Domain Owners Lose Privacy

KingFish

The U.S. Commerce Department has ordered companies that administer internet addresses to stop allowing customers to register .us domain names anonymously using proxy services.

The move does not affect owners of .com and .net domains. But it means website owners with .us domains will no longer be able to shield their name and contact information from public eyes.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center said the move violates First Amendment rights to anonymous free speech. And the representative of one of the largest domain-registration companies is concerned that customers who have been victims of stalkers won't be able to protect their privacy without changing their web address to a domain that offers anonymity.

Wired News has learned that the edict came a month ago from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Commerce Department agency that advises the president on telecommunications and information policy. The agency ruled with no warning and without any discussion with the companies accredited to sell and register .us domains. The domain companies were told they would lose their right to sell .us domains -- the official, top-level domain for the United States -- if they didn't comply.

Source: Wired

guest

whoever posted this needs to say if you are allowed to be anonymous with an already registered .com or with newly registered .com's

KingFish

If you would follow the url you would see that is included with the whole story. We generally don't post the whole news story as we would not like to take credit for their news story, which is why the source is included with the link to the whole story and posted at the end.

KingFish