"Why does Nominet publish these details?
We operate a public registry on behalf of all Internet users and it therefore make the records we hold available to everyone. The WHOIS makes it easier to
track down the legal registrant of a domain name and should therefore help build more confidence in the use of the Internet."
"track down" as in send an DRS to or a punchupyerfroat ?
"C. Registered Name Holder or "Domain Holder"
........we must evaluate whether the registrant data is personal and should be treated with special care. Of all the contact data, we find the Domain Holder to be the most personal. This is the woman, the family head, the Cub Scout leader, and other individuals and leaders of small organizations who must list their personal names, home addresses, private phone numbers and personal email addresses. Once published, this personal data is used for all the abuse and misuse documented in the Task Force Uses report — from spamming to stalking and harassment....
The collection of such personal data as a global ICANN WHOIS policy serves no technical purpose.... Accordingly, the collection of Domain Holder data serves little purpose for the WHOIS database and should not be continued as a global ICANN policy."
http://gnso.icann.org/issues/whois-privacy/tf-report-15mar06.htm#0.4b.2
Nominet knows "the legal registrant", if they need to "track them down"
The public whois should simply direct to;
mydomain.xx@ Registrant's agent e-mail address