----- Original Message -----
From: "Ross Wm. Rader" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, February 15, 2001 6:34 PM
>
> So...the short answer is no we have not licensed our whois database to a
> third party to allow them to send out BUCE. We have however licensed the
> data to third parties according to the terms of the above agreement...
I wasn't implying that you had licensed the database specifically for the
purposes of UCE, but rather rather that unfortunately it might be used for such
purposes according to messages on other lists.
I have to say that this ICANN provision is extremely questionable to say the
very least - even $10K is nothing to major marketing organisations (e.g. DMA
members), who have electronic access to hundreds of millions of email addresses
on this list - and of course snail mail addresses.
What happened to "opt-out" - should not people registering domains have the
ability to indicate whether their personal information can be "sold" or
"licensed" for commercial purposes in this way? Registering a domain is
certainly not confer de-facto permission for data to be used commercially.
I don't blame OpenSRS/Tucows for this - but being as heavily involved in the
anti-spam arena as I am, leads me to believe that this is a potentially
dangerous, not to mention highly unethical situation and potentially highly
volatile situation, brought about apparently as a result of slack, or ill
thought out ICANN policies. As it is - OpenSRS are being heavily implicated
elsewhere for this, unfairly maybe - but as ICANN registrars I do think that we
have a right to expect that you use whatever power you have to protect the
rights and confidentiality of your customers and those registering domains.
Regards,
Adrian Cooper.
