[INPUT REQUESTED] How do non-commercial Internet users use WHOIS?

[Pranesh Prakash]

Mueller, Milton L <milton at GATECH.EDU> [Wed Jul 05 2017 23:24:36 GMT+0530 
(IST)]:
> Pranesh:
> What you are saying here is that YOU use Whois “all the time,” 

Actually, the "all the time" was an addition prompted by a conversation 
I had with Jamie Love of Knowledge Ecology International, with whom I 
discussed this issue a few years ago.  (You'd probably remember Jamie 
from his involvement in ICANN in the late 90s when KEI was still CPTech.)


> Is there any systematic evidence for your claim that “all” NGOs use it “all the time?” 

No, there isn't, and I didn't expect my words to be read as a claim 
based on systematic evidence.

And it would be difficult to collect such evidence except by surveys of 
NGOs that work on government and corporate transparency and 
accountability-related issues.  I would love to see what investigative 
journalists working on corporate accountability (such as the 
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists) have to say about 
their use of WHOIS.

> Further, while it is agreed by all that the data in Whois needs to be an accurate record of the holder of the domain, the distinction you cite between legal and natural persons does not exist in Whois policy at the time.

Surely the fact that the distinction doesn't exist doesn't mean it 
shouldn't or that the distinction is irrelevant to the ongoing discussions?

-- 
Pranesh Prakash
Policy Director, Centre for Internet and Society
http://cis-india.org | tel:+91 80 40926283
sip:pranesh at ostel.co | xmpp:pranesh at cis-india.org
https://twitter.com/pranesh

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