The whois record was highly annoying I and i was getting spam at given email address (which was never posted anywhere else). I dont care what ICANN thinks about whois, it is annoying and it is great if it will go away.
Those email lists only tend to get longer, never shorter, I still see spam sent to addresses I haven't used in years (and backlink spam requests for websites that haven't been alive since the 90's!).
As a side effect, I know when my address is sold to anyone and by which site, I am already sharpening my papers, after 25. of May, every website that will give away my address is going to get serious papercut.