[gnso-rds-pdp-wg] Why the thin data is necessary

[Sam Lanfranco]

In the memorable movie, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, there is the 
line: “When it is finished it will be perfect, and if it is not perfect 
it is not finished”. The way forward here is: “If it is open access it 
is thin data, and if it is not open access it is not thin data”. 
Equating thin data with open access helps focus the discussion on the 
issue of what should be in thin data, and removes the complication of 
determining levels of, and tools for, authentication to gated elements 
in thin data.

Reserve gated access as an issue for thick data. Treat access abuse as a 
separate partially technical and partially policy issue. Tradeoffs have 
to be weighed as between access, no data, and scope for data abuse, on a 
field by field basis.

For personal privacy issues there are two levels of concern. One is with 
regard to who am I, and how to reach me. The other is my composite 
profile build from what I say and do in the Internet ecosystem 
(websites, social media, etc.). Both are important for privacy, and 
while we can seek to set maximum privacy with regard to the content of 
RDS thin data, one’s overall privacy and anonymity are more a function 
of one’s behavior within the broader Internet ecosystem.

Issues arising from that mix of factors need to be addressed elsewhere. 
Trying to anticipate all situations with an ideal thin data is 
impossible. Problems will come back to ICANN policy making when issues, 
legal or otherwise, arise involving the role of thin data in personal 
privacy and desired anonymity. Such is the nature of reality.

Sam Lanfranco