Hi Larry,

I can see a reason to know if a name is available or if it is not.
I can't see a reason why anyone else apart from Governmental Agency 
under specific conditions should be able to access the database.

Are you on the Electoral Roll Larry?
Under your home address?

Mike.
http://whois.com.au/forums/

Larry Bloch wrote:

>I tend to agree with Kim.
>
>There is a valid reason for a publicly available whois service. There are
>legitimate reasons why the owner of a name should be easily identifiable.
>
>By and large names are for the use of businesses, and privacy for businesses
>is an entirely different thing to individuals. I would think that hiding
>email addresses for individuals has merit, but a business is another matter.
>
>
>To some degree, visibility and the resulting spam is a cost of being a
>business with a publicly visible domain name. After all, if you don't want
>to be contacted, what is the point of having the name in the first place?
>(yes, I know - there are many other reasons). The point is, if you have a
>domain name for your company and you have a website, most likely you publish
>contact details. Spam is a scourge, we all agree, but it's a 'cost' of
>having an email address. If you don't want spam that badly, don't use email.
>
>.AU deliberately removed telephone numbers and address details as these were
>deemed unnecessary, but email details remained in whois as the least
>compromising contact details to provide. I am not aware of widespread abuse
>of the email addresses published in .au whois. 
>
>Larry
>  
>