- Impact
- 23
http://www.circleid.com/posts/20180412_holocaust_remembrance_day/
see the last 2 paragraphs
see the last 2 paragraphs
Yet privacy rights were not the issue raised in the discussion convened by the IPC/BC on their proposed model for 'accreditation' to access Whois data. Instead, last Friday, we heard - yet again - how to give unlimited access to Whois data to any law enforcement, any cybersecurity firm, any trademark owner; basically to anyone who seeks it. The potential that journalists might use the non-public WHOIS data was recognized and credited; the potential that journalists might be the subject of a fishing expedition by a government or individual they criticized in a publication was not. The IPC/BC lawyers heading the meeting then heard that the GDRP rejects unlimited access to data — and they, in turn, unilaterally rejected the interpretation and advice of the legal advisor to ICANN, in the Hamilton Memo (#3). They told 150 people listening to the meeting that ICANN could give unlimited access to non-public Whois data to those the IPC/BC chose in their accreditation model.
We need real community consultation and on neutral ground — at ICANN — where we can again discuss what the law requires and what real compliance involves. Most importantly, we need to stop talking about who wants access to domain name data and start talking about how to respect the privacy rights of registrants. On this day of all days, on this week of all weeks, it's time for ICANN to be on the right side of law, the right side of principle and the right side of history. We hold the personal and sensitive data of almost 200 million domain name registrants. Today we must recognize that the privacy of this data could be the difference between protection and suppression.