FITUG e.V. Förderverein Informationstechnik und Gesellschaft

FC: FTC wants the real identity of domain holders to be

------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Fri, 31 Mar 2000 10:05:50 -0500 To: politech@vorlon.mit.edu From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com> Subject: FC: FTC wants the real identity of domain holders to be public Copies to: mdonohue@ftc.gov Send reply to: declan@well.com

[A few thoughts: 1) Anonymous pamphleteering has a long and distinguished history in meatspace -- why should the Net be different? 2) I'm not sure why a registrar should care about valid phone number/address contact info as long as a domain is paid for; there even are services that will register a domain taking e-gold as a payment 3) The FTC is also supposedly concerned about privacy, which these requirements would not adequately protect 4) If a person setting up a controversial site has to provide his real contact info and phone number to the world, he could be subject to harrassment and other unintended results. 5) I'm not sure why the FTC should be submitting comments here apparently on behalf of all law enforcement -- if the FBI has a problem, let them complain about it directly. --Declan]

http://www.ftc.gov/os/1999/9910/icann.htm

INTERNET CORPORATION FOR ASSIGNED NAMES AND NUMBERS Public Comment Forum

Comment of the Staff of the Bureau of Consumer Protection of the Federal Trade Commission* October 29, 1999

Inquires regarding this comment may be directed to Bureau of Consumer Protection staff attorney Michael Donohue, (202) 326-3563, mdonohue@ftc.gov

We support those measures contained in the Tentative Agreements which are aimed at improving the accuracy of registration contact information, and offer two suggestions for closing possible loopholes in those measures. The first recommends domain name suspension in situations where a registrar is unable to obtain accurate contact information after a reasonable investigation. The second encourages ICANN to avoid delay in adopting a policy requiring registrars to implement reasonable verification procedures.

...

For law enforcers working to prevent Internet fraud, the problem of false domain name registration information has become an impediment to effectively identifying law violators. When accurate, the registration information publicly available on the Whois database provides an important tool for tracking down the operators of Web sites violating the law. Commission investigations are increasingly being hampered, however, by registration information that is not only false, but sometimes clearly false on its face.

...

Commission staff also supports the requirement in paragraph II(F)(1) of the Accreditation Agreement that a registrar make publicly available the essential contact information in real-time.

...

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