FTC seeks open access to Whois databases

[mandy]

The Federal Trade Commission has made a pitch for open access to Whois, saying the databases are a key weapon in its fight against spyware and other Internet fraud.

The agency on Tuesday called access to the Whois databases, which contain contact information for Web site operators, "critical to the agency's consumer protection laws." It was responding to a recommendation from a Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers committee to restrict use of the data to strictly "technical purposes.",,,

"If ICANN restricts the use of Whois data to technical purposes only, it will greatly impair the FTC's ability to identify Internet malefactors quickly--and ultimately stop perpetrators of fraud, spam and spyware from infecting consumers' computers,"...

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