Proposed changes that would have shielded some of the personal information stored in the Internet’s WHOIS database from public view were indefinitely shelved last month, after a working group failed to reach agreement on how or even whether to implement the privacy reforms. The stalemate among the 60-person working group, which had been set up by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to thrash out the differences over the proposed changes, was a setback for privacy advocates, but it was welcome news for companies and law enforcement agencies that depend on WHOIS information to go after phishers, cybersquatters, spammers and other online miscreants.