Privacy advocates, public interest groups and even some celebrities are raising concerns about a proposal that could limit the ability of some website owners to disguise themselves.
The issue has been discussed over the past few months as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the company 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, Weazel Zippers reports.
Advocates argue that anonymity is a key feature of free speech online and that removing that feature would leave many who create websites for commercial purposes exposed to abuse, according to The Hill.
"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.
Any individual and business is allowed to hide their identity, contact information and any other pertinent personal information behind proxies in the public "WHOIS" directory that stores information online about the owners of every registered website domain name.
The proposal would make it so that commercial activity becomes impossible to define in a way that doesn't expose vulnerable populations that rely on that anonymity.
A result of this lack of anonymity can be seen in previous instances when the public "WHOIS" database was used to generate abuse in a process known as "doxing" – when someone widely releases identifying information about an individual on a public forum. An example of this is when an individual obtains another person's home address and calls 911 to report a phony emergency at the location, which in some cases has prompted a police department's SWAT team to descend on the house.
Many argue that this proposal is nothing more than a power play to regulate the flow of information across the Internet, according to GachiYellow. It's easier for them to threaten people if they know who's saying something that goes against their agenda.
On the other hand, some entertainment and commercial interests have argued that banning proxy services for commercial websites could help crack down on the sale of counterfeit goods online or trademark infringement.
The U.S. government has not taken a position on this issue. However, Larry Strickling, the administrator for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, argues the proposal is "not as broad as some people feared." and that we need to focus "on the actual issue", according to The Hill.
"It is a difficult one because we need to balance the interests who want to express themselves on the Internet against the similar interest people have in knowing who they do business with," he said during testimony this week.
