June 25, 2003

Real-time thoughts during ICANN's second whois session:
First Panel

I'm picking this up about 20 minutes in ---

John LoGalbo - A "law enforcement" type - is complaining how long it takes him to issue a suboena. My thought is this: Why should our privacy suffer because his organization can't get its procedural act together?

I am incensed - he is simply stating a conclusion that his targets are "criminals" and that to go after them he want to throw away all legal processes and procedures - so much for the fourth, fifth, sixth, and fourteenth amendments.

Law enforcement procedures are there for a reason and should not be abandoned on the basis of mere expedency and convenience, particularly on nothing more than an accusation that has never been reviewed by a magistrate or other disinterested party.

I am appalled at the way that the word "legitimate" is bandied around without even a hint of recognition that it is a conclusion properly arrived at only after a long road. From what I am hearing, people are simply wrapping their desires in the word "legitimate" and bypassing the hard part of actually justifying it.

This panel really contains no advocates representing the point of view of the data subjects.

Posted by karl at June 25, 2003 6:05 AM