SBA * Consulting LTDWHOIS is a potential gold mine, but InterNIC isn't interested
By Wayne Spivak
©1995 Network World, April 21, 1997 Volume14, Number 16
Theres another brouhaha brewing involving the Internet Network Information Center (InterNIC), although this one has nothing to do with domain names or improving the proposed top-level domains. And it's not an improvement in InterNIC's billing and accounting practices.
At issue is a potentially lucrative venture involving InterNICs WHOIS system. InterNIC has no interest in getting involved, even though it could mean additional revenue and other benefits. At the same time, it has no interest in stopping others from turning a profit from WHOIS, a strategy that may impose a heavy burden on the system.
Anyone who has registered a domain name has used WHOIS. The command, available on Unix and InterNIC's Web page (www.internic.net/), lets you search InterNIC's database to determine whether a domain name is taken. If so, you can find out the name, address and phone number of the domain's 'owner' as well as its technical, administrative and billing contacts.
What this means is anyone can develop a who's who of those who control domain names administered by InterNIC - a marketable, demographically defined mailing list.
And this is some mailing list, ladies and gentlemen. What would it be worth to you? Ask your marketing director what he or she would pay to be able to directly market to the people who make Internet-related decisions at millions of companies worldwide.
The question is: Can you purchase this list? No, and the reason it is not for sale is ludicrous: InterNIC says producing and marketing the list would strain its resources. However, InterNIC allows you to create an automated robot to poll the database and create your own version. Talk about wasting large amounts of resources. If you and I and every other user started doing this, we would paralyze the WHOIS system.
Having InterNIC market the list would create a win-win situation. InterNIC would generate additional revenue, the resources of the WHOIS system would be freed from autobot polling, and interested users would get a valuable marketing tool.
Alternatively, InterNIC could license the marketing of the list to some other organization. This would also free up WHOIS resources and provide interested users with a phenomenal mailing list. But instead of InterNIC reaping all the additional revenue, some of it would go to the marketing company.
In either case, InterNIC would need to place a block on the WHOIS system, limiting the number of inquiries a user can make in a given time frame. Otherwise, many users would continue to use autobots to generate their own lists, taxing WHOIS resources.
As a third option, InterNIC could refuse to market the list and block unlimited access to the WHOIS system. Many would say this is the best approach.
InterNIC doesn't need to make additional revenue. Just stop all this free access to our information and put a stop to those spammers. It would allow WHOIS to be used for what it was designed - the checking of valid domain names.
Regardless of which option prevails, domain owners and their contacts should be allowed to request that their information will not be sold.
I'm torn. I'd like to be able to buy the mailing list, but I'm not sure I want to be listed. I'm also unhappy when I try to find a record on the InterNIC database and I can't get a response because the WHOIS system is overtaxed. Maybe if InterNIC sold the database, limited access to WHOIS and invested the resulting revenue in bigger and better computers, we would all live more satisfying 'Net lives. Then again, maybe not.
Are you in favor of any entity using information you provide to InterNIC for marketing purposes? Send InterNIC your thoughts at comments@internic.net.
Spivak is president and owner of SBA * Consulting, an IT consulting firm, and SBA.NET.WEB, an Internet consulting company. He can be reached via the Internet at wspivak@sbanetweb.com.
