The End User: What's up with 'whois'?

News Type: Opinion — Seeded on Sat Nov 17, 2007 5:29 AM EST

Article Source: International Herald Tribune

technology, web-sites, domain-ownership, public-database, victoria-shannon

Whatis whois and whyis it a problem? This is not completely gibberish: "Whois" is a kind of public database that stores information about who owns what Web site.

It has been public since its inception in the 1970s. But many people want to make it private so that the personal data of domain name owners - both ordinary people and corporate entities - is not freely available on the Web.

Those privacy activists are opposed by law enforcers, Internet service providers and trademark owners, who want to keep "whois" public so that they can go after people who abuse Internet names and addresses.

Because the domain registration business is deregulated, many different companies and agencies have "whois" databases. Some of the main ones are at www.internic.net/whois.html, whois.iana.org, whois.net and www.uwhois.com (for country codes).

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Vanessa Wilson's Column, All of Newsvine
Groups: Newsvine Technology, Web Development
Regions: Paris

What's this?

Who's leading the conversation?

This visualization below allows you to see the impact that each user has on the current conversation. The top row contains the group of users who have had the most impact, the 2nd row the group of users who have had the 2nd most impact (et cetera). Users with similar impact are grouped together, and the average score of the group is shown to the left of the group. The author of the article is also shown on the left, in their corresponding group. Each user's score is based on the number of comments the user has made plus the number of votes their comments have received. The scores are calculated relative one another, so while their absolute value is not particularly important, their relative difference does indicate a larger difference in impact on the conversation.

7.3

{"commentId":1193354,"authorDomain":"djehuty"}

Djehuty

Most registrars allow some sort of hiding of the domain owners. Not from law enforcement, but from spammers. For example here is an excerpt from the whois for one of my domains:

Domain name: writingsonthewall.net
Registrant Contact:
   WhoisGuard
   WhoisGuard Protected (208291bbd00e44d6a1afb8674af8b8ee.protect@whoisguard.com)
   +1.6613102107
   Fax: +1.6613102107
   8939 S. Sepulveda Blvd
   8939 S. Sepulveda Blvd
   Westchester, CA 90045
   US

{"commentId":1193354,"threadId":"177201","contentId":"1103609","authorDomain":"djehuty"}

6 votes

#1 - Sat Nov 17, 2007 6:02 AM EST

{"commentId":1193360,"authorDomain":"redwolf"}

Red Wolf

As someone who routinely uses whois to trackdown scammers, I don't agree with it being hidden at all.

{"commentId":1193360,"threadId":"177201","contentId":"1103609","authorDomain":"redwolf"}

6 votes

#1.1 - Sat Nov 17, 2007 6:17 AM EST

{"commentId":1193384,"authorDomain":"djehuty"}

Djehuty

If I put my email on whois I may as well throw away that address - it's on every junk list in the world. So what would you suggest Red? Do scammers use real emails on whois or throwaway hotmail addresses?

{"commentId":1193384,"threadId":"177201","contentId":"1103609","authorDomain":"djehuty"}

6 votes

#1.2 - Sat Nov 17, 2007 6:57 AM EST

{"commentId":1193456,"authorDomain":"redwolf"}

Red Wolf

gmail addresses mostly, some use completely fake contact info, some are dumb enough to duplicate their details, but a lot use proxy registration services which may as well scream dodgy bastard to me.

You sign up for a domain, I see it as a public action and the ownership should also be public. Abuse of that information by spammers, should be harshly penalised, as should falsification of whois contact details.

{"commentId":1193456,"threadId":"177201","contentId":"1103609","authorDomain":"redwolf"}

3 votes

#1.3 - Sat Nov 17, 2007 7:53 AM EST

{"commentId":1193473,"authorDomain":"djehuty"}

Djehuty

But until a publically available email can be protected from spam the system makes it impossible for me to use my real email in a Whois entry, surely? What I'm saying is that I agree with you in principle, but I won't do it in practice until it's possible without getting spammed. It would be futile, because any email I used would soon be one I could not check - the flood of spam would make it useless.

{"commentId":1193473,"threadId":"177201","contentId":"1103609","authorDomain":"djehuty"}

3 votes

#1.4 - Sat Nov 17, 2007 8:14 AM EST

{"commentId":1193770,"authorDomain":"2timothy42"}

Sectim42

If I put my email on whois I may as well throw away that address - it's on every junk list in the world. So what would you suggest Red? Do scammers use real emails on whois or throwaway hotmail addresse

You should really use Gmail. I have numerous addresses in the public domain (WHOIS, on sites, etc...) and I get over 1,000 spam messages a day and 400 valid e-mails a day and 99.9% of all of them are classified perfectly by Gmail.

{"commentId":1193770,"threadId":"177201","contentId":"1103609","authorDomain":"2timothy42"}

3 votes

#1.5 - Sat Nov 17, 2007 11:33 AM EST

{"commentId":1194557,"authorDomain":"djehuty"}

Djehuty

It might make sense to route my mail through gmail for spam supression, but Spamassassin does a reasonable job, on my server. Just the same google already knows nearly everything about my browsing history - I'd prefer they didn't also have a copy of all my mail. That's entirely unjustified, so far, so call me paranoid if you want.

{"commentId":1194557,"threadId":"177201","contentId":"1103609","authorDomain":"djehuty"}

3 votes

#1.6 - Sat Nov 17, 2007 5:28 PM EST

{"commentId":1195707,"authorDomain":"ISPY"}

I SPY

writingsonthewall.net

64.79.223.2 (64.79.223.2) 232.054 ms vz64-006.spry.com (209.59.204.46) underworld.hott.net.au (64.79.215.40)

Took me less than 2 mins DJ :)

{"commentId":1195707,"threadId":"177201","contentId":"1103609","authorDomain":"ISPY"}

4 votes

#1.7 - Sun Nov 18, 2007 7:55 AM EST

{"commentId":1196472,"authorDomain":"djehuty"}

Djehuty

That's IP, I SPY, but not registrant. It doesn't identify me. Of course it does give you the host (spry), and you could contact them if you had a problem with my content.

{"commentId":1196472,"threadId":"177201","contentId":"1103609","authorDomain":"djehuty"}

4 votes

#1.8 - Sun Nov 18, 2007 3:21 PM EST

{"commentId":1196511,"authorDomain":"vanessa-wilson73"}

Vanessa Wilson

if you had a problem with my content

Highly unlikely ;)

{"commentId":1196511,"threadId":"177201","contentId":"1103609","authorDomain":"vanessa-wilson73"}

4 votes

#1.9 - Sun Nov 18, 2007 3:36 PM EST

{"commentId":1197515,"authorDomain":"ISPY"}

I SPY

That is true the closest I can actually get to you via that IP is 109 Hill Street, West Hobart

I wont say just how close that is though :)

But considering your avatar is so life like I'd say it would be just a matter of time :)

{"commentId":1197515,"threadId":"177201","contentId":"1103609","authorDomain":"ISPY"}

1 vote

#1.10 - Sun Nov 18, 2007 10:46 PM EST

{"commentId":1197553,"authorDomain":"djehuty"}

Djehuty

eek!

{"commentId":1197553,"threadId":"177201","contentId":"1103609","authorDomain":"djehuty"}

2 votes

#1.11 - Sun Nov 18, 2007 11:00 PM EST

{"commentId":1197619,"authorDomain":"ISPY"}

I SPY

@ Red Wolf Weren't we talking about this Here

@ DJ :)

{"commentId":1197619,"threadId":"177201","contentId":"1103609","authorDomain":"ISPY"}

3 votes

#1.12 - Sun Nov 18, 2007 11:39 PM EST

{"commentId":1193535,"authorDomain":"sbutki"}

Scott (Scoop) Butki

Whois on first, killfile on second

I can see a whole routine coming out of this:)

{"commentId":1193535,"threadId":"177201","contentId":"1103609","authorDomain":"sbutki"}

3 votes

#2 - Sat Nov 17, 2007 9:31 AM EST

{"commentId":1193672,"authorDomain":"djd"}

djd

The .uk whois allows omission of address if non-commercial:

Registrant's address: The registrant is a non-trading individual who has opted to have their address omitted from the WHOIS service.

{"commentId":1193672,"threadId":"177201","contentId":"1103609","authorDomain":"djd"}

3 votes

#3 - Sat Nov 17, 2007 10:44 AM EST

{"commentId":1194057,"authorDomain":"hamid"}

hamid.nyc

I use whois frequently, especially with many of the Right Wing and Christian Right website seeds here on the vine that hide behind "Fronts" pretending to be authorities on various subjects and issues. Whenever I come across a Pretend News Site or Organization that uses a company like Domains by Proxy, I get a bit suspicious, I can see individuals wanting privacy, but businesses and organizations are set up to handle the spam. It's a tricky issue, and I admit, I enjoy being able to look up the sites as a Legitimacy Check.

{"commentId":1194057,"threadId":"177201","contentId":"1103609","authorDomain":"hamid"}

6 votes

#4 - Sat Nov 17, 2007 1:27 PM EST

{"commentId":1195448,"authorDomain":"redwolf"}

Red Wolf

Right with you on the abuse of Domains by Proxy. If I ever see it in use, it's by someone with something to hide rather than someone worried about being spammed, but then I think we may both use whois when looking for dodgy customers, so probably don't run across the actions of normal people as a general rule.

I'd be happy to see the contact information hidden in image form to thwart the spammers. It would be a serious pain in the arse for me to rewrite it from scratch as I needed it, but I'd live with that if it meant people got their privacy from harvesting bots and the spammers and other scum couldn't hide under their rocks of anonymity.

{"commentId":1195448,"threadId":"177201","contentId":"1103609","authorDomain":"redwolf"}

5 votes

#4.1 - Sun Nov 18, 2007 12:48 AM EST

{"canLink":false,"threadId":"177201","isPrivate":false}

VANESSA WILSON

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The End User: What's up with 'whois'?

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