[ppml] Petition Request for Whois Proposal

[A. Michael Salim]

Hi,

> http://www.arin.net/mailing_lists/ppml/2593.html

I took a quick look and on the face of it I am in full agreement and
support.  It is about time we started re-visiting the WHOIS mess.

IMHO the existing WHOIS system, which is so readily accessible, is being
misused by at least three groups of people:

a) marketeers wishing to build mailing lists to spam or sell

b) militant anti-spammers to harrass perceived end-contacts

c) aggressive attorneys or legal representatives wishing to scare or
brow-beat ISP's into disconnecting their client's enemies.  This one
particularly irks me and I have lost count of the number of times I have
received baseless threats from "attorneys" because of some perceived or
claimed infringement on the part of some client that we happen to host on
our network.  So much so that there are now precedents that say it is OK
for them to do so!

Mike Dillon, if you need additional supporters for your petition please
let me know so that it gets on the agenda.

best regards
Mike Salim