[comments-whois] Whois is an important resource but is broken in its current state.

["todd glassey" <todd.glassey@worldnet.att.net>]

Whois is an important resource and if it was built properly would be more
than just a listing service for domain owners or other "Network known
devices", but rather an index or lookup service for individuals. I can see
Whois ultimately using LDAP or similar protocols to support its own
library. - Oh well enough of the future and back to today...

In today's world it is very important to realize that Whois was built for
different purposes than it is used for today, and as such it needs to be
overhauled to more appropriately fit the uses in DNS administration that are
now constrained by global privacy law and issue.  But this is the mechanics'
of Whois and not the content. The content issues are looming as well.

And regarding that content, what needs also to happen is for the existing
WHOIS entries to all be pruned. That is run through to see if they even
exist anymore. This is indicative of WHOIS being operated like everything
else that ICANN currently touches or like the Search Engines, i.e. the more
entries the better. Amy domains with dead or non-existent contact points
need to be shut down and returned to the pool of available names after a
reasonable waiting period (no more than 30 days).

The real issue ICANN has to face is what to do about dead entries in whois.
Are the domains being used for legitimate purposes (i.e. no kiddy porn or
spam email servers), and if the answer is yes, then how does ICANN's process
deal with this. The answer is that today there is no dealing with this which
is why it is near impossible to get a domain name revoked except when
through URDP.

Anyway - Whois is really broken and it is basically just a stopgap measure
to look like there is a solution to a problem that ICANN and the registrars
have no way of dealing with today.

Todd Glassey