What do you guys think is the proper etiquette for the who is directory?

[alanp]

There's a youtube series I watch where a guy cynically reviews bad horror movies.  Occasionally youtube takes something he did down so he just got a website.  He made a point that he has never hosted a website before.  So I checked the whois directory and called his house to request a movie and also inform him he didn't make his personal info private.

Well he wasn't home. His girlfriend answered and laughed and tried to guess which friend put me up to this so I didn't mention the who is directory.  I just suggested a few movies for him to review.

What do you think about non-private whois listings?  Should we treat that like a phone book where it's public info?

[alanp]

Yeah, it wasn't as creepy as it sounds.  She thought one of her boyfriends buddies put me up to calling the house requesting a topic for his youtube show.  I've done web pages before where put the number to a message line for people to call.  I hope he is aware that his address, phone number, and email address are in the directory.  I'm not calling again!

[Rico]

It is VERY easy to make your "Who Is" listing not show your private info.  Most web hosts almost do that by default now.  I think mine just list my web host as the "owner" of my sites and my info is not listed.  But, it's really just like a phone book in that if you decide to make your info public, then you have to be prepared for what that could mean.

[alanp]

But I think I will mail him a dvd he might want to review for his show...