[thechat] WHOIS & public info?

[Hugh Blair]

> I had this idea in my head that info in WHOIS is public info and
> would be okay to pass on publicly... but in retrospect, thinking
> about it, it seems less cut & dried.

It *is* cut and dried. WHOIS information is public. You are required
by the registrar agreements to use 'valid' name/address/email info.
Of course, that can be a PO Box instead of your house address, but
the email address should be valid or you won't be able to receive
notifications from your registrar and making changes to your DN
account will be next to impossible.

> I'm not sure domain registrars make it clear that the info is
> publicly accessible, and as I recall, you *must* provide an
> address... so if you have no PO box or office address, you must
> either provide a home address or fake it.

Each registration site should have links to the registrar agreements
that you agree to when registering a DN. If they don't, then they
are not acting properly. Do folks read them? Nope. But they still
are in effect.

Here's some:
http://www.wholesalenics.net/agreements.html

These are the standard agreements for various domain names.

> And thinking about it further, I, a person who makes it a practice
> not to make my home address public, when I look up my domain info, I
> see my (previous) home address listed.

And you haven't updated it?

> So now I feel bad about having referred to the WHOIS info on
> a public list.

Simply, don't.

> But my brain keeps fighting itself... "this was so easy to find, it's
> public info" (says one side) "but it doesn't mean the registrant
> knows this" says the other side.

Anyone with two brain cells touching can find this information.

> And as I poke around, I see a few well known personalities, the type
> of people who might worry about stalkers, with what appear to be home
> addresses listed publicly on WHOIS.

Or you see the address of their proxies - maybe lawyers/agents.

> Now I'm not sure what to think about the information on that
> database... except I think that it's irresponsible of the hosting
> companies not to make it clear that any info you give them is going
> to be publicly available.

It's not the hosting companies, it's the registrars where you got
your DN.

<plug> Of course there's this service:
http://www.hiddenregistration.com/
</plug>

Public WHOIS is a hot topic in the industry. Answers are not quickly
coming, but changes may happen. May. Opt-out for some information is
probably what will happen in the next year or so. May.

--
    Hugh