Private domain name registrations for .us domains eliminated

• Everyone knows that there are many tricks and traps lurking on the Internet, just waiting to prey on unsuspecting and innocent users.
• To make the Internet a safer place both legislators and law enforcement are now focusing on the Internet.
• One bad decision that was recently forced upon the Internet community (without hearings -- more on this later) was to eliminate private domain name registrations for .US domain names.
• First, why the public WHOIS database is important.
• The information in (or associated with) the WHOIS database is important to law enforcement, intellectual property and other attorneys, who use this data to locate domain name owners for the purpose of enforcing laws or addressing grievances.
• This is where the problem caused by anonymity rears its ugly head.
• Inaccurate information happens mostly because some registrants who want to achieve anonymity -- for a myriad of reasons, some of which are despicable -- provide false information to begin with.
• The second problem with the WHOIS database is that there are many law abiding citizens who also, for a myriad of reasons, want their personal information not made available to the public.
• Various government agencies, intellectual property organizations, attorneys, and others have long wrestled with how to improve the accuracy of information in the WHOIS database.
• There would be no reason to incur the added, small expense of a private registration.
• To this, add the cost to litigate lawsuits that are filed almost on a daily basis.
• After I finished describing to him that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) ruled, without hearings of any kind, that private domain name registrations for .US domains will no longer be allowed, David commented that the issue is really one of privacy versus anonymity.
• He explained that privacy should be allowed, because with privacy comes accountability.