New proposal would strike at web’s anonymity

Privacy advocates, public interest groups and even some celebrities are raising alarms about a proposal that could limit the ability of some website owners to disguise themselves. The issue has caught fire over the past few months as an obscure organization that manages the Internet's domain name system was inundated with comments about a proposal that could bar commercial websites from using proxies to register their web addresses. Advocates argue anonymity is a key feature of free speech online, and removing that protection from people who create a website for commercial purposes could open vulnerable populations up to abuse.

“Whatever the interest in unmasking an anonymous speaker, free speech interests demand the preservation of opportunities for anonymous speech,” Public Knowledge, the Open Technology Institute and the Center for Democracy and Technology argued in joint public comments. Individuals and businesses are currently allowed to hide their identity, physical location and other personal contact information behind proxies in the public “WHOIS” directory that stores information online about the owners of every registered website domain name. Proxies can be used by anyone registering a domain, from a lawmaker gearing up for a presidential run who does not want to tip off the press, to a blogger posting unpopular views online. The proxy service comes standard with many of the major domain registrars like GoDaddy. The organization that coordinates the entire back end of the Internet, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), just finished seeking comment to see if it should cut off that proxy service for websites that conduct “financial transactions for commercial purpose.”