Thanks to several people for jumping into an actual substantive discussion on WHOIS. I think it's clear from that discussion that there is not unanimity among us -- nor should we expect there to be. Internet users have a variety of interests, and at times the interests of some users will conflict with those of others. Some are bound by differing legal regimes, some have different value priorities, some weigh risks and benefits differently. Instead of trying to reach a unitary position, then, I suggest that we try to articulate the range of different views individuals have with respect to identification of domain registrants. Those could include: privacy, accountability, verifiability, traceability, anonymity, legal enforcement, directory lookup, name availability lookup, etc. Some of these conflict, some can coexist, but all have been heard in the debate. I am no more comfortable putting out a statement that says "Internet users want accurate WHOIS" than some others are with "Internet users want privacy of domain registration." So if we want to speak for a consensus of at-large, we should ensure that our documents represent all the relevant Internet user views. --Wendy -- Wendy Seltzer -- wendy@seltzer.org Visiting Professor, Northeastern University School of Law Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet & Society http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/seltzer.html http://www.chillingeffects.org/ https://www.torproject.org/