[gnso-rds-pdp-wg] Dangers of public whois

[Hollenbeck, Scott]

From: gnso-rds-pdp-wg-bounces at icann.org [mailto:gnso-rds-pdp-wg-bounces at icann.org] On Behalf Of John Horton
Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2017 9:00 AM
To: nathalie coupet <nathaliecoupet at yahoo.com>
Cc: RDS PDP WG <gnso-rds-pdp-wg at icann.org>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: [gnso-rds-pdp-wg] Dangers of public whois



Nathalie and others,



I wanted to take a moment and explain why I'm strongly opposed to requiring email or other registration in order to view thin or thick details. For the reasons outlined below, I think it's antithetical to the open and decentralized nature of the internet, and constitutes a form of internet surveillance.



First, putting aside repressive regimes, private networks and edge cases, one of the hallmark principles of the internet is that it's open; you don't have to register or justify your need to access information on the internet.



[SAH] [snip]

I have to disagree with “you don't have to register or justify your need to access information on the internet”. While there are certainly examples of *some* information being available openly, there are just as many examples where some form of registration or user identification is a required part of gaining access to content. One example: the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles maintains information about the registration of my personal vehicles that is accessible through a web site. That information *is not* available to the general public, and I had to go through a series of steps to prove to the DMV that I am the one and only person who should have online access to that information. Taking the statement above at face value would imply that my registration information should be freely available to anyone, and I cannot accept that as fact.



Scott

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