Slashdot Mirror
Congressional Comittee Mulls WHOIS Data Integrity
Alien54 writes: "The US Congress Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property is holding a hearing today on "The Accuracy and Integrity of the WHOIS DATABASE." This is specifically on HR 4640, "To provide criminal penalties for providing false information in registering a domain name on the Internet." - -
You can hear live audio of the hearing here on the weekly schedule page (NB windows media). Strangely, this had passed throught hands of the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security
which is involved in a number of things on interest to Slashdot readers." (Visit Thomas and type in "HR 4640" in the query box to read more on this bill.)
The US Congress does not have the authority to pass laws that affect people outside of US borders.
And that is yet another reason why it was a terrible mistake to open up the Internet to entities outside of the U.S. Yes, I know how wonderful it is to be bombarded with spam from open relays in Asia. Merchants and consumers alike have had the pleasure of dealing with credit card thieves all over eastern Europe. We have all enjoyed the results of the various VBScript viruses from the Phillipines.
Go ahead and mod this down to "punish me" for expressing such politically incorrect thoughts, but the Internet's extension outside of the U.S. has brought most U.S. users more pain than gain.