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Comment by pavon | Hacker News Reader

I don't think that applies here. What this is saying is if Bob registers joe.com from Namecheap, and then licenses joe.com to Joe to use, then Bob is required to provide his own contact information to Namecheap, and Joe must provide contact information to Bob. Then if Bob is informed of wrongful use of the joe.com, he must hand over Joe's contact information, or be liable for the harm done. It says nothing about Namecheap's obligations.

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But maybe it does apply. Isn't the registrant listed as WhoisGuard? So, shouldn't WhoisGuard be responsible for providing the contact information? Hence Facebook sued Namecheap. I think Namecheap is doing right, and I think Facebook is technically doing right, but they are talking up the action as Namecheap is evil and Facebook is good, which is nonsense. Honestly, what corporation puts up public notice they are suing someone? Anyone worth their salt waits until the outcome to talk about a court case.

That’s exactly how tools like WhoisGuard operate. They are registering the domain name and then subleasing (licensing) it to the entity who doesn’t want their information out there. By not sharing their client’s information upon a reasonable suspicion they have accepted contractual liability.

One applicable section is the requirements for registers that provide privacy proxies, and that has no specific requirements for when a registrar must hand over contact information.

https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/approved-with-specs-20...

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