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

Tue Feb 14 20:26:31 UTC 2017

Focusing on “fake”, I’m interpreting “fake email” as an address that is syntactically valid (it is formatted as local-part at domain as specified in Section 2.3.11 of RFC 5321) but incapable of receiving messages due to errors in processing either the local-part or the domain when attempting to deliver mail to the address. As I noted earlier, inability to deliver email sent to a contact address is one of the reasons for which an RAA-compliant registrar may suspend a registered domain.

Scott

From: allison nixon [mailto:elsakoo at gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2017 2:45 PM
To: Hollenbeck, Scott <shollenbeck at verisign.com>
Cc: gca at icginc.com; gnso-rds-pdp-wg at icann.org
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: [gnso-rds-pdp-wg] Dangers of public whois

Why isn't it? I've been doing it for years. It's a great way to avoid having my PII abused. Please demonstrate these consequences to me.

On Tue, Feb 14, 2017 at 2:34 PM, Hollenbeck, Scott <shollenbeck at verisign.com<mailto:shollenbeck at verisign.com>> wrote:

   Greg, I used the email address example only to address this statement originally sent by Allison (with emphasis added in bold italics for people with HTML-capable mail readers):

   “So put your contact address as "123 fake st" and your phone number as "555-555-5555". Make a fake email”

   All I’m trying to do is note that this kind of advice can cause real unintended operational consequences for well-meaning registrants who might think it’s a great way to avoid having their PII published via services like WHOIS. It isn’t.

   Scott

   From: Greg Aaron [mailto:gca at icginc.com<mailto:gca at icginc.com>]
   Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2017 2:20 PM
   To: Hollenbeck, Scott <shollenbeck at verisign.com<mailto:shollenbeck at verisign.com>>; 'elsakoo at gmail.com<mailto:elsakoo at gmail.com>' <elsakoo at gmail.com<mailto:elsakoo at gmail.com>>
   Cc: 'gnso-rds-pdp-wg at icann.org<mailto:gnso-rds-pdp-wg at icann.org>' <gnso-rds-pdp-wg at icann.org<mailto:gnso-rds-pdp-wg at icann.org>>
   Subject: [EXTERNAL] RE: [gnso-rds-pdp-wg] Dangers of public whois

   No, the RAA validation steps are trivially easy to get around.  You use the example of a fake email address.  Criminals know not to use fake email addresses, and they don’t need to because they can get email addresses for free.  One can sign up for free email accounts anonymously.  There are even underground services that will generate freemail accounts in bulk.  These services cater to criminals such as spammers who need to register lots of domain names.

   All best,

   --Greg

   From: gnso-rds-pdp-wg-bounces at icann.org<mailto:gnso-rds-pdp-wg-bounces at icann.org> [mailto:gnso-rds-pdp-wg-bounces at icann.org] On Behalf Of Hollenbeck, Scott
   Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2017 1:57 PM
   To: 'elsakoo at gmail.com<mailto:elsakoo at gmail.com>' <elsakoo at gmail.com<mailto:elsakoo at gmail.com>>
   Cc: 'gnso-rds-pdp-wg at icann.org<mailto:gnso-rds-pdp-wg at icann.org>' <gnso-rds-pdp-wg at icann.org<mailto:gnso-rds-pdp-wg at icann.org>>
   Subject: Re: [gnso-rds-pdp-wg] Dangers of public whois

   From: allison nixon [mailto:elsakoo at gmail.com]
   Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2017 1:35 PM
   To: Hollenbeck, Scott <shollenbeck at verisign.com<mailto:shollenbeck at verisign.com>>
   Cc: vgreimann at key-systems.net<mailto:vgreimann at key-systems.net>; gnso-rds-pdp-wg at icann.org<mailto:gnso-rds-pdp-wg at icann.org>
   Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: [gnso-rds-pdp-wg] Dangers of public whois

   >>[SAH] Actually, there *are* requirements to provide valid data and for registrars to perform validation processing:

   How do you expect toothless policy to work *on the Internet*? Seriously?

   Yes, seriously. Registrars who do not implement the policy are subject to having their accreditation revoked. ICANN has, in fact, revoked or suspended accreditations. Here are two examples:

   https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2-2007-03-16-en

   https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/correspondence/serad-to-patel-2-18jul14-en.pdf

   worst that can happen when you put in fake whois data is that your domain gets reported, you change "123 fake st" to "124 fake st", and your registrar is satisfied because what more can they possibly do. I know this because I went through this with an old sinkhole domain. It's a total joke. Let's not pretend it's anything more than that.

   Not true. A fake email address, for example, can be detected easily when email sent to it (one of the registrar’s validation requirements) gets bounced back. The worst that can happen is that your domain gets put into some non-operational state (“suspend the registration” per the RAA).

   Scott

   --

   _________________________________
   Note to self: Pillage BEFORE burning.

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