WSJ: Should Owners Of Web Sites Be Anonymous?

The Wall Street Journal

April 27, 2006

Should Owners Of Web Sites Be Anonymous?

By WILLIAM M. BULKELEY
April 27, 2006; Page B1

Last fall, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the American Red Cross used an Internet database called "Whois" that lists names and numbers of Web-site owners to shut down dozens of unauthorized Web sites that were soliciting money under the Red Cross logo. Online marketplace eBay Inc. says its investigators use Whois hundreds of times a day to pursue scamsters. Insurance giant Transamerica recently used Whois to trace the owner of a Web site purportedly in the Middle East but actually U.S.-based -- that was selling insurance by infringing on the Transamerica trademark.

But if proposed rule changes are adopted by the organization that runs the Internet, corporate and government investigators won't be able to rely on Whois to find the owners of fraudulent Web sites. Whois is regulated by the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers, usually called Icann, a nongovernmental organization based in Marina del Rey, Calif., that handles many vital Internet issues. Under Icann's current regulations, anyone who gets a Web site is supposed to list a name, phone number and address in Whois of a contact person to resolve both technical problems with a site and administrative issues.

Earlier this month, at the urging of privacy advocates and over the opposition of major corporations, the Icann committee responsible for Whois voted 18-9 to restrict its listings solely to someone who can resolve technical "configuration" problems. That means a Web-hosting company could be listed without any link to the person who controls what appears on the site. After the committee makes recommendations on other aspects of the Whois rules, the full Icann board is expected to approve the reduced disclosure requirement.

(snip)

Bloggers played a major role in the dispute, seeking to guard their privacy. One anonymous blogger wrote in an email to the committee that providing contact information publicly "is a way of setting up for identify theft, stalking, stupid lawsuits, and the fear of never knowing when some net kook is going to show up on one's doorstep." Tongue in cheek, he suggested that Icann order corporations with Web sites to list the home addresses and phone numbers of their executives and attorneys.


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by registering under a "surrogate"

It's called going to the police and asking them to investigate. There is no reason this information shouldn't be private.