John L wrote:
2) WHOIS WHOIS should not be a publicly available database.
Registering a domain is not a license for registrants to harass Internet users anonymously. The publicly available WHOIS is an essential facility to protect the vast, vast majority of at-large users who have never registered a domain and never will.
I'd agree, though I still have reservations about some aspects of this. However, as has been noted here and elsewhere, whois is not a topic people can really agree on. It would be better for all parties concerned to not get too bogged down in it, as there are other points on which some level of consensus has been reached
Privacy laws do prevail in this circumstance.
Oh, then we agree, since as I would hope everyone was aware, the United States, where ICANN and the largest registrars are located, has no meaningful privacy laws.
Very true
Needless to say, consensus on this point in this group is unlikely any time in the near future.
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