On 2025-01-14 01:38:08 (+0800), David Farmer via SIG-policy wrote:
However, I strongly object to the complete removal of postal contact
information from Bulk Whois. This would significantly degrade the
usefulness of this information for Internet Research purposes, one of
the
explicitly permitted uses of Bulk Whois. Withholding the street name
and
number could be reasonable for privacy protection; however, most
postal
contact information should remain in Bulk Whois for statistical
correlation, including the city, state, province, county, and postal
codes.
I would still support this policy proposal if it were amended to remove
only the most specific contact information from the bulk access channel:
email addresses, telephone numbers, fax numbers (it's amazing how much
fax spam persists in 2025) and the most specific line(s) of postal
addresses.
The objective of this policy proposal is not to attempt to anonymise
resource holders but to limit the potential for misuse of their data.
Furthermore, if you suspect abuse of Whois or Bulk Whois, this should
be
reported to APNIC;
APNIC's website states, "Any use of this material to target
advertising or
similar activities is explicitly forbidden and will be prosecuted.
APNIC
requests to be notified of any such activities or suspicions thereof."
If people violate APNIC policy, the first step is to report this to
APNIC
and ask APNIC to enforce its policies. Eliminating data from Whois or
Bulk
Whois is not the place to start. Now, if you are saying you have
repeatedly
reported such violations to APNIC, this policy change may be
appropriate,
but I don't see anything in the proposal that says any of the
violations
have been reported to APNIC.
As pointed out in the policy problem statement: several organisations
republish the data from the bulk WHOIS. This is permitted use and
generally also a net positive. When the republished data are harvested,
rather than the APNIC bulk WHOIS itself, reporting to APNIC doesn't do
much good.
Philip
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