Despite the usefulness of its cumulative data tool, nTLDStats appears to be violating European privacy laws, currently.
Its operators are based in Germany, and they should be aware of the issues arising from the dissemination of personal information without the consent of the persons involved.
WHOIS information was never meant to be processed and utilized in a manner other than to identify domain ownership, when queried individually.
In fact, the Dot .EU Registry (EURid) discloses very minimal information about the registrants of .EU domains.
The latest introduction of gTLD statistics by registrant, openly displays the names and geographical locations, along with the number of gTLDs owned.
In the US, we are “used” to having our personal information demanded upon, processed, sold, resold, stolen and abused; but it’s a matter of tolerance, not legality.
In Europe, privacy laws are stricter and are currently emphasized by the “right to forget” act against Google – an American corporation – that requires Google’s compliance to requests of removal of personal information from its search results.
According to nTLDstats, Rick Schwartz owns 276 gTLD domains; such type of information can be used to create problematic situations, providing data in order to establish trends that can be used – for example – during a UDRP.
This is clearly something that nTLDStats is not taking into account with this expansion of shared information it provides.
I think it does.
That is why I haven’t written a post about this info although I have been watching it for months.
Good job.
Kosta – This type of exposure emphasizes the need for stricter privacy laws in the US as well, the NSA is an angel compared to corporations that collect and sell data.
Here’s the attitude we have to live with in the US: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2360540/no-europe-google-does-not-have-to-delete-all-your-personal-data.html
The picture is very appropriate. Some people need to feel the hammer 🙂
Kate – 😀 Usually the hammer drops when it’s too late. Privacy is already lost when no regulations are enforced to begin with.
Eventually, some service provides statistics on new TLDs and they said it’s a violation!
Max – Certain types of data associating persons with figures or other personal information, cannot be disclosed without their explicit permission in Europe. That’s why Google was sued.