Michael Donnohue of the OECD is talking about consumers using WHOIS searches to identify businesses and find contact points with those businesses. He argues that inaccurate WHOIS data could undermine users' trust in the Internet, and could cause them to turn away from doing business on the Internet. He also points to guidelines that entities doing commerce on the Internet should make contact information readily available.
This is another strawman argument: If consumers have to resort to a database which isn't widely known outside specialized circles in order to obtain contact information about a business, then the contact information is not readily available. I certainly wouldn't do business with a commercial site which has contact information available only in the WHOIS service.
