<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2>To the NCC:
<BR>The comment period for the WHOIS Task Force's November 2002 Report ended yesterday. I think there are some critical issues in the WHOIS work, so I would like to share my comments with you. These are comments I wrote and posted as an individual.
<BR>
<BR>If others in the NCC posted comments, could you share them too?
<BR>Link to WHOIS report text and archives at: http://www.dnso.org/ under Daily News.
<BR>
<BR>The subject line of my posting was "Real lives at risk; personal privacy needs immediate attention." Regards, Kathy Kleiman (text below)
<BR>
<BR>My Comments:
<BR>-----------------------
<BR>I write these comments as an individual, small business owner, and political
<BR>speaker. Clearly the Task Force has worked hard to define the issues, and to show where more work has been called for by participants and needs to be done. Thus, it
<BR>comes as a surprise, with all the open questions that the Task Force
<BR>identifies, that you call for moving forward with "accuracy" of registrant
<BR>data.
<BR>
<BR>In these comments I address:
<BR>- the open issue of personal privacy
<BR>- the need for personal privacy to be more clearly presented and protected
<BR> in the next version of this report.
<BR>- the need for express recognition that some inaccuracies in the WHOIS
<BR> data protect privacy without limiting access to the domain name
<BR> registrants for legitimate purposes.
<BR>- the Task Force should recommend a much more limited initial testbed for
<BR> WHOIS.
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>I. The Open Issue of Personal Privacy
<BR>While the concern for individual privacy is tabled as an issue for further
<BR>discussion, the Task Force urges ICANN to go forward with a set of new,
<BR>uniform provisions for enforcement of accuracy in the WHOIS database.
<BR>
<BR>It is incumbent on this Task Force to use its report to more explicitly
<BR>discuss the deep concerns political speakers and individuals face when their
<BR>full data, including address and telephone are published to the world in the
<BR>instantaneous availability of the WHOIS database. The discomfort of
<BR>hitting delete to erase an unsolicited email does not rise to the same level as
<BR>the discomfort of having an important political/human rights message to
<BR>share and having to disclose the location of your children when registering
<BR>the necessary domain name.
<BR>
<BR>The Task Force has heard from Andrews and Davidson, among others,
<BR>about the need to treat different registrants differently. It has heard from
<BR>Younger and Chheda, among others, about the need to allow individuals to
<BR>post limited information to the WHOIS database (with the rest being held
<BR>by the registrar).
<BR>
<BR>After my presentation to the Task Force in Shanghai, about the need for
<BR>protection of the personal privacy of individuals and political speakers, I
<BR>was surrounded by people who agreed. Many sponsored by the Markle
<BR>Foundation, they represented human rights groups and media which covers
<BR>human rights activity. They talked of the dangers that political speakers
<BR>and human rights activists face every day for activity under their domain
<BR>names. They told me of:
<BR> - a site to post the pictures of government torture victims so
<BR> that their families could identify their faces and claim their
<BR> bodies;
<BR> - a site which published detailed accounts of the activities of a
<BR> corrupt national government, and was a major source of
<BR> information to the country's residents, unable to receive
<BR> information from the state-controlled media.
<BR> - I added the concern of individuals who use their domain
<BR> names and websites to post information about their
<BR> noncommercial activities, from sewing to parenting to
<BR> touring, and fear making public their domestic information
<BR> to ex-spouses, stalkers, and disgruntled fellow employees.
<BR>
<BR>We are talking about real issues of personal privacy, real dangers, and real
<BR>lives.
<BR>
<BR>
<BR> II. Personal privacy must be more clearly presented and protected in
<BR> the next Task Force Report.
<BR>
<BR>It is not enough to say (or think) that people who need personal privacy can
<BR>solve it by registering their domain name through another party. There are
<BR>basic reasons. First and foremost, many who engage in the political and
<BR>human rights Internet work do not choose to share their danger with others.
<BR>They are driven by their own convictions to take on dangerous lives and
<BR>work, but they do not want to endanger others. The domain name needs to
<BR>be under their name.
<BR>
<BR>Second, the time exigencies of UDRP challenges (and perhaps the whois
<BR>accuracy challenges to come) mean that many domain name registrants
<BR>want to be able receive and address challenges as quickly as possible not
<BR>through surrogates. Days count.
<BR>
<BR>But I am not saying anything the Task Force has not heard before more
<BR>passionately and persuasively presented than I can. Accordingly, it is
<BR>incumbent on the Task Force to address the issue head on. The Task Force
<BR>should recommend that ICANN move more carefully through the thicket of
<BR>personal privacy -- and recommend that ICANN mandate personal privacy
<BR>protection at the same time as mandating accuracy of WHOIS data for
<BR>individuals and political speakers.
<BR>
<BR> III. Inaccuracy in WHOIS data today serves privacy purposes without
<BR> limiting access to the domain name registrant for legitimate
<BR> purposes.
<BR>
<BR>The unrestricted openness of the WHOIS database drives the need for
<BR>inaccurate WHOIS information. Everyone works hard to enter contact
<BR>information which is accurate such as email address to receive notice of
<BR>any UDRP challenges, renewal notices, and other registry and registrar
<BR>information.
<BR>
<BR>But that does not mean that every small piece of data in the WHOIS
<BR>registration needs to be accurate. Unlisted phone numbers should be able
<BR>to remain private without fear of jeopardizing a well-known human rights
<BR>website. To do otherwise contradicts common sense and the highest of
<BR>human values.
<BR>
<BR> IV. The Task Force should recommend a much more limited initial
<BR> Testbed for WHOIS.
<BR>
<BR>In every other area of ICANN work, we have been urged to go slow and
<BR>move carefully. The WHOIS database accuracy project should be no
<BR>exception. The Task Force would be completely within its rights and
<BR>mandate to urge that a testbed and test period be adopted for WHOIS
<BR>accuracy requirements:
<BR>
<BR> - Advise ICANN to work on the clearly commercial gTLD
<BR> first, and then consider the special issues that apply to
<BR> individuals and political organizations in other gTLDs later.
<BR>
<BR>Comments of Kathryn A. Kleiman
<BR>December 8, 2002</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="arial" LANG="0">
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