ZDNet UK - News - Whois database 'contributes to identity theft':
"A database publishing information about all Internet domain name holders is open to abuse and must be reformed, civil liberties groups have warned"

Whois, an online database that contains personal information about Internet domain name holders, is a major contributor to identity theft and defies advice from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), according to a group of civil liberties organisations.


When an Internet domain is registered, the details of the owner are entered into the Whois database and published by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). This procedure was designed to ensure that when technical difficulties or incompatibilities arose, it was relatively easy to contact the owner of the domain. However, the database has now grown beyond all expectations and is open for exploitation, privacy groups argue.…

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39117667,00.htm