At issue is a publicly available database known as Whois. With it, anyone can find out the full names, organizations, postal and e-mail addresses and phone numbers behind domain names.
Hearings on the changes are expected next week in Lisbon, Portugal, before the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, the main oversight agency for Internet addresses.
Resolution, however, could take several more months or even years, with crucial details on implementation still unsettled and a vocal minority backing an alternative.
Under the endorsed proposal - some six years in the making - domain name registrants would be able to list third-party contact information in place of their own - to the chagrin of businesses and intellectual-property lawyers worried that cybersquatters and scam artists could more easily hide their identities.
