(off topic?) whois privacy issues

[Jose Nazario <jose () BIOCSERVER BIOC CWRU EDU>]

a cnn/ap story rasied the issue of whois records and privacy:

http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/11/15/internet.privacy.ap/index.html

immediately i am appalled by this. while i don't condone or enjoy the
thought of someone getting harassed about a domain name (a friend has been
harassed about one of his), it would make following up on security
incidents that much more difficult. (i'm tempted to say i'll just
blackhole routes, then.) remember: too many domains have security@ or
domain@ bounce back as not found!

the analogy, to me, is simple: kids can come by and egg my house, but if
i'm not allowed to find out who their parents (or even names) are, how can
they be punished? would lawlessness then be hidden behind this curtain of
privacy?

is there a real threat to this resource being available in the future?
where should this debate be taken for a balance to be struck?

____________________________
jose nazario                                                 jose () cwru edu
                     PGP: 89 B0 81 DA 5B FD 7E 00  99 C3 B2 CD 48 A0 07 80
                                       PGP key ID 0xFD37F4E5 (pgp.mit.edu)