On Fri, 07 May 1999 15:32:18 -0400, "A.M. Rutkowski"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>At 03:04 PM 5/7/99 , Martin B. Schwimmer wrote:
>>Wired: WHO OWNS WHOIS DATABASE? (POL. Thursday)
>
>>Robert Raisch, who was active in initial commercialization of the
>>domain-name system and now an Internet business consultant, said if the
>>investigation is successful the Whois database will be deemed a public
>>resource.
>
>When did DOJ acquire the authority to deem the information
>extracted from a private company's customer database a
>"public resource?"
>
It isn't this private company's customer database. It is the database
of registrants in a set of Top Level Domains for which this company
has been CONTRACTED to manage.
Part of this contract included a compensation mechanism, initially
with a USG signed check, and then by permitting NSI to retain $35/yr
per registration.
The USG permited a "compensation mechanism" in the contract that has
an extremely high value. This was how they compensated NSI for
carrying out its responsibilities under the contract.
This data was compiled subject to this contract. NSI has no strong
claim to right to that data, the USG does however.
