- Impact
- 67
ICANN Needs to Clamp Down on Domain Name Abuse
CNet (06/21/06) Isenberg, Doug
A debate over the purpose of the Whois database is quietly taking place, with one side arguing that the database is essential to conducting business on the Internet and another side arguing that, for privacy reasons, domain name registrants should not be forced to enter personal information into the database. Meanwhile, ICANN, which meets in Morocco June 26-30, is also pondering the issue. ICANN requires that domain name registrars collect personal information about domain name registrants, including their names and contact data, and enter it into the publicly accessible Whois database so that cybersquatters, phishers, and other online crooks can be forced out of the shadows and identified. Ensuring that the information in the Whois database remains publicly accessible is important to protecting company brands and, by extension, consumers on the Internet, but others argue that the Whois database creates privacy risks. Some cybersquatters provide false Whois information to registrars--the registrant of one particular domain name is listed as "Meow," a cat--and it can be surmised that these domain owners are up to no good. Many cybersquatters now call themselves "domainers," and an entire industry of domain name "monetization" services has allowed domainers to make money off of parked domains, many of which are suggestive of well-known brands. These monetization services, along with other dubious practices such as "domain tasting," are causing economic damage to legitimate businesses, which must spend money and resources to protect their intellectual property on the Internet. If ICANN decides to place additional restrictions on the Whois system, these companies and their consumers will suffer even greater harm, and the integrity of the Internet will be compromised, writes attorney and WIPO domain name panelist Doug Isenberg.
CNet (06/21/06) Isenberg, Doug
A debate over the purpose of the Whois database is quietly taking place, with one side arguing that the database is essential to conducting business on the Internet and another side arguing that, for privacy reasons, domain name registrants should not be forced to enter personal information into the database. Meanwhile, ICANN, which meets in Morocco June 26-30, is also pondering the issue. ICANN requires that domain name registrars collect personal information about domain name registrants, including their names and contact data, and enter it into the publicly accessible Whois database so that cybersquatters, phishers, and other online crooks can be forced out of the shadows and identified. Ensuring that the information in the Whois database remains publicly accessible is important to protecting company brands and, by extension, consumers on the Internet, but others argue that the Whois database creates privacy risks. Some cybersquatters provide false Whois information to registrars--the registrant of one particular domain name is listed as "Meow," a cat--and it can be surmised that these domain owners are up to no good. Many cybersquatters now call themselves "domainers," and an entire industry of domain name "monetization" services has allowed domainers to make money off of parked domains, many of which are suggestive of well-known brands. These monetization services, along with other dubious practices such as "domain tasting," are causing economic damage to legitimate businesses, which must spend money and resources to protect their intellectual property on the Internet. If ICANN decides to place additional restrictions on the Whois system, these companies and their consumers will suffer even greater harm, and the integrity of the Internet will be compromised, writes attorney and WIPO domain name panelist Doug Isenberg.
