We seem to have some editing errors here.
Unfortunately, there has been no progress since February. Indeed, on the privacy front, there has been regress. Domain name registrants are forbidden from using pseudonyms or fuzzy, "inaccurate" data in order to protect their privacy, and risk losing their domain name due to "improved" accuracy enforcement.
Unfortunately, for the vast majority of at-large users who do not register their own domain names there has been little progress since February. Domain name registrants are forbidden from using pseudonyms or fuzzy, "inaccurate" data in order to hide their identities, and risk losing their domain name due to "improved" accuracy enforcement, although ICANN remains unable or unwilling even to accept the majority of reports of innacurate information.
The small businessperson working from a home office must list that home address and telephone number, as must the weblogger who wishes to publish at her own domain name.
The alleged failures of the current policy are limited to businesses so small that they have neither a post office box nor a business phone number, and bloggers who desire a vanity domain rather than using a subdomain of a well known service.
The political dissident who wants to criticize his country's political regime is told to disclose his identity or find a trustworthy friend who is willing to do so instead.
Oh, and the political dissident who is somehow able to find mail and web hosting that will keep his identity private, yet the hosting company won't handle domain registrations.
Proxy or escrow services, proposed by many as a privacy solution, have not developed to fill the gap. They do not work in practice, giving up the names of their clients on a mere request
Proxy and escrow services have a dismal record of ignoring or stonewalling reports of criminal action by their users, enabling phish and other criminal web sites to remain online for days, weeks, and sometimes months after the allegedly responsible party is notified. Etc. Look, I realize that five years ago the ALAC bought the line that its consituents were individual vanity domain registrants, but it doesn't any more. I entirely realize that individuals have privacy interests, but it's no secret that for every individual who thinks that fudging his whois will avoid telemarketers, there's a thousand crooks. The current proposals, and anything like them, just don't work to protect real individuals in the real world. R's, John