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Private .US Registrations Disallowed by NTIA

Posted by samzenpus on from the no-.us-for-you dept.

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."

9 of 370 comments (clear)

  1. I'd sign the petition... by drafalski · · Score: 5, Funny

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

    1. Re:I'd sign the petition... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

    2. Re:I'd sign the petition... by Malor · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

  2. Who cares, it's a stupid domain anyway by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Get a .COM

  3. Godaddy by TheFlu · · Score: 5, Informative

    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"

    --

    --It's Pimptastic!--

  4. Am I missing something? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  5. Links to decision? by Jumbo+Jimbo · · Score: 5, Insightful
    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.

  6. NTIA Follow up statement by nixfixer · · Score: 5, Funny

    All your domains are belong to .US

  7. Constitutional right to privacy by tepples · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.