Domain Anonymity and the Brilliance of Entertainment Lobbyists

To rid the internet of piracy, entertainment companies are willing to greatly reduce privacy, at least where website registration is concerned.

Where the entertainment industry views proxy registration as a pirate’s tool for obfuscation, privacy advocates see identity concealment as a feature that can enable free speech and freedom from harassment.

So there’s a new proposal to force any “commercial” website, which could cover pretty much anything, to have real WHOIS/contact info. This is a terrible idea, and of course there are already ample and simple means to bypass proxy services being actually abused with a court order. But they want to go a step further, so potentially a parenting blogger with ads or affiliate links on their site would be forced to put their actual home address and phone number in a public directory anyone on the internet can access, or break the law. What could go wrong? EFF has more about why this impacts user privacy.

I think the better question here, is when has the entertainment industry ever proposed something good for consumers or the internet? I’m not kidding, 100% serious: have they ever been right?

It seems like a good approach for governing bodies like FCC, ICANN, or Congress to just blanket oppose or do the opposite of what MPAA or COA propose, and they’ll be on the right side of history and magically appear to be a very tech-savvy candidate or regulator.

11 thoughts on “Domain Anonymity and the Brilliance of Entertainment Lobbyists

  1. “It seems like a good approach for governing bodies like FCC, ICANN, or Congress to just blanket oppose or do the opposite of what MPAA or COA propose”
    – Hmmm, but what if MPAA and/or COA wise up to this and start proposing the opposite of what they really want? Then what? Lol

  2. It’s like they just suggest the most outlandish thing they could think of, knowing the world is going to go “uh… No?”, and figure something else viable out for them. Oh… Wait…

  3. If you follow the EFF link to the https://www.respectourprivacy.com/ site you’ll see:

    Under new guidelines proposed by MarkMonitor and others who represent the same industries that backed SOPA

    I believe WordPress uses MarkMonitor to protect it’s domains/brand, maybe you could have a chat with MarkMonitor Matt 🙂

  4. ICANN is taking public comment (much like the FCC did with net neutrality) until July 7.

    If you think maybe paying a lot more for a lot less privacy isn’t such a great idea, ICANN is accepting public comment on this subject until July 7th, 2015. You can email them at comments-ppsai-initial-05may15@icann.org or fill out their online template if you prefer.

    Quote is from a blog post by my hosting provider. I love them and recommend them, but you don’t have to be their customer to read what’s on their blog and be alarmed by it.

    I would highly recommend anyone reading this to read that above blog post to educate yourself, and then submit your comment.

    I don’t know if ICANN actually gives a rat’s ass about public opinion, but it’s always worth a try, no matter how inconsequential it may seem.

  5. I have a real problem with this. Perhaps if the “Entertainment” industry were required to list the President and Board Member and Executive officers real names and addresses and their personal phone numbers along with every ICANN member and keep them up to date, it would never be proposed in the first place.

    That’s the real test of anything. Does it apply to the elite preach Global warming Al Gore, live like you want the rest of us to live. Want to pass new laws and regulations congress make sure that every one of them apply to every one of you no exemptions. Want to take away the rights of citizens to free speech then keep your own pie hole shut. Want to pass increase in gas mileage regulations make sure every car used by any member of the government meets those regulations first. Want to force what we eat to be only healthy then run the cafeterias of congress and every government place exactly like you propose the school programs to be. I could go on…

  6. I registered my new domain, and within 48 hours, I was getting sales calls on my cellphone. I didn’t know it was so easy to find the owner of a blog.

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