If I had a penny for every time someone asked me to remove a post that contained their domain registration information, well, I'd have gone out to dinner tonight instead of cooking (veggie shepherd's pie, yumm). It appears that many people are capable of say, running web-hosting companies but the idea of their domain registration information being public record escapes them.
Yes, Virginia, domain registration information are considered public records.
What does it mean? It means it can indeed be posted in a public forum without your prior permission, and no, you cannot threaten me with your imaginary lawyer. It just doesn't work that way. Check out this site to see what else is a public record, some of it may be quite surprising.
What can be done with a public record? This epic.org page has some chilling information.
But you all already know that you say? God, I wish.. here's a paraphrased exchanged from today.. not verbatim, since he'll probably try to sue me for posting that and actually have a case.
[Background: He posted an advertisement about his webhosting company which is perfectly within the forum rules and predictably, the forum inhabitants tore lots of holes in the offering which is also within the forum rules. Hey, you want a free ad? You'll get scrutinized, that's life]
He:Remove my private information or I'll sue.Me:It's public record. but since I feel bad for you and based on your company and posting style you're still in high school, I'll remove it to be nice. [I'm really a pretty nice person about these things if you ask nicely]
He:People don't know how to use whois, so it's private! My lawyer says I have a case!
Me:yawn public, yawn, not private
He:Check the HIPPA (sic) Laws!
Me: *bunch of links explaining the fine art of differentiating medical information from domain registration records*
He:It's like copyright! I can copyright it then I can sue, my lawyer says so!
Me: Tell your lawyer to ask for a refund at his law school.
He:Stop intimidating me with your covert language! [no, really, I kid you not]
That's when I decided to waste time writing a blog entry instead.. it is amusing enough. Honestly, if I had realized this kid was going to be this obtuse I would have just left the post, but alas, I'm too freaking nice.
How can you get that kind of information removed? Ask me nicely and leave your imaginary lawyers at home.
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Well, what about if somebody chooses to conceal their whois info? Many registrars offer that option.
(I had rotisserie chicken for dinner - yumm!)
#You totally seem like a female version of Gord right now.
#Gord being http://www.actsofgord.com/ - wouldn't it be nice if every MovableType weblog displayed whether it auto-linked URLs or if it allowed HTML?
#If someone conceals their information by using proxy (or just lying) then it's not on public record, so private.
#Why not go all the way and just tell us the crybaby's name?
#Oooo.. a public mocking!!! A most excellent idea for this gray Friday. I am going to go an get a chair, a hat and a thermos of hot beverage. .
#I would use his name, but he appears to be a high school kid and while he did threaten me with non-existant lawyers and fumbled his way through concepts he obviously doesn't understand, he wasn't being malicious, wasn't trying to actually cheat anyone and I don't punish people for being just stupid.
Now if he was also obnoxiously rude or a complete asshole then both his name, email, IP and all sorts of other info would materialize here.
#> Now if he was also obnoxiously rude or a complete asshole then both his name, email, IP and all sorts of other info would materialize here.
That doesn't bode well for Asshole Dave....
#Speaking of public record.... ;)
http://anon.salon.speedera.net/anon.salon/media/2004/10/BushUncensored.mov
#Surely your exchange with him isn't "public", so how can you post it in public, as well as ridiculing him to boot? At the least, isn't that against your company's policies - privacy, conduct, etc.?
(I think Debugger Stevie got his feelings hurt by being so arrogant and wrong.)
#This is kinda funny. Why can people not understand that public is not private? Why are they so worried about things they put in a public forum? Look it is really simple, if you do not want people to know it do not post it. If you do not want people...
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October 30, 2004 03:04 AM