From EPIC: “Current policies for the .COM/.ORG/.NET top-level domains require the publication of personal information, such as a registrant’s mailing address, email address, telephone number, and fax number. EPIC’s WHOIS Privacy Issues Report (pdf), issued as ICANN considers new policies for WHOIS data, recommends that WHOIS policies follow the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Privacy Guidelines. The OECD Privacy Guidelines reflect an international consensus on privacy protection for transborder dataflows that directly implicates WHOIS policies and practices.”
See also ICANN’s March 11 press release that discusses WHOIS data security and accuracy, and refers to the Final Report of the GNSO Council’s Whois Task Force Accuracy and Bulk Access. Also see EPIC’s new resource on WHOIS and Privacy.