The growing menace of phishing has focussed the need for
"Fraud Prevention Solutions at the ICANN level".
While the efforts to educate public will continue to be
addressed by NGOs like Naavi.org, the Law Enforcement is busy following
complaints brought to their attention. In recent days FBI has done some
excellent work to document identified phishing sites.
What is still lacking is a proper effort from the DNS
management system which can provide a better alternative in this respect.
It may be recalled that Naavi had addressed this issue way
back in December 2000 in connection with a need to control objectionable
(Rogue) sites. In simple terms it meant that a data base at the domain name
level should be maintained that any http request for the domain should
simultaneously trigger an alert to the effect that "This is an objectionable
site" and give hyperlinks to the relevant refrences. This was suggested at
that time as a solution against objectionable sites without affecting the
freedom of speech or freedom to inforamtion.
Now this suggestion has become relevant in the context of "Phishing"
as an organized crime.
While my earlier suggestion was restricted to ISP level, it
appears that now it is the ICANN or WSIS which has to address this at the
domain name resolution level.
We may also recall a news item which had been publsihed on
this site some time in March 2003 which is reproduced here below..
US Authorities resort to Seizure of Domain
Names
In what appears as a recognition of Domain
Names as "Virtual Property", US authorities have been reported to have
started seizure of Domain Names as a routine policy in case of certain Cyber
Crimes. Police are reported to have put warnings to public in some of the
cases .
Now Indian Government can press for
seizure of dalitstan.com and other such anti India sites that are running
from USA. It will be interesting to see how the US authorities would react
if Indian Government launches a domain confiscation action against a
pornographic site operated from USA and violating Indian Laws. ....More
in wired.com
This news report indicated the possibility of such sites being tackled
within the existing law enforcement system by appropriate coordination between
CBI and Interpol so that objectionable and fraudulent sites can be effectively
blocked.
Hope Indian authorities would take note of this and raise the issue in the
Tunisian conference of WSIS or earlier directly with ICANN.
Naavi
June 23,2005
Related Information:
List of Phishing sites.. Fraud watch international.com
Hate Sites and ICANN's role ...Naavi.org
How to Counter
Rogue Sites ...Naavi.org
Wirednews article backup available on request
Comments
are welcome
