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<p>This is very welcome news, particularly for those of us fighting
in the trenches here to protect privacy.</p>
<p>Stephanie Perrin<br>
</p>
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<b>Subject:</b> Wyden, Eshoo Lead Bicameral Effort
Urging NTIA to Protect Website Owners’ Personal
Information, Quickly Adopt Strong Privacy Protections
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sans-serif;" align="center">
<span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;
color:black; border:none windowtext 1.0pt;
padding:0in"><img naturalheight="149" naturalwidth="624" id="Picture_x0020_4" alt="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/XlXTZe5foxx8e9I7p5uo8g6zPy9owFYd4u2uAEio5Ll1CsMbWs8X9NtdP-de_d3aMbL9l-TrPFFGYRZIKj3Ky-kJ9xCCSg_f7FNnbmkWdnQfc8RZkjsXU4L_sW1oUW8NBXq2XM7imKWNhGAC3p8TM0fqxkpGehUcWkuNtuwkRQoorS_FR0Pp5DUYmw" style="width:6.5in; height:1.552in" src="cid:part1.8mnoIraC.5VtXe2j8@mail.utoronto.ca" class="" width="624" height="149"></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: "Calibri", sans-serif;">
<b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif;
color:black">For Immediate Release</span></b><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt; font-family:"Palatino
Linotype",serif">: September 21<span style="color:black">, 2022</span></span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: "Calibri", sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif;
color:black">Contact:
</span><span style="font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif"><a href="mailto:Keith_Chu@wyden.senate.gov" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193); text-decoration:
underline;" moz-do-not-send="true">Keith Chu</a>
<span style="color:black">(Wyden) (202) 224-5244</span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif"></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Calibri",
sans-serif;" align="center">
<b><span style="font-size:17.0pt;
font-family:"Palatino Linotype",serif;
color:black">Wyden, Eshoo Lead Bicameral Effort
Urging NTIA to Protect Website Owners’ Personal
Information, Quickly Adopt Strong Privacy
Protections </span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: "Calibri", sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times
New Roman",serif"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: "Calibri", sans-serif;">
<b><i><span style="font-family:"Palatino
Linotype",serif; color:black">Washington,
D.C.</span></i></b><span style="font-family:"Palatino
Linotype",serif; color:black"> – U.S. Senator
Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and U.S. Representative Anna G.
Eshoo, D-Calif., today led a bicameral effort urging
the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration (NTIA) to upgrade its privacy
practices to protect the personal information of .US
users.</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: "Calibri", sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times
New Roman",serif"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: "Calibri", sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family:"Palatino
Linotype",serif; color:black">Domain
registration information contains highly sensitive
personal information. These records include names,
email addresses, physical addresses and phone
numbers. Domain name users can be anyone, including
journalists, activists and public interest,
political and religious organizations.</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: "Calibri", sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family:"Palatino
Linotype",serif; color:black"> </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: "Calibri", sans-serif;">
<b><span style="font-family:"Palatino
Linotype",serif; color:black">“It is highly
concerning that NTIA, since at least 2005, has not
directed its contractors</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif">
</span><b><span style="font-family:"Palatino
Linotype",serif; color:black">administering
.US to adopt any protections for this sensitive
information. The automatic public disclosure of
users’ personal information puts them at enhanced
risk for becoming victims of identity theft,
spamming, spoofing, doxxing, online harassment,
and even physical harm,”
</span></b><span style="font-family:"Palatino
Linotype",serif; color:black">the lawmakers
wrote in a letter sent to NTIA Assistant Secretary
and Administrator, Alan Davidson.
<b>“.US should be a model of the United States’
values with regard to online privacy and
expression. In addition to putting users at risk
of abuse of their information, the current lack of
privacy protections chills vibrant expression and
important speech online. Anonymity is a necessary
component of the American right to free speech.”</b></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: "Calibri", sans-serif;">
<b><span style="font-family:"Palatino
Linotype",serif; color:black"> </span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: "Calibri", sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family:"Palatino
Linotype",serif; color:black">There is little
evidence that the continued public disclosure of
this information makes the global internet any less
safe or secure. In fact, despite the domain industry
increasing privacy protections for users over the
last several years, the Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has recently
observed that the number of domains responsible for
phishing, malware, spam and botnets has declined. </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: "Calibri", sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times
New Roman",serif"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: "Calibri", sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family:"Palatino
Linotype",serif; color:black">In their letter,
the lawmakers highlighted appropriate measures NTIA
could implement to correct for decades of inaction
to protect privacy in .US, including:</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif"></span></p>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in;" type="disc">
<li style="color: black; vertical-align: baseline;
margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: "Calibri", sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family:"Palatino
Linotype",serif">Offering privacy to users
free of charge and automatically upon
registration.</span><span style="font-family:"Palatino
Linotype",serif"></span></li>
<li style="color: black; vertical-align: baseline;
margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: "Calibri", sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family:"Palatino
Linotype",serif">Requiring a user’s
affirmative, informed consent for transferring
user data to third parties, including public
disclosure.</span></li>
<li style="color: black; vertical-align: baseline;
margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: "Calibri", sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family:"Palatino
Linotype",serif">Requiring governments,
including our own, to seek a warrant or other
appropriate legal process when requesting access
to .US user data.</span></li>
<li style="color: black; vertical-align: baseline;
margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: "Calibri", sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family:"Palatino
Linotype",serif">Alerting users whenever
governments – especially adversaries like Russia
and China – have sought access to their
information.</span></li>
</ul>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: "Calibri", sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times
New Roman",serif"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: "Calibri", sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family:"Palatino
Linotype",serif; color:black">NTIA has the
opportunity to model a more secure and private
system for registering internet domains through its
control of .US, the members wrote. Adding new
privacy protections to .US could provide a global
model for privacy best-practices for protecting
domain name user data.</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: "Calibri", sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times
New Roman",serif"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: "Calibri", sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family:"Palatino
Linotype",serif; color:black">The letter was
co-signed by U.S. Senators Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii,
and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and U.S.
Representatives Ted Lieu, D-Calif., Sara Jacobs,
D-Calif., Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., Ro Khanna,
D-Calif., Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., and Stephen F.
Lynch, D-Mass.</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: "Calibri", sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family:"Palatino
Linotype",serif; color:black"> </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: "Calibri", sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family:"Palatino
Linotype",serif; color:black">Read the full
letter
</span><span style="font-family:"Palatino
Linotype",serif; color:red"><a href="https://www.wyden.senate.gov/download/wyden-eshoo-letter-to-ntia-on-privacy-in-us" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193); text-decoration:
underline;" moz-do-not-send="true">here</a></span><span style="font-family:"Palatino
Linotype",serif; color:black">. </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: "Calibri", sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times
New Roman",serif"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: "Calibri", sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family:"Palatino
Linotype",serif; color:black">A web version of
this release is
</span><span style="font-family:"Palatino
Linotype",serif"><a href="https://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-eshoo-lead-bicameral-effort-urging-ntia-to-protect-website-owners-personal-information-quickly-adopt-strong-privacy-protections-" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193); text-decoration:
underline;" moz-do-not-send="true">here</a><span style="color:black">. </span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif"></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Calibri",
sans-serif;" align="center">
<span style="font-family:"Palatino
Linotype",serif; color:black">###</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif"></span></p>
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