In a move against spammers and abusers, the useful but potentially compromising who-is information on Canadian registered personal domains will no longer appear online.
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gBOrhHurTB0tEUyCBNXclu1m8W-wSweeping changes to Canada's home on the World Wide Web will put the country on the vanguard of Internet privacy.
But while law enforcement isn't happy about potentially losing an important investigative tool, the half-million Canadians whose personal information is currently publicly available on the Internet shouldn't rest easy that they are safe from wired snoops.
It's long been standard for website registrars to publicly provide detailed contact information for individuals who own domain names under dot-ca and dot-com through an easy Internet search called a Whois (pronounced who-is).
The Canada Internet Registration Authority says it will buck the trend by June 10, instituting new privacy policies that will protect private information from roaming eyes.
While the Internet authority's change is unlikely to make anyone rich, the president of authority said Canadians' predilection for privacy means they may begin to snap up dot-ca domains instead of the generic dot-com.
"Given that we will be the world leader in the space, absolutely, it'll make Canadians more likely to choose a dot-ca (versus other domains)."
The change won't affect businesses and organizations, which will still have their information publicly available.
I cant see this causing any real problems, it does actually seem like a fair idea for private web site Hosts to not have their non-commercial contact information visible to all and sundry.
