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."

Comments

OT outlaws (Re:I find this idea disturbing.)

[JamesOfTheDesert]

While that idea might be more accurately stated as "When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will accidentally shoot their own kids, ...

Well, actually, it might be better put as, "When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will defend their homes and lives against burglars, muggers, and home invasions."