Which is it then? In your opinion, is it ok for someone to mask their identity if they live a country where porn is illegal?

When Pagan said, "Until local laws are changed, I cannot encourage someone to endanger themselves or their families over a few lousy dollars." You replied with, "That's why I recommend the use of private whois"

You have me confused. ;)

I think freedom of speech is an universal right that belongs to each and every human on this planet. In some countries this is a very highly regarded value, while in others human rights - or individual rights in general - are worth much less.

This is a very unfortunate situation, but I think people who have to fear for their lives, freedom or personal belongings should use a private whois. As long as they conduct legal sites under the law of the registrar and where they are hosted they should not be put in danger as they just do the same thing as other Americans, Canadians or Brits or other free societies.

I think that's pretty easy to understand. Why would an American want to tell a Russian not to run a porn site because porn is illegal in Russia while the American is doing the same thing ....

No its not. Its like you were saying.. hey, lets sell drugs.. its allowed in hollands so we all should be able to do it anywhere in the world... just sell it online using private or fake whois info so they cant jail us and we're cool

I think not

The fact that porn is illegal in Russia is the burden of the Russian people, not me. I could not care less. As we say here, it's no skin off my ass. The policy of open and honest WHOIS has nothing to do with them. It's not a policy based on screwing Russian submitters. It's about business. It's about honesty. It's about tracking down and banning those who screw you or your surfers. If this policy blocks a few submitters from submitting, so be it. I have submitters crawling out of my ass.

George Carlin -Rights and Privileges

There really is no such thing as freedom of speech. There are no universal rights. You can only have what you are willing to fight for. We Americans lose "rights" every time George W gets a hair up his ass. So they musn't be "rights" after all, or else we couldn't lose them. It's pretty obvious that we, as a people, are unwilling to fight for them. So it's not callousness that allows me to say that I don't care about porn in Russia. I just don't care.

If he was a owner or moderator , he didn't do he's work

for what its worth, I only put my initials in my whois listing and I've never been rejected for whois issues.

Uh.... how many people fought and died for that right for you, as an American? Did you even do any military service? As a veteran myself, I am rather disturbed by this. The precious freedoms you enjoy here are because someone cared enough to lay down everything they believed in for something universal.

And if they use those sites to allow illegal activities such as CP or open prostitution? The registrar has little to do with your site's legality. You have to look at the laws where you live as well as the rules of your host. My adult domains are hosted in Canada where I feel I have a bit more freedom than I would as an American. My non-adult domains are hosted in Colorado Springs by a very strict host. He is strict enough that I don't have any crossovers. I did have one gameserver that was very adult in nature that is currently offline until I find a new home for it. Why? My host here in the states has a firm rule, and I respect the rules of his server. Does it curtail my freedom of speech? A little.

Because you can go to jail, be publically humiliated, lose your family, your hard-earned possessions, be blacklisted in so many ways. Have you seen Russian jails? Do you want to have anyone even risk being in one for an hour? I sure would not. Maybe it is my stubborn Finnish nature to respect the laws and learn to live within them. And it is odd - I am more comfortable with the public whois than I was hiding it behind a privacy block. It just feels cleaner.

I won't fight with you anymore. You want to deny people living in other countries the same rights that you enjoy in the comfort of your own home. I accept your opinions, but I think it is totally wrong to put people with a private whois in the same bag with drug dealers and CP. I grew up under a communist regime so I know how terrible it is to be without rights.

I am happy there are Russian webmasters that produce great sites and superb content, I am happy there are guys who shoot porn in Mexico, Colombia, Cuba, China, India and other countries. I am happy there are Filipino and Indian outsourcing companies working in adult. If they need to protect their privacy with private whois or by setting up offshore companies then I find this legit as long as they respect the guidelines of our industry. Amen.