Privacy advocates are proposing that WHOIS, the system for identifying who owns domain names, be shutdown in order to protect people's personal information. Meanwhile, proponents of the system, which has been in place since the early days of the Web, argue that it's a useful tool for law enforcement to fight fraud and other malicious activity.
Today, domain registrars require you to enter information such as a physical address, email address, and a phone number in order to register a new domain. Under the so-called "sunset proposal," individual domain registrars such as GoDaddy and Network Solutions would be able to decide what type of information to keep on customers.
It's a tricky debate. Many domain registrars offer options for hiding your domain registration information, but I've often come across companies that don't want to do business with someone with hidden registration details, since the WHOIS records provide confirmation that you are indeed affiliated with the web site in question. However, as someone that works from home, I don't especially like the idea of having my physical address available to anyone who wants it with just a few clicks.
In any event, the proposal will be debated on Wednesday before an ICANN committee. What are your thoughts? Keep the system open, or offer more privacy options to protect domain owners?
User comment: By: meI don't want some douche bag contacting me in any way. If they just spam me online, it ain't too bad. I can simply block or ignore the jerk. But if they track me down and come to my house, I'll just kick his butt.
User comment: By: Carl JI think that it should be an option to either have your information publicly available or not. Yes, GoDaddy and a few others offer it for a small fee, however my domains aren't registered, and I don't think I should have to pay to keep my privacy (call me cheap). About a month ago I had a message on my phone from some guy who said he found a link to one of my articles on another site, but wasn't able to get to it. The message was more of a complaint than a "just thought I would let you know". He even left his phone number, email address and IM and pretty much told me to contact him when I get the service back up. I didn't call him back, and never heard from him again, but it worries me that my info is so freely available. I don't have to pay to have my phone number not listed, so why should I have to pay to have my WHOIS hidden?
User comment: By: spinIn 10yrs I've never ever entered correct information into whois and never lost any domains. Even back in the day in the UK when you were required to produce a company registration number to obtain your .co.uk I faked them. So now its fake info and the domain whois hiding services. Only an idiot (see above) would put up their personal info on the web.
User comment: By: AngelosBarring false contact information and misleading ownership titles (since when does Harry Peters own the rights to nair.com), WhoIs is an initial lead generator for both purchasing urls and challenging copyrights. Without WhoIs, I would not have received the gift of cease and desist orders for conflicting branding concerns... WhoIs could increase the fee for information, allowing the collective to hire more sleuths to varify identity. Would be interesting if the service paired with an online identity service such as Garlik, Naymz, or HonestyOnline to improve efficacy.
User comment: By: ACafourekWell, in observance of Troll Week, i say that if someone wants to look up my personal info and come creep around my apartment, I say let 'em come! I'll shove my 200GB HD up their back-end user support center! That'll teach them to touch my ICANN...I think it should be UCANNT!
User comment: By: Adam OstrowYou can always use an escrom for conducting those type of transactions though. It costs a little extra, but protects privacy and guarantees no one gets screwed.
User comment: By: Adam OstrowI have run into false info many times - email addy's that bounce, phone numbers that are disconnected, etc. It's really pretty messy all around and could use an overhaul one way or another.
User comment: By: Ian CI have both tried to hide my details, and tried to track someone down. I personally would like to see it go as i dont like having my details available online. The last time i tried to track someone down, it turned out their details were wrong and my attempts to email the contact simply bounced. I contacted the domain provider which again returned no results. If it does not work, then whats the point of it??
User comment: By: Should whois be banned? « Mr Roth's Blog[...] Read more about this here [...]
User comment: By: CountRobI do a lot of domain trading, and the whois is the only way to prove someone is telling the truth. I was on sitepoint the other day watching an auction, and some guy was trying to sell this huge site with a 450 Alexa. The guy was supposedly from the middle east, and he kept saying he wouldn't do an escrow, only direct paypal. Well, I went to the Whois and it turned out the site was owned by a company in California. If it wasn't for that information, somebody would have gotten burned. And you should realise people can still get your address very easily without the whois. Just run any phone # through a reverse lookup. Plus, for the sissies who are insecure, you can hide your name for only a few extra dollars a year.
User comment: By: Gideon GreenspanAs a heavy user of whois, I think it's really valuable to be able to trace a domain back to its original registrar. Having said that, it's extremely easy to enter false information into these fields. While doing so is against the rules, I've never heard of someone losing their domain as a result. I solved the working from home / privacy problem by using a rented P O Box as the address for the domain. I check the POB once a month or so, but of course nothing ever comes!
Visit here to subscribe to these commentsUser comment: By: ThiloI think that whois should be shut down, because I want my privacy and my name should be protected. A lot of people use services to protect their whois, so why don't then shut it down?
R|mail.