The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) announced today that it has launched a new privacy policy and WHOIS search tool to protect the privacy of dot-ca domain name registrants.
The new policy limits public access to personal information except under extraordinary circumstances or through explicit consent of the registrant.
Under the new policy the personal information of individual domain name registrants, including registrant name, home address, phone number and e-mail address, will now be automatically protected as private.
Full registration information for corporate domain name holders will continue to be accessible and individual registrants may choose to make their information accessible.
Under specific, limited circumstances certain registrant contact information may be disclosed in situations arising from child endangerment offenses, intellectual property disputes (e.g. cyber squatting), threats to the Internet, and identity theft.
“The new dot-ca WHOIS Policy puts Registrants first by restricting access to the private information of individual dot-ca while providing timely mechanisms for legitimate information requests,” says Byron Holland, President and CEO, Canadian Internet Registration Authority. The protection of the Internet privacy rights of Canadians is one of the advantages of dot-ca registration.
The new privacy policy and dot-ca WHOIS were developed in response to online privacy concerns regarding identity theft, unsolicited email (spam), and cyber stalking.
More information about the new privacy policy and dot-ca WHOIS is available at www.cira.ca
As most of you know, Big Brown failed in his attempt to become the first triple crown winner in 30 years on Saturday finishing last in the Belmont Stakes.
As a Canadian registrant I think this is great news. I have a philisophical issue with having to pay for someone to flick a switch so that my personal information is not visible to the whole world.
I originally had GoDaddy add privacy for no charge in bulk batches to my domains and now that they are coming up for renewal I have discovered that DomainsbyProxy took the liberty of creating seven different accounts for me. Normally that would be moderately inconvenient, but they also won’t reset any of my passwords without me faxing identification and a domain list for each account number, because they somehow have no record of my email address even though I have the original welcome message from them to my email address saved.
I started using a different Registrar in November which allows me to change the whois privacy myself, at my convenience, and the cost is free.
Nathan
Paying for privacy is nothing new.
Private phone listing have been around forever.
If you don’t want your phone number published you pay extra.
However no one can argue that it is a nice feature to offer for no extra charge
Great News – THANKS