[NA-Discuss] who does the ALAC represent, was WHOIS study group

[Bret Fausett]

On Apr 15, 2008, at 3:43 PM, John Levine wrote:
> The arguments about personal privacy and Burmese freedom fighters have
> never impressed me, not because I don't think they're important, but
> because removing info from WHOIS a lousy way to address them

Funny, but you could reverse those, and you'd have my position. I  
think fighting fraud and providing consumers accurate contact data for  
the companies with which they do business are really, really  
important, but WHOIS is a lousy way to address them.

What's really interesting here is that we can agree on the ends, but  
not the means.

On Apr 15, 2008, at 11:08 AM, Brendler, Beau wrote:
>
> Oversimply stated, we are interested in seeing a compromise that would
> allow a consumer to use accurate WHOIS data to help determine the
> credibility of a Web site with which the consumer is about to do
> business....

My own sense of it is that if a website does not reveal its corporate  
name, corporate address, phone number and email address (the data  
you'd get from whois) on its own site, you'd best steer clear of it. I  
also have the feeling that consumers who have doubts about a website  
are more likely to Google the company name than to search whois. Those  
who would be inclined to use the whois are probably those who would be  
savvy enough to avoid unknown site operators altogether. If you do a  
study, this sort of consumer behavior would be something to study.

One last thought: any study should randomly select the participants.  
If you self-select, then every IP lawyer in the country will respond  
by saying, "oh yes, we use this all the time and it's of great  
utility." Do a study that can't be gamed by those with a horse in the  
race.

    -- Bret