Question: 1)i would like to know the nominees' views on privacy issues for the individual user of the net and the kind of priority it has in your agenda.

Nominee Replies

Sureswaran Ramadass - posted on 2000-09-29 06:55:59 I feel very strongly that privacy of the individual user should be enforced and protected. Large corporations should not be allowded to take advantage of the user by inserting code that will allow them to monitor the user or the application in any way. Once again, this should be addressed within the global e-commerce laws. But definitely, the privacy of the individual should be protected. It definitely has a very high priority on my agenda. Johannes Chiang - posted on 2000-09-28 11:25:32 One of the keys to the success of management over the Domain Names System is the provision of adequate protection of the privacy of individuals and the security of transaction data on the Internet. By establishing a confidential mechanism to protect privacy, concerns regarding the security of private data on the Internet may be addressed. In implementing policies for the protection of privacy rights on the Internet, ICANN could develop guidelines/standards requiring that ccTLD ??espouse active measures and promote the adoption of guidelines/standards for self-regulation by the industry in the area of protecting privacy rights. Censors of emails etc. on the regional or national access points should not be allowed. Nevertheless, a controversial issue is the monitoring of crimes. As I am always arguing for, we have to develop the kind of real preventive methods but not use the methods existing for long without success. As we often describe Internet as a new technology, how successful could we handle Internet related problems with traditional mechanism and so-called laws ? And, might we fall into the pitfall for loosing the privacy we could have? These are issues of great personal concern to me. Masanobu Katoh - posted on 2000-09-26 14:23:14 First of all, I support the ICANN position on the copyright protection of the WHOIS database. It should be noted that this issue is not directly related to ICANN’s business. As for general privacy protection, including the protection of personal data held by the governments or other institutions, we should encourage groups to follow well-developed guidelines such as the OECD privacy guidelines.