Re: [ga] Registry Constituency Statement on WHOIS

["Sotiris Sotiropoulos" <sotiris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> RyC strongly believes that there is no acceptable
> reason for publication of an individual?s personal
> data such as home address, phone number or email
> address, whether by a registry or registrar unless
> that individual freely and explicitly gives consent to
> such publication. To the extent that such data is
> needed for law enforcement purposes or for the
> resolution of conflicts such as intellectual property,
> the appropriate means to meet these needs should be a
> tiered access process. RyC acknowledges that a tiered
> access model presents some policy implementation
> challenges but believes that it would be very
> worthwhile to confront those challenges in a
> constructive and diligent manner.

I find myself, as an individual, strictly sympathetic with the above
sentiments.  Indeed, I mentioned that approach to one of the IP Lawyer
crowd (and others) in ICANN Montreal '03 and she balked at the idea,
probably because such a modification may require the IP lobby to pay a fee
for access to what is now free.  I wonder what a legal firm charges for
simple things like WHOIS searches for their clients?

Sotiris Sotiropoulos
Chair