Russia to Halt Public Access to .RU Whois Data?

An anonymous reader writes "A Domain Tools blog post is reporting on a Russian newspaper article regarding a provision of Russian law that would prohibit public access or posting of Whois data for the .RU TLD without written permission. The Personal Data law, which the article states went into effect on January 30, 2007, will require compliance by RosNIIROSa (www.ripn.net) by 2010."

Comments

Works for me. I hate the fact that it's required.

[garcia]

There's absolutely no reason that in the US we must have valid contact information in that database. I use my work address, phone number, and my website spam GMail account on there because I don't want to deal w/the bullshit spam, letters in the mail, etc.

Whoever had the bright idea to mandate that for ending spam didn't think clearly. Perhaps Russia (while not their motivation for this move) is on the right track.

Re:SO am I right in thinking...

[Not The Real Me]

...largest collection of hacking and spamming sites will now have protection against people finding out who even owns the domains...

I do believe that is the goal. It's the Russian embrace of western capitalism. The Russians are looking to attract (and protect) the type of web site entrepreneurs who would be in violation of the stricter U.S. laws. Periodically you will see news items where U.S. authorities crack down on web site operators whose servers are hosted in Russia but the persons behind the operations reside in the United States.

Re:Mmmmm.... a conspracy...

[Qzukk]

Actions have multiple consequences, so why can't they have multiple causes?

Inconceivable! If that were the case, then how could we continue to blame videogames for violence, blame WMD's for the invasion on Iraq, and incompetence for that which could be ascribed to malice?!