Thick Whois WG Comments - with some proposed edits

[Balleste, Roy]

Hello!

Kathy was kind enough to unify all responses so far, I have (with her consent) unified mine with all others.
Please find attached.

Roy Balleste, J.S.D.
Professor of Law
Law Library Director
St. Thomas University
16401 NW 37th Avenue
Miami Gardens, FL 33054  USA
1-305-623-2341

From: NCSG-Discuss [mailto:NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Kathy Kleiman
Sent: Sunday, January 13, 2013 10:05 PM
To: NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: [NCSG-Discuss] Thick Whois WG Comments - with some proposed edits

Hi All,
Great thanks to Amr for the first draft of comments to the Thick Whois PDP Working Group. As you know, the question on the table is whether a "thick Whois model" - one in which all Whois data is held and made available by the Registry (e.g., Verisign) and not the Registrar - should be the model for all existing and all new gTLDs.
For .COM, it's a huge issue. It is a "thin" registry, and 100 million+ Whois records are stored by the registrar pursuant to local laws (including local privacy and free speech laws). Whether we can convert these 100 million+ records to a single database - and whether we want to - are questions for this group.
Further, the issue of "Whois" data, service and protocol are all up in the air. If someday we reach agreement that this very personal data - that can expose individuals and organizations to threat for what they say and share online (including political, religious and ethnic minority views and dissent, including non-commercial activity) - should be private, then a single centralized Registry Whois database creates a single point of access. That means that should Registries be cozy with their local governments, all of this data may be relinquished without due process, or even subject to criminal laws that are non-standard in the world (e.g., Syria, N.Korea, China).
The fact is that registrants know their registrars and it is to their registrars that the Whois information is provided. Most registrants will think they are protected under those rules. Despite the fact that New gTLDs (for this round, at least) require a centralized Whois - with the Registry - I remain deeply concerned about the consolidation of the massive .COM Whois (if it's even legal - see below) and the standard set for all future registries and TLDs - regardless of their political, social, or religious uses.

If NPOC shares these concerns, I urge you to sign on - with thanks!

Best,  Kathy Kleiman (veteran of far too many Whois task forces and review teams...)
p.s. All of Amr's comments kept, and I added on and filled in some sections...
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