Re: [ga] Privacy and Whois databases

[bill@mail.nic.nu (J. William Semich)]

But Marty, couldn't this be solved with the "opt out" options for
individuals who choose to be anonymous?

If an ecommerce vendor has chosen to make his identify and contact
information unavailable by opting out, isn't that a pretty strong signal to
the consumer to avoid him?

In addition, at least as far as secure transactions are concerned, the
secure Certificates (SSL) issued by Verisign and Thawte and others could be
seen as serving this kind of ecommerce identification service, I expect...

Best wishes,

Bill Semich
.NU Domain

At 02:23 PM 10/15/99 -0400, Martin B. Schwimmer wrote:
>I respectfully disagree and remind Bill that there are non-trademark issues
>involved every so often.  How about mere consumer protection?  Certainly in
>the commercial sphere the identity of a merchant should not be anonymous
>and there are strong policy arguments for full disclosure.  If someone has
>to contact a registrar each time they want to verify the identity of a
>vendor on the web (and "justify" a valid need), it would have a chilling
>effect on ecommerce.  And the registrars don't want to field these calls,
>right?
>
>If it's an anti-Pinochet website, that's another story, which is why these
>policies should be flexible.
>
>
>
>>
>>This contact information should be private, I believe. If someone needs
>>contact imformation (for example, a trademakr attorney) about a domain name
>>holder, they should reveal what they need it for and who they are to the
>>registrar/registry before private information is given to them. 
>>
>>If they can not justify a valid need for this information, it should be
>>witheld.
>>
>>What does the rest of the DNSO think?
>>
>>Regards,
>>
>>Bill Semich
>>.NU Domain
>>
>>
>
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