What’s the Point of WhoIs?

I read an interesting article on the recent ICANN report about how most WhoIs records contain bad data.

TheRegister.co.uk article “77% of domain registrations stuffed with rubbish” published on February 17, 2010 by Kieran McCarthy, got me thinking.

Most domain registrars offer Domain Privacy services (we do) that mask your data in WhoIs records.

If you register a .CA domain as an individual, CIRA automatically hides your name, email, address etc.

I remember in the old days, I would conduct a WhoIs search to research companies that I was hoping to work for. Admin and Technical contacts used to be a gold mine of information of who was in charge.

Now, if the data is exposed, it usually says DomainAdmin or LegalCounsel for the names. Most of the data is not exposed and if ICANNs findings are true, that 77% of the information in the Whois is garbage, one begins to wonder – what’s the point of WhoIs?

Internet addresses are real estate – virtual real estate.  I can walk down any residential block in any city and have no idea who owns the houses.  I have to pony up the cash to do a title search – usually about $20 – to find out ownership.

Why don’t we treat domain names the same way?  Why not get rid of the WhoIs?  If you want to know ownership, you have to pay the Registry $20 to send an email to the owner to see if they want their information passed onto you.

Is the current system in place to allow trademark holders an easier way to send Cease and Desist letters?  Clearly it can’t be working for them as the majority of the data is bogus.

If law enforcement needs the information, they would merely apply to the Sponsoring Registry to get the information.  Worst case, we get a mini Whois that just shows the Registrar and law enforcement can apply to them for the information.

Whois – you’ve jumped the shark. Let’s just call it a day and move on.