whois, but most others simply won't. We'll  
have no choice but to figure out how to work together when this happens.

 From a user perspective, this is an important development because it  
will mark the movement of control from ICANN's contracts and  
consensus policies to various national jurisdictions. Not that anyone  
is ever exempt from following their national law, but this will be  
the first time that the process has failed to find a compromise that  
allowed ICANN policy to co-exist with the various national laws that  
users and suppliers are subject to. I don't view this as a good thing  
for users in the long run. If you think that it is difficult to  
navigate the registration agreements and contracts now, wait until  
the extra dimension of national law considerations comes into play in  
a real way.

-ross