[comments-whois] Accuracy and Marketing use of WHOIS data

["Stephen A. Mattin" <smattin@nadler.com>]

Without going into the details of my long,
unhappy history regarding domain contact info,
I have some comments, based on that experience,
about the Accuracy and Bulk Access policy report.

1. My contact info in the WHOIS database has been
repeated screwed up in the past, resulting in
multiple accounts with inaccurate information.

2. THIS IS NOT MY FAULT!  The errors were either
directly introduced by the database maintainers,
(for example NS MAKING UP contact email addresses)
or by lazy third partly domain registration
companies, (e.g. Register.COM).  For example,
when making new domain registrations, I have
ALWAYS provided my original, 20-year old, nicname,
but have been automatically assigned several others,
multiplying my problems in maintaining accurate info.

3. I have no problem taking responsibility for
providing accurate info and updates for WHOIS entries
that concern me.  However, I refuse to take
responsibility for other's mistakes and would
oppose any automatic sanctions against "innocents"
( like me ;) who have been abused by the "system"
in the past.

4. Unless someone is willing to
   A. perform a complete review of the current
      WhoIs info to replace outdated/inaccurate info
   B. and fix the "system" to avoid future inaccurate info,

I believe that providing "sanctions" for inaccurate
or incomplete data will be ineffective and will only
result in incomplete (and useless) WhoIs data.

5. All contact info MUST be accurate and freely
available to non-bulk users.  Any "bulk" users of
WHOIS data for marketing purposes should expect to
pay for the data at normal, commercial rates.
(The 10K $/year limit seems low, to me. I would think
$10 per entry would be a more "fair market" rate.)

The income generated from "bulk" users should be used
to hire "real people" to help fix/maintain the accuracy
of the data (and therefore, it's marketing value).

Stephen A. Mattin, SAM26
phone: (603) 772-3558
e-mail: smattin@nadler.com