Here's the story. I have a .com site and earlier today I got an e-mail from the hosting service I use that said I was in violation of ICANN regulations and that I needed to correct my contact information. I made a few calls and at the end of it, wound up privatizing my site but I need to know more details. I'm not particularly worried as the particular person who is making these claims is nothing more than your garden variety obsessed stalker but it made me realize that this is something I may want to look into.
Can anyone help me understand the rules? Obviously, I'm not engaged in anything other than legitimate and legal escorting service but it would be nice to know what my rights are in this situation.
My site was registered under my work name. I'm based in Texas so you don't need to file DBA papers in order to use a business name if you're a sole proprietor, which I am. (At least this is what I had believed, does anyone else know the truth?)
This site has never been registered under my real name. The cell phone number is valid as is the gmail account attached to the whois but the physical address was incorrect.
I know that the whois records can be released with a subpoena but what sort of information and documentation would they need before releasing that information? Is it something that they're likely to be able to get or is this psychopath spitting into the wind? I know that he's quite willing to try and drag me into court in order to force contact with me but is this likely to be taken seriously by a judge? This individual has been stalking me for quite some time and has, in the past, attempted to post my real information to various boards. Does ICANN even care what I'm doing? Are they set up to police escort sites or is this more of a phishing/hacking concern? Are the legalities of my website something that city, state or federal agencies might be forced to address or are they too busy with people who are committing crimes like stalking and harassment?
Speaking of, what are my rights in that regard? Can I file for a protective order? Is it likely to be granted? Advice? Comments?
but as to the last question, if you have concrete evidence that someone is making credible threats to you, you should take that seriously and contact LE about what can be done, including a restrainig order.
I'm not a lawyer, but I do have experience with computers and some daily legal aspects thereof.
The first problem you had was not privatizing your registration to begin with. I do this for legitimate domains I register just because I don't want my personal information floating around more than needed. I'm assuming you learned your lesson and don't try to skimp on this feature in the future.
I'm not sure how much legal power ICANN has. Their function is, essentially, just to keep an accurate database of such things. The problem is that now you've exposed yourself (a little) to whatever corporate action they can take with regard to that domain. ICANN is usually not an entity you will ever hear from. I've never heard of ICANN reporting anyone for a criminal violation, there needing to be a subpoena to ICANN directly, etc. If anyone has to be subpoenaed, it would be your registrar. Neither of them is in the business of law enforcement. In fact, it's bad for business. If anti-American and semi-legal militia organizations can register domain names so can you.
Now, let's go back to your worry: can your personal records/info you registered for the domain be released? You're correct that would only be done by subpoena to a specific party. If this is a stalker, it doesn't look like they'd have a case for a criminal complaint that would result in the need for such thing. Civil complaint? Well, in order for a lawsuit to go forward you in fact have to be served. A sheriff or process server has to come to you, and then you lawyer up and have plenty of opportunities to make things go away. If this stalker is just a misfit that doesn't know your personal information (your real name, residence), that makes this whole thing a lot harder. If they do know all this information, what purpose is there to be had from obtaining the actual contact and other information behind your domain registration?
To address a few technicalities, this would likely never come to being subpoenaed (if you are a party to a lawsuit, this is information you readily have access to and would have to provide, if it has any relation to the matter at hand, to the other party within discovery). And, you also have to think long and hard about what claim/cause of action (this is the civil equivalent of charges) need to be brought in order for such information to be at all relevant or lead to relevant information (for the given problem, the website would have to have some relation to the complaint that was brought). Basically, what I'm trying to get at is that anyone that has enough information about you to file a lawsuit would already know enough to render whatever information they learn about your domain moot/redundant.
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