Slashdot Mirror
Congress Eyes Whois Crackdown
Decius6i5 writes "The Washington Post is reporting on a Congressional hearing in which it was proposed that putting false or misleading information in your DNS whois record should be a federal crime. Texas Representative Lamar Smith is quoted as saying 'The Government must play a greater role in punishing those who conceal their identities online.' The article claims 'Smith and Berman drafted the bill after receiving complaints from the entertainment and software industries that much of their material is made available for free on Web sites whose owners are impossible to track down because their domain name registrations often contain made-up names.' Its funny, I don't recall the RIAA having any trouble tracking down P2P users whose IP addresses didn't have any DNS names associated with them at all. This isn't the first time the issue has been raised in Congress but apparently Congress hasn't gotten any more clued after several hearings."
Yes, there are criminals with false WHOIS records.
And, at the same time, the WHOIS database is a feeding trough for spammers and scammers, encouraging otherwise honest people to put false information into their WHOIS records just to keep those spammers and scammers from getting their names, email addresses, snail mail addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, mothers' maiden names, and whatever else their registrars ask for.
I could create a brand new, non-obvious email address on one of my domain accounts and put it in as the Admin Contact for a record I own, and use that email address absolutely nowhere else, and I bet that within three months that email address would be getting buckets full of spam.
There's an old saying you still see on bumper stickers, "When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns." While that idea might be more accurately stated as "When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will accidentally shoot their own kids," the original sentiment holds for WHOIS, that is to say, "When falsified WHOIS data is outlawed, only outlaws will falsify their WHOIS data."
If the RIAA and MPAA can't find the fake WHOIS record owners, how is the government going to track down the WHOIS record owners and punish them? Why waste time passing a law that, in the end, only punishes honest people who would rather not give their unlisted home phone numbers out when buying a domain name for their kids?
You are in error. No-one is screaming. Thank you for your cooperation.
Does Verisign control the WHOIS database? Since they are a US company, is that what gives the US the right to patrol that database? If not Verisign, who? Will the US rules be applied to other countries? This is legislation that will not be enforcable!
...all that's going to happen is that people are going to put in correct information, and then make it unlisted. When the people in Congress are given the analogy with the phone system (ie, unlisted numbers) it will become a matter of subpeonas, and then for the courts in the cases of infringement, as it should be.
libertarianswag.com
"The Government must play a greater role in punishing those who conceal their identities online, particularly when they do so in furtherance of a serious federal criminal offense or in violation of a federally protected intellectual property right," Smith said...
So - that sentence can end at the first comma, and be no less accurate in representing his opinion.
Smith and Berman drafted the bill after receiving complaints from the entertainment and software industries...
'Of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporations'
The bill would not affect people who are trying to safeguard their privacy because it
only makes it a crime to submit false registration data when it is done to help commit a
crime...
Now if we could only keep that pesky concept of what constitutes a "crime" from continually
expanding...
<grrr>
...like it's a big deal. This is the type of law that would only get enforced when you really piss someone off. If you're running an illegal site, you can expect that they'll heap this charge on with the 1000 others they levy against you. Without a motive like illegal activity, it's difficult to prove that you were being intentionally misleading. (Unless you're dumb enough to fill it out with "Snoopy, 10 Charlie Brown Drive, Gotham City" that is...)
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
I don't want my physical address available to the world. Domain minders should collect it for billing and security reasons, but NOT for publicly-available databases.
Table-ized A.I.
What if I want to setup a domain name criticizing my private school? They censor the newspapers so the internet is the only medium in which that would be possible to do anonymously. Just as I could give out fliers while wearing a mask without breaking the law, I should be able to do the same thing on the internet. Additionally, there are alternatives that you can pay for as well (but costs more than putting in fake information). They shouldn't be legislating against the ways in which people conceal themselves; they should be legislating against the things that they DO while concealed! Being anonymous isn't a crime. Punish the crime, not the anonymity. Wow politicians are so stupid. No wonder the good ones turn into teachers instead.
Overall, having accurate information in the WHOIS database I think is essential for the ever-growing registration of web spaces on the Internet. However, just having "valid" data in the current database really won't cut it, as previous posts have stated with spammers conveniently using this as a virtual picking ground for targets.
What there needs to be, IMHO, is a re-vamp of how WHOIS works in storing data, and how the domain registrars handle that data. Things like admin email accounts and contact information (phone numbers, addresses, etc.) should be required to register, but should be in a database maintained by the registrar, and is not available to the rest of the population. If someone has a problem with you (spamming from your domain, etc.), it should be the registrar's issue, since they sold you the domain name. They should be the point of contact, and in turn send you mail with the question or complaint. This will protect people's privacy from the would-be spammer, and then give the government accurate information on who owns what. I don't agree with the whole BB thing either, but having accountability for what one has on his/her website needs to be enforced to a point, and having this data up to date will help enforce that.
You should, I should, EVERYONE should. Laws in the book that are not enforced today does not mean they will not be exploited at a later date to harass citizens.
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
"Do your homework before posting half-informed diatribes to the front page." ...but this is Slashdot! The whole POINT is to post half-informed diatribes and cause people to assume it's a rights-trampling orgy!
/. headline for that would read: "Windows Still Used To Violate Civil Rights" or something equally idiotic.
I've said before that if someone discovered Linux was in use in a prison system somewhere, the
Honorary Member of Jackie Chan's Kung Fu Process Servers
When will they learn? Yet another 'law' proposed to clear up that dirty old Internet.
Congress, please read: THE INTERNET EXTENDS WAY BEYOND US BORDERS.
Many scams are perpetrated from sites OUTSIDE the US, how do you think your proposed law helps?
Please stop bowing to the corporate masters!
Yes, I am a Citizen of the United States.
Anything is possible given time and money.