[council] NORC at the University of Chicago Selected to Conduct a gTLD Whois Registrant Identification Study

[Glen de Saint Géry <Glen@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://blog.icann.org/2011/09/norc-at-the-university-of-chicago-selected-to-conduct-a-gtld-whois-registrant-identification-study/
NORC at the University of Chicago Selected to Conduct a gTLD Whois Registrant 
Identification Study
by LIZ GASSTER on SEPTEMBER 28, 2011
I am delighted to report that ICANN has engaged NORC at the University of 
Chicago to conduct a gTLD Whois Registrant Identification study, seeking a 
foundational understanding of the types of entities and kinds of potentially 
commercial activities observed among gTLD domain names.
NORC intends to use Whois Registrant contact data to classify the kinds of 
entities that register a representative sample of gTLD domain names, including 
natural persons, legal persons and Privacy or Proxy service providers. NORC 
will then analyze Internet content associated with each sampled domain to 
classify the entities that appear to be using those domains, along with any 
observable potentially commercial activities. Draft study results are expected 
to be published in mid-2012.
Entity and activity classifications are not predefined but will be developed 
during the study, based on sampled data, to help the Generic Names Supporting 
Organization (GNSO) and ICANN community better understand the variety of 
possible correlations that may emerge. ICANN looks forward to working with NORC 
to publish statistics that describe how various gTLD Registrants identify 
themselves, in order to inform future gTLD Whois policy discussions.
To learn more about the Whois Registrant Identification Study or other studies 
now being conducted at the request of the GNSO Council, please visit 
http://gnso.icann.org/issues/whois/.



Glen de Saint Géry

GNSO Secretariat

gnso.secretariat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

http://gnso.icann.org