Over at Hit and Run Dash reports on a recent surge of interest in modifying domain registration rules to allow people to keep their personal information out of the Whois database. I guess I have nothing against making this official, but is this actually an issue? There are already a million hosting and registry services that end up listed as the nominal owners of a domain actually controlled by their clients; anyone who actually cares about keeping their data private has plenty of choices there. Or, simpler still: Lie. No, really. The only way WhoIs gets your contact information is if you’ve given it to them. My own entry is years out of date. Yes, I can imagine situation in which having bogus information listed could lead to problems, and it’s surely technically a violation of something or other. But 99.99 percent of domain registrants can list themselves as Herman Munster of 1313 Mockingbird Lane, and never give it another thought. And the people who are that concerned about their privacy already do. What actual problem does a rule change address?