Dr. Brin, I thought you might find this interesting considering some of your
recent posts concerning privacy, government and rights...
This is an interesting and somewhat perplexing development in the rights to
use private domain registrations with .US domains. As of Jan 6, 2006, one
cannot use a private registration for .US domains. See letter below from
GoDaddy.
I personally don't have any .US domains, but I do have several .COM's that I
have elected to use private registrations for. For those not familiar...
Private registrations allow one to register a domain and use a "proxy"
company as the registrant. If you look up my children's domains, the
registration information is listed as "Domains By Proxy", but yet I keep
full ownership and control of the domain. This is strictly a safety and
privacy issue to keep weirdoes and strangers from being able to easily track
down the location of me or my kids. It also has the added benefit of
reducing SPAM.
I am a little perplexed as to why they chose to only specify .US domains and
not any of the other extensions, also, this was unnecessary as the proxy
companies still have valid contact information for domain owners as well as
credit card numbers, mailing addresses and email addresses. It would be no
more or less difficult to track someone through the proxy company as it
would the domain registrar.
My guess is that .COM's, .NET's and all of the other domain extensions will
be next...
Letter from Go Daddy....
Dear Valued Go Daddy Customer,
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 <http://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
<http://www.thedangerofnoprivacy.com/?isc=GDG0329US> 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
<http://www.thedangerofnoprivacy.com/?isc=GDG0329US> sign the petition, and
send the fax or email to your legislators.
On my personal Blog, www.BobParsons.com
<http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/blogredirect.asp?isc=GDG0329US> 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 <http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/radio.asp?isc=GDG0329US>
.
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
<http://www.thedangerofnoprivacy.com/?isc=GDG0329US> to sign the petition
and express your feelings to your Congressperson and Senators.
Sincerely,
<http://imagesak.godaddy.com/promos/htmlemails/Bob_Sig.gif>
Bob Parsons
President and Founder
GoDaddy.com
_______________________________________________
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