Sgt_Kickaxe - 11:21 pm on Jan 31, 2012 (gmt 0)

"ICANN expects that the RAA will incorporate – for the first time – Registrar commitments to verify WHOIS data," CEO Rod Beckstrom told the US Department of Commerce earlier this month.

What that means to the average webmaster

~ Increased .com prices to cover the added expense/time your registrar will need to confirm your identity, even if you provided the real identity to ICANN all along.

~ Your personal information is held for ransom, pay the verification costs + privacy costs or have your information in the wind for anyone to use as they want.

This, in my opinion, has nothing to do with hiding - it has to do with a broken system in which your privacy is STILL not a priority. You USED to be able to give 555-5555 as a phone number to ICANN (with real number to your host) to protect your privacy but now you won't be able to AND privacy concerns are still NOT fixed first. It's a very real problem.

I have the solution, they can get those info, but then nobody then have access to the whois only with court order.

Exactly, every regular joe in the web doesn't need your home number/address just because you once ran a fishing blog. The information should not be publicly available to begin with BUT if it wasn't ICANN would not be able to charge hefty privacy fees... so they never fixed it. This presses the issue. The fix is to make everyone's information PRIVATE by default unless you want your business name (if you have one) displayed publicly or someone is suing/charging you. ICANN won't do that because they'd be losing a cash cow, privacy fees are equal to registration costs right now. Privacy advocates are gearing up for a fight right now, the problem needs to be fixed.