[ NNSquad ] ICANN wants to make WHOIS data easily accessible by law enforcement, inaccessible by ordinary users?

[Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com>]

ICANN wants to make WHOIS data easily accessible by law enforcement,
inaccessible by ordinary users?

http://j.mp/122r8Nh  (Computerworld Australia)

   "The copy of data associated with domain names housed in the ARDS would
    be non-authoritative: Authoritative data would be remain with global
    top-level domain registries, which would provide "frequent periodic
    updates" to the ARDS.  Access to the 'live' domain records maintained
    by gTLD registries would also be possible via the ARDS "upon request
    and subject to controls to deter overuse or abuse of this option".
    "Requestors" - people who want to query the data maintained by ARDS -
    would have to apply for the right to access domain information."

 - - -

This is obviously in early stages, but my initial reading suggests
that the focus is on making it as difficult as possible for ordinary
Internet users to query this data to help track down network problems,
attacks, and spam, etc. -- and as easy as possible for "law
enforcement" to access the data.  There appears to be a specific
intent to block all data except from "authorized" users who meet
specific criteria.  If this is indeed the intention, it could easily
be a disastrous mistake for the Internet community. Further
clarification would be welcome.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren 
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org/pfir-info
Founder:
 - Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org 
 - PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
 - Data Wisdom Explorers League: http://www.dwel.org
 - Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Google+: http://vortex.com/g+lauren / Twitter: http://vortex.com/t-lauren 
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com
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