invalid whois - is it a problem

[callivert]

Often I'll see a domain that has an invalid whois, the contact information is all just junk.
e.g. [e-mail]
address: 999999999 Road, Somewhereville.

Of course, if they had bought privacy protection it would be the same situation. But these people don't pay for privacy, they've just got bogus info.
Sure, they're worried about spam, but my registration information for most domains is totally public. Yes, I get spam every day, but it's manageable, especially with a spam filter. Having put my email "out there" and experienced the problem, I don't think that's an adequate excuse.
So. People shouldn't do it, I guess, but is this the same as saying "people shouldn't eat fries?" everyone does it anyway and the world doesn't end.
Does it matter?
Should we report these, or live and let live?
Does reporting it do anything anyway?

[londrum]

i did that kind of thing once, and i kept getting emails from someone (can't remember who, but it was from some official-sounding people) saying they were "giving me the opportunity to update my whois information" as they like to check that all such information is correct.
needless to say, mine was a load of old rubbish, just as in your example.
quite what they would have done if i didn't update it, i don't know.
but as soon as i corrected it the emails stopped. maybe it was just my domain company though. it was so long ago i can't remember.

[iwannano1]

Network solutions sends automated email even if whois info is correct.

[blueheelers]

I have heard that Godaddy is particular about the WhoIs. They even have a tool where you can turn someone in who has an invalid WhoIs.

[creeking]

you're ok with privacy protection, but not with fake contact info?

let it go.

added: I have reported one domain, but not -exactly- for fake whois. it was for no whois info available whatsoever. the whois lookup for the registrar of that domain would not return any information. it would say something like "too many connections. try again later." after getting this response several times, I reported it. it was working properly a week later. fwiw, that registrar's whois would work properly for other domains, just not the one I was interested in. so it was maybe a missing or corrupted file or something.