Sgt_Kickaxe - 1:16 pm on Jan 31, 2012 (gmt 0)

I disagree Marshal and I'd like to put your public record privacy theory to the test, if I may.

Test, please respond in a post with the answers to the following question: What is your full name, current mailing address and phone number where I can reach you right now? Somehow I don't think you'll want to post those, for obvious privacy reasons.

My point is that ICANN may need the information in order to deal with fraud or proper legal request but joe public does not need them since it is highly unlikely anyone you don't know NEEDS to call you, mail you something or god forbid knock on your door if you post something online they don't like (lots of crazies out there).

Does ICANN's plan to make real information mandatory come with a plan to protect that information from Joe Public? If it doesn't we are about to have an unprecedented source of personal information thrown online for better or worse.

A BETTER idea - make real information mandatory but remove public access to it, without proper legal reason/request, just like with all other sources e.g. drivers license, passport, banking information etc. This would also put an end to website privacy fees which in many cases are higher per year than the domain registration fees depending on registrar. In my opinion it should have been this way from the start.

P.S. Please DO NOT post real information here to prove a point, it's a bad idea, I just wanted to demonstrate that privacy does matter.