Government “Licensing” of web sites

I’ve hinted in the past this is coming. It’s only one step away.

At the request of law enforcement, ICANN is requiring domain registrars to verify the accuracy of the information contained in the “Whois” information about all web sites. In the past, this meant that once a year, I got an email for streamingradioguide.com reminding me that I am required to update my contact information if it changes. If I ignored the email, there was no consequence. That’s changing.

My Whois information is accurate and always has been. That means if you are even slightly tech savvy, you know my real name, physical address, email address and phone number. That’s just the risk I’m willing to take.

Step #1 is that my domain registrar will send an email in a week informing me that I have 15 days to visit a web site and click “yes” to attest that I am a real person and my contact information is accurate. There is no indication yet if there are criminal consequences to providing false information. It is already a crime in North Carolina to create a Facebook account that is not you.

It’s worth noting this demand is coming from ICANN, which is no longer controlled by the U.S. government. That ensures that law enforcement agencies around the world and hate speech monitors like the Southern Poverty Law Center can be assured they know exactly who Art Stone is and which door to break down with guns blazing on Crystal Night.

Step #2 is optional currently – if someone believes my information is not true, I could receive a demand to “see my papers” – provide proof that I’m a company (I’m not), that I exist (send a copy of your driver’s license and a utility bill with your address) and that I have the legal authority to act on behalf of my “company”. I recognize I’m an outlier – few people want to pay for a domain and expose their personal contact information to the entire world. It is just much easier to have a Facebook account where Homeland Security can monitor every word you type in real time.

Step #3 is still speculation, but entirely logical and an obvious extension of “net neutrality”. At some point the government will not be satisfied just with knowing who I am, but to demand to know why I think I have a right to have a web site on the Internet wasting bandwidth and that I’m in compliance with net neutrality and not secretly engaging in illegal activity. You never know – I could be a child molester, porn distributor, ISIS recruiter, copyright infringer or Libertarian. You can never be too safe. The government will protect you from me.