Director Database Marketing (Herndon VA US) (http://www.saic.com/career/jobs/c5

Thu Sep 3 03:01:25 UTC 1998

> Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1998 18:57:57 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Patrick Greenwell <patrick at namesecure.com>
> To: Tim Salo <salo at networkcs.com>
> cc: nanog at merit.edu
> Subject: Re: Director Database Marketing (Herndon VA US) (http://www.saic.com/career/jobs/c5
> 
> On Wed, 2 Sep 1998, Tim Salo wrote:
> 
> > > Did the idiots at SAIC forget that they don't *own* the domain information
> > > again?
> > 
> > And, what makes you think that NSI doesn't have intellectual property
> > rights to the whois database.  Again, please frame your answer in the
> > context of the applicable Federal law and regulations, probably the
> > FARs and the contract or cooperative agreement between NSI and the NSF.
> > 
> > And, even if NSI doesn't "own" rights (either copyright or trade secret) to
> > the whois database, what makes you think that NSI must provide the 
> > database to anyone else?  And, if NSI is obligated to provide the database
> > to another party, (e.g., the U.S. Government), what makes you think that
> > that party is permitted or obligated to provide it to another party?
> > 
> > I don't know that the answers are to these questions, but I haven't met
> > anyone who I thought had a clue either.
> 
> Take a look at http://www.cavebear.com/nsf-dns/ for some answers (or more
> questions depending on your POV.)

Note that Karl's document:

o	Is focused on whether the whois database is within the purview of
	the Privacy Act of 1974, but doesn't directly address the ownership
	of the whois database;

o	Doesn't discuss the relevance of the FARs, which explicitly talk
	about the ownership rights of government contractors; and

o	Says that the NSF asserts that NSI owns the whois database.

-tjs