Changes to Domain Name Rules Place User Privacy in Jeopardy

Jeremy Malcolm and Mitch Stoltz write:

TG Storytime is a free community website for transgender authors, operated by Joe Six-Pack, himself a transgender author and publisher. If you look up the registration details of Joe’s domain tgstorytime.com using the WHOIS application, you get this result:

Registrant Name: Registration Private Registrant Organization: Domains By Proxy, LLC Registrant Street: DomainsByProxy.com Registrant Street: 14747 N Northsight Blvd Suite 111, PMB 309 Registrant City: Scottsdale Registrant State/Province: Arizona Registrant Postal Code: 85260 Registrant Country: United States Registrant Phone: +1.4806242599

Of course, these aren’t Joe’s actual contact details, since there are many reasons why Joe may not want those private details to be made freely available. Instead, Joe uses a proxy registration service that fulfils the rules of ICANN (the global domain name authority) that contact information be available for all domains, while keeping his actual details private. If anyone really needs to know Joe’s physical address or telephone number, they can apply for a court order or subpoena requiring his privacy service to disclose them.

At least, that is how it works now. But under a proposal [PDF] currently being considered by ICANN, that may all change.