[At-Large] Issue Report on Thick Whois

Bill Silverstein icann-list at sorehands.com
Thu Nov 24 16:48:35 UTC 2011


> * Neil Schwartzman wrote:
>> I'm wondering - for any of those who tout the privacy concerns of domain
>> owners, why you hold them in higher regard than the privacy concerns of
>> victims of spamming, phishing, malware, and identity theft, let alone
>> more egregious activities. I'm also wondering have you ever conducted
>> an abuse investigation yourselves, or i this just theoretical for you?
>
> None of us is allowed to bypass the local law, just because we like to do
> so. There were various and heated policitcal controversies for decades to
> find a balance between privacy and maintaining social order.
>
> And one of the outcomes of those debates is: Yes, privacy outlaws low
> level
> crime by default.

Lutz,
  You, and others, seem to forget that this is not a privacy issue. The
whois information is VOLUNTARILY provided as contractually required to
register a domain name. I tend to doubt the law of any country prevents
a person from VOLUNTARILY making public information in exchange for
something of perceived value.
  Karl had not disputed this, so I believe that I am correct that in the
USA and many other jurisdictions make public the ownership of real
property. Domain names are in essence the "real property" of the
internet.
  With wordpress.com, and other free and paid blogging sites there is no
requirement that one has a domain name to put forth opinions and
viewpoints.
  What do you consider low level crimes? Identity theft? child
pornography, sex slavery?




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