Private .US Registrations Disallowed by NTIA

jnetsurfer writes "Apparently, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration ("NTIA") has decided that domains under the TLD .US have no right to privacy. New domain names ending in .US will not be able to be registered as "private" and current owners of .US names will be forced to reveal their contact information starting "no later than January 26, 2006". This means that you can't run an annonymous website with a .US TLD. If you don't like this, feel free to sign the petition."

Comments

I'd sign the petition...

[drafalski]

...but I don't want to give out my name, adress, email, et cetera.

Re:I'd sign the petition...

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course, there is a huge problem with putting domain ownership contact information out in the public. Not everyone is a business and not everyone has a PO box.

There are plenty of ignorant people out there who can only react to differing opinions, beliefs or behavior with threats and violence. I run a very popular niche goth site and, while I'm not exactly goth myself, there are a lot of people out there who react to things like the school shooting this month by making threats to anyone they can find that fits whatever their own perverted (media-given) impression of a "goth" or "punk" is.

Or, perhaps, a woman running an abortion rights action site who would like to keep her information private. Last thing you want to be is in the crosshairs of some religious nut who believes god is directing him or her to save the fetuses by blowing your brains out.

There are any number of valid reasons to want to maintain some sort of privacy to keep the freaks and nutcases from tracking you down. The most violent thing I've ever seen a goth kid do is pick his nose. But I tell you, I sure was thinking about going into hiding recently when the school shooting occurred.

Re:I'd sign the petition...

[Maestro4k]

Likewise, an anonymously registered and maintained TLD is useful for only a few things. Most of them wrong. I.e. you can knowingly publish libelous material as long as nobody knows it was put out by you.

• Don't get spammed much do you? I recently registered two domains, both will have a quasi-business site on them, both very valid public sites. I registered them privately on purpose, I don't want any more spam because of domain registrations.

• Back in the mid 1990s I registered two domains. Spam wasn't the problem it is now at the time, and I used a permanent E-mail address. A few years after that I started getting spammed constantly, mostly trying to push other domains or other domain registars at me, along with the weak phishing-type scams trying to make me think my domain had expired. Since then, even though the domains no longer exist, the amount of spam at that address has risen drastically. It gets hundreds a day now, and most of them can be attributed back to registering two domain names. Personally I think you'd be nuts to register a domain either non-privately or with any real contact info nowadays. Spammers will still mine the whois databases, they don't care about the rules prohibiting it.

  There are other good reasons as well. What about people who have a stalker? Rape victims or other violent crime victims? Identity theft victims, or those wanting to avoid becoming one? Political activists who don't want bricks thrown through their windows by overzealous people of opposite beliefs?

  There are many VERY good reasons to want a private registration, very few of which are "wrong". Private registration also does not mean you're free from the law. My real contact info is in escrow with the proxy service, if they get a subpoena they will release my real info to the police. I'm still bound by the law, I just am no longer bound by the spammers.

Re:I'd sign the petition...

[Malor]

Personally, I don't like the fact that as a private citizen that wants to host his own email server, I have to reveal my real name, phone number, and ADDRESS to every human being on the globe with access to WHOIS.

This can be badly misused, and has been already by spammers. I get an enormous amount of spam aimed at my (formerly) published contact emails, and a lot of it comes in complete with the (obsolete) address data from back then. The ONLY way they could have gotten this information is from WHOIS, and I'm not happy about them having it; they have no legitimate reason to be in possession of that data.

I really like what Namecheap is doing. For an extra five or six bucks a year, they'll hide your real address and give you an anonymized contact address... mail sent to this random address will be forwarded to your real email, invisibly to the sender. So, if there is a problem with your domain, you are still contactable. If there's a legal problem with a domain, then of course the real info is going to be available to any form of law enforcement.

But it's hidden from the casual spammer/identity thief, and I am very, very happy about this.

Requiring people to publish information about a domain is sort of a presumption of guilt...."if you're innocent, you have nothing to hide!" Well, I am innocent and I have plenty to hide...like where I live. If I want to host an mail or a web server, my responsibility is to make sure I can be contacted in case of problems. My responsibility is not and never was to tell you exactly who and where I am, no matter what ICANN happens to think.

Who cares, it's a stupid domain anyway

[Anonymous Coward]

Get a .COM

Godaddy

[TheFlu]

Here's the email I received from Godaddy.com regarding this issue:

"Today I have the unfortunate responsibility of informing you that there has been a decision made by bureaucrats of a Federal agency that takes away your right to privacy as guaranteed by the United States Constitution.

This decision was unilaterally made by the National Telecommunications and Information Association ("NTIA") www.ntia.doc.gov without hearings that would determine the impact on those affected, and delivered without notice -- in short, the NTIA decision was made without due process of any kind. This is exactly how our government is not supposed to work.

The effect of this decision is to disallow new private domain name registrations on .US domain names. In addition, if you already own a private .US domain name registration, you will be forced to forfeit your privacy no later than January 26, 2006. By that time, you will need to choose between either making your personal information available to anyone who wants to see it, or giving up your right to that domain name.

I personally find it ironic that our right to .US privacy was stripped away, without due process, by a federal government agency -- an agency that should be looking out for our individual rights. For the NTIA to choose the .US extension is the ultimate slap in your face. .US is the only domain name that is specifically intended for Americans (and also those who have a physical presence in our great country). So think about this for a moment. These bureaucrats stripped away the privacy that you're entitled to as an American, on the only domain name that says that you are an American. I am outraged by this -- you should be also.

If, like me, you are outraged at the NTIA's decision to strip away our constitutional right to privacy, www.TheDangerOfNoPrivacy.com will provide you with a petition to sign. (Only your name will be published, your address and email information will be kept private.) This Web site also provides a very easy way for you to send either a fax or an email, expressing your outrage, to your Congressperson and Senators. This is all provided at no cost to you. All that is required is for you to take the time to visit www.TheDangerOfNoPrivacy.com sign the petition, and send the fax or email to your legislators.

On my personal Blog, www.BobParsons.com there are a number of articles where you can learn more about the NTIA's unfortunate decision and what you can do to help get it reversed.

I also will be talking about our right to privacy on Radio Go Daddy, our weekly radio show that debuts today, March 30, at 7 PM PST. To find out how to listen in, please visit the Web site dedicated to the show, www.RadioGoDaddy.com.

You can be sure that I, and everyone at GoDaddy.com, will do everything in our power to get the NTIA decision reversed. However, we need your help. Please visit www.TheDangerOfNoPrivacy.com to sign the petition and express your feelings to your Congressperson and Senators.

Sincerely,

Bob Parsons
President and Founder
GoDaddy.com"

Use a third-party to register your domain

[bigtallmofo]

There are many third parties that will register your domain name with valid contact information that isn't related to you at all.

Other than that, it should be pointed out that ICANN has had a rule for years that you must have valid contact information in your WHOIS records. Of course, they've also ignored that same rule for years.

Re:Use a third-party to register your domain

[tuxette]

Aw crap, you beat me to saying "use (trusted) third parties to register your domain name." *sigh*

So while we're on the topic of third parties, some questions:

- has there been any discussion surrounding banning the use of these third parties?

- what are the laws/rules/liabilities/etc. regarding the relationship between third parties and the government, and third parties and their customers, in dealing with issues between the government and a customer?

Am I missing something?

[Anonymous Coward]

I was under the impression that DNS ownership records for other TLDs (E.g. .com) had to be publically? At least in theory, it should also be geniune and correct.

Why should .us be a special case? Being able to find accurate data from a simple whois is an important tool for a lot of network administrators.

So get a domain in Denmark

[Snaller]

The Danish hostmaster recognize the individuals right to privacy, and if you wish to be "unlisted" you can be. Of course they know who you are, and break the law they'll hand over your information to the police.

Links to decision?

[Jumbo Jimbo]

This is an interesting story but the Original poster gives 2 links to the petition website but not links to the decision by the NTIA.

By following the link from the petition site to the NTIA home page, there's nothing there about this particular decision, and some preliminary hunting hasn't shown up the relevant article for this.

Most of the time us Slashdot readers can find the information for ourselves, but here we are being asked to sign a petition based on the evidence presented by the poster, not by reading the docs for ourselves (of cause we would all have RTFA if it was posted, obviously). I think it's a bit underhand asking us to sign this petition on an obsure decision that is not easy to find, without providing a link to the decision.

If anyone can find a link to the decision I'd be very grateful.

NTIA Follow up statement

[nixfixer]

All your domains are belong to .US

.US Registry Censors Domains Too ...

[Ron Bennett]

The .US Registry has disabled and locked numerous .US domains containing "dirty" words alone, regardless of whether the domains were actually used or not.

So much for freedom of speech and expression in .US - but then America is full of contradictions :(

I've owned FuckCensorship.COM / .ORG / .NET for years and never had any problems ... yet, my FuckCensorship.US domain was only active for a short time and then disabled/locked.

In short, .US domains are best avoided for anything critical ... not solely because of the censorship issues, but rather more so because the .US Registry changes polices willy nilly with little regard to registrants.

Domain Name FUCKCENSORSHIP.US
Domain ID D1877066-US
Sponsoring Registrar INTERCOSMOS MEDIA GROUP, INC. D.B.A. DIRECTNIC.COM
Domain Status serverDeleteProhibited
Domain Status serverTransferProhibited
Domain Status serverUpdateProhibited
Registrant ID IMG-146583
Registrant Name Ron Bennett
Registrant Organization Ron Bennett
Registrant Address1 PO BOX 6532
Registrant City Wyomissing
Registrant State/Province PA
Registrant Postal Code 19610-0532
Registrant Country United States
Registrant Country Code US
Registrant Phone Number +1.6107776566
Registrant Email bennett@wyomissing.com
Registrant Application Purpose P1
Registrant Nexus Category C11
Administrative Contact ID IMG-146583
Administrative Contact Name Ron Bennett
Administrative Contact Organization Ron Bennett
Administrative Contact Address1 PO BOX 6532
Administrative Contact City Wyomissing
Administrative Contact State/Province PA
Administrative Contact Postal Code 19610-0532
Administrative Contact Country United States
Administrative Contact Country Code US
Administrative Contact Phone Number +1.6107776566
Administrative Contact Email bennett@wyomissing.com
Administrative Contact Application Purpose P1
Administrative Contact Nexus Category C11
Billing Contact ID IMG-146583
Billing Contact Name Ron Bennett
Billing Contact Organization Ron Bennett
Billing Contact Address1 PO BOX 6532
Billing Contact City Wyomissing
Billing Contact State/Province PA
Billing Contact Postal Code 19610-0532
Billing Contact Country United States
Billing Contact Country Code US
Billing Contact Phone Number +1.6107776566
Billing Contact Email bennett@wyomissing.com
Billing Contact Application Purpose P1
Billing Contact Nexus Category C11
Technical Contact ID IMG-146583
Technical Contact Name Ron Bennett
Technical Contact Organization Ron Bennett
Technical Contact Address1 PO BOX 6532
Technical Contact City Wyomissing
Technical Contact State/Province PA
Technical Contact Postal Code 19610-0532
Technical Contact Country United States
Technical Contact Country Code US
Technical Contact Phone Number +1.6107776566
Technical Contact Email bennett@wyomissing.com
Technical Contact Application Purpose P1
Technical Contact Nexus Category C11
Name Server INVALIDNS1.NEUSTAR.COM
Name Server INVALIDNS2.NEUSTAR.COM
Created by Registrar INTERCOSMOS MEDIA GROUP, INC. D.B.A. DIRECTNIC.COM
Last Updated by Registrar BATCHCSR
Domain Registration Date Wed Apr 24 17:52:47 GMT+00:00 2002
Domain Expiration Date Sat Apr 23 23:59:59 GMT+00:00 2005
Domain Last Updated Date Sat Apr 24 04:35:46 GMT+00:00 2004

Whois database was last updated on: Thu Mar 31 13:14:23 GMT 2005

Re:Good - uh, think again

[gorbachev]

This has NOTHING to do with spam or spammers.

A Mailboxes, Etc. address is just as anonymous as a fake address.

If you really need to know the contact information, you can subpoena the billing information for the domain. That can NOT be forged, unless the owner also wants to do time for credit card fraud.

These sort of rules only inconvenience ordinary people, who wish to remain anonymous for one reason or another.

My reason to always put fake info (it looks real though) in my domain registrations is that I don't want the net.kooks come knock on my door every time they get upset about what I publish on the websites. If they want to contact me, they either use email or subpoena the billing info (which is not fake).

Constitutional right to privacy

[tepples]

The constitutional right to privacy in the United States springs from an interpretation of the Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure combined with the et-cetera clauses in the Ninth and Tenth Amendments.

Re:Constitutional right to privacy

[Fastolfe]

When you buy land, or register a name for your business, you have to provide certain details about yourself to your local government, which becomes public information.

Why is this any different? Why does a "constitutional right to privacy" not apply to these situations, but should apply to someone registering a DNS domain? A DNS domain is intended to reflect an administrative domain over Internet infrastructure. We need published contact information if you intend on connecting infrastructure to the Internet when that infrastructure is significant enough to warrant its own second-level DNS domain. If you intend to (ab)use a DNS domain as a content label for your Interweb content, you need to be aware of what the DNS domain is intended to represent, and be prepared to abide by the requirements that result from that even though you aren't using your DNS domain for what it was designed.

It's like me going downtown and buying a lot of land just so that I can post some signs carrying some anti-government statements, and then balking because the evil government wants me to identify myself as the owner of that parcel of land. I don't have to own that land in order to exercise my right to free speech. You don't have to own your own little DNS domain in order to have a web outlet for your content.

Ban Dihydrogen Oxide!!!

[ecklesweb]

The thing that aggravated me about godaddy's letter (yeah, I got that email too) is that there is absolutely NO information directly from the NTIA about what the policy is, says, how it was arrived at, what the goal is, or when they believe the results will be. This petition drive has thus far been a completely one-sided story. As a result, I have to think that anyone who would sign the petition, save those that have managed to dig up more info that I have, are just drinking the koolaid.

I will fault NTIA for apparently having no mention of the policy on their website (at least last time I checked yesterday). There's no rational reason for them to either set new policy like this or start enforcing existing policy without hearings or public comment. It's even less excuable that after the fact they won't provide their side of the story. They refused comment in the couple of media stories I saw about this.

By the way, that's right, it's not a new policy, it's enforcement of a previously unenforced existing policy. So for that, I think some blame may lay on the registrars who allowed proxy registrations for .us domains. Shame on them if they failed to inform the registrants that a proxy registration of a .us domain was technically a violation of NTIA policy. If they did inform registrants, then the registrants should have seen this coming.

Re:Most people with privacy needs don't need a dom

[macdaddy]

Like it or not, the purpose of a DNS domain is to identify a namespace for hosts under your control. In short, a DNS domain reflects Internet infrastructure, not some vanity content label. If you're going to connect infrastructure to the Internet, you should be prepared to announce your identity to the rest of the Internet so that if/when you cause problems, you can be contacted.

Do you own a car? If so then you are part of the automotive infrastructure of whatever state/country you live in. What would you say if a government agency unilaterally required that all members of the automotive infrastructure post their name, address and telephone number in big bold letters on all their vehicles? That way all the other members of the automotive infrastructure can clearly see your identity so that if/when you cause problems, you can be contacted. Sound good to you? It must because that's exactly what you're condoning for the owners of .us TLDs.

This is not 1988. The Internet can't be summed up in a hosts file. Get your head out of the glory days of the past and join the rest of us in the real world.