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North American Network Operators Group Date Prev | Date Next | Date Index | Thread Index | Author Index | Historical Re: NSI Bulletin 098-010 | Update on Whois
On Thu, 3 Sep 1998, Sean Donelan wrote: > with NSF. As much as I dislike SPAM, I do not think concern about the > use of the data for marketing purposes is a good justification for NSI > to unilaterally block individuals from accessing the WHOIS data. According to David Holtzman of NSI (i asked him), the restrictions on whois are merely for technical reasons. I believe that he believes this, and from his point of view they have every right to filter/limit obnoxious or badly configured hosts/sites. But even if what he thinks is true, the facts are that NSI is restricting access to the database while using it's data for mailings designed to make a profit. I'm not an attorney, but it sounds like any spammer/marketeer could sue them successfully unless they can show that they own the database, or that the database owner wants the status to remain quo. > I would be interested in knowing why a couple of sites have found the > need to query the WHOIS data so heavily. And once we knew their need, > perhaps finding a better solution. But the NSF cooperative agreement George wouldn't tell me who they are but he implied that they are just clueless. > If NSI is looking for a nice off-site storage facility to store a backup > of the database in case something happens on the east coast (see > http://nic.ddn.mil/DNS/root-server.html) I know of a nice centrally > located facility :-) > -- > Sean Donelan, Data Research Associates, Inc, St. Louis, MO You mean Saint Louis? The original home of the FidoNet NIC? Sounds good to me. Bill
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