Re: [ga] whois.txt, ala robots.txt, as a standard ?

[kent@songbird.com]

On Fri, Feb 07, 2003 at 09:13:11AM -0500, Michael Froomkin - U.Miami School of Law wrote:
> I'm sorry but I do think this is quite an incorrect depiction of reality.
> 
> One gets a domain name to have a permanent address under one's own
> control.

"One" gets a domain name for many other reasons, as well -- to sell, to
cybersquat, to use as a short term source for spam, etc. 

> As for expectations of privacy, I really don't see why those are or should
> be any different from getting a telephone number

In fact, of course, there really isn't much difference: You can pay
extra for an unlisted number; you can pay extra for an unlisted domain
name.  Last I looked, in fact, telephone charges were on the order of a
few dollars a month, and domain name charges are on the order of a few
dollars a year, so you pay *less* for basically equivalent privacy.

The privacy issue is basically a red herring at this point; the battle
was won by privacy advocates many moons ago, and they simply haven't
capitalized on the victory.

[...]

> None of this is news, and one gets tired of having to repeat it.

Then you shouldn't bother, since it is utterly irrelevant to current
reality.
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