In another blow to Internet freedom, the diabolically evil GDPR marked the beginning of the end for traditional WHOIS.
WHOIS historically provided a convenient way to look up information on a domain’s owner – including name, address, email, and phone number. The information was required by ICANN to be accurate.
Predictably (at least in hindsight), WHOIS information was routinely harvested and abused by shady marketers and other miscreants.
Registrars responded by offering WHOIS privacy, often at a hefty extra fee. Other registrars began offering free WHOIS privacy as a competitive strategy.
Healthy competition and free choice for consumers – making the Internet better for everyone – this is exactly the way free markets work when unrestricted by draconian tyrannical government over-regulation.
But freedom is antithetical to EU despots. The GDPR provides extreme protection of the private information of EU residents, even those who object to that protection. All domains associated with people in EU countries must have the equivalent of WHOIS privacy. As a practical matter this applies to *all* domains, since it would be infeasible for registrars to determine EU association on a case-by-case basis for millions of domains.
So, I can no longer choose whether to make my domain owner information public or private. Foreign petty tyrants have determined that I am so helpless, so stupid, so utterly dependent on big nanny government, they must decide for me.
