Authenticating authorship and/or responsible parties of Web pages

[Chuck Malone <C-Malone@wiu.edu>]

Dear ICANN,
    I would like to see the new companies who will be registering
domain names be required to offer some type of authorship/responsible
party check service -- as Network Solutions currently does.  One can go
to Network Solutions and search a domain stem to see who registered that
Web address.  Ideally, all of the companies authorized to register
domain names should be part of a joint database where one can go to find
out who registered a particular Web address.
    With so many people relying on the Internet for information, we need
to be able to tell for sure who put a particular piece of information
out there.  We have already had several instances of fraudulent Web
pages made to look "like the real thing" in stock market news and
politician home pages.  As an educator, I feel that we need all the
tools we can to offer to students and the general public in aiding them
to tell good information from bad.  Being able to authenticate that a
site was produced by who it looks like it was produced by would be a
good step in that direction.

Sincerely,
Chuck Malone, Government Information Librarian
Western Illinois University Library
1 University Circle
Macomb, IL 61455
(309) 298-2719
C-Malone@wiu.edu    OR
Chuck_Malone@ccmail.wiu.edu