Re: [ga] OECD vs ICANN, re: WHOIS accuracy

[Kent Crispin <kent@songbird.com>]

On Sat, Jul 06, 2002 at 03:59:34PM -0700, Karl Auerbach wrote:
> On the other hand, the accuracy of the "whois" for IP address allocations
> is important when tracking down problems and attacks.

In practice one uses both kinds of whois data, as well as whatever other
information one can find (email headers, addresses and phone numbers in
web pages, etc), in tracking down problems.  Whois for DNS is frequently
much more specific than whois info for ip address allocations, and can
be quite useful.  It is also frequently less useful than it could be, of
course. 

> All the brouhaha about "whois" is focused on the former kind of whois and
> not on the latter.
> 
> If you are concerned about tracking down spammers and those who run 
> accused services, such as web sites accused of engaging in bad behaviour, 
> you are much more likely to reach a responsible person via the IP address 
> whois data than the DNS data.

This is circular reasoning.  The main reason for lack of effectiveness of
DNS whois in finding problems is *precisely* that DNS whois is not
maintained very well, and is very easy to fake.  This is exactly the
question at issue.  *If* DNS whois were accurate, then it would be a
highly effective way to reach the problem source. 

Kent
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