Re: [ga] scammers using whois privacy
kidsearch wrote: None of which I have to do to find out who owns a piece of property Really? Try to get the list of people who own a corporation. Indeed in some jurisidictions it may even be difficult to learn who the officers are. As for real property (land) - in countries with a common law tradition (which is a minority among countries) there tends to be a public registry of land ownership, but it may require that you actually go to the county clerk, perhaps pay a fee, and look it up. And ownership of land is quite distinct from who might be using that land - consider a large office building, owned by a real-estate investment trust, that leases out the space to a building manager that in turn, sub-leases to tenants. So, where is the public record of who is running the business from the back room of office 3220? Counter example: Here in the US it is much more difficult to find who owns a firearm - an overtly dangerous bit of machinery - unless you have privileged access to gun registration lists. who got the business license for a store offline. Yes, business licenses have to be posted in most communities as a requirement for engaging in business. But please do not confuse the act of being a provider in internet commerce with domain registrations. Many, perhaps most, domain names are used for non-commercial purposes. And please consider that domain names have uses beyond being embedded in URL's on the world wide web. If you believe (as I do) that those who engage in internet commerce should post an attestation of business identity, that does not mean that there need be a publicly accessible "whois". Today businesses can go to various places - typically SSL certificate vendors - and obtain a proof of identity that can be penetrated by consumers who demonstrate a dispute with a vendor. That system works much better than wholesale violation of the privacy of every domain name owner. Of course, it means that consumers need to learn to deal only with vendors who have such proofs else caveat emptor. (The fact that the web browser providers, more so Firefox than IE, have created an artificial limitation of who can go into the certificate-selling game is a separate and distinct issue.) The bottom line is that if you can't obtain adequate assurance about a vendor, don't open your wallet. --karl--
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