Why do you say they are libertarian? Or do you mean libertarian in the strict sense of supporting free speech?
I think requiring real names from their clients but opposing it for publicly accessible WHOIS records is perfectly consistent with their views:
Since we started back in 2002, one of the things that's repeatedly been made clear to us is that governments aren't the biggest threat to free speech. They certainly bear watching and perpetual wariness, but they're just not the source of the everyday threats to our members' ability to express themselves.
The most common threats come from corporations and the pressure they can bring. Not a week goes by that we don't hear from some cheap lawyer about how mad some company is that some website said something that they don't like and what horrible things they're going to do to us if we don't hop to and do their bidding.
If the WHOIS records were only viewable by the courts, or at least ICANN, your implication of hypocrisy would carry some weight, but they're viewable by everyone, and that makes it a much larger threat.
I think requiring real names from their clients but opposing it for publicly accessible WHOIS records is perfectly consistent with their views:
Since we started back in 2002, one of the things that's repeatedly been made clear to us is that governments aren't the biggest threat to free speech. They certainly bear watching and perpetual wariness, but they're just not the source of the everyday threats to our members' ability to express themselves.
The most common threats come from corporations and the pressure they can bring. Not a week goes by that we don't hear from some cheap lawyer about how mad some company is that some website said something that they don't like and what horrible things they're going to do to us if we don't hop to and do their bidding.
If the WHOIS records were only viewable by the courts, or at least ICANN, your implication of hypocrisy would carry some weight, but they're viewable by everyone, and that makes it a much larger threat.