[council] Whois Information Status Policy

[Glen de Saint Géry <Glen@xxxxxxxxx>]

https://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/wisp-10may13-en.htm
Whois Information Status Policy
Comment / Reply Periods (*)
Comment Open Date: 10 May 2013
Comment Close Date: 31 May 2013 - 23:59 UTC
Reply Open Date: 3 June 2013
Reply Close Date: 24 June 2013 - 23:59 UTC
Important Information Links
Public Comment 
Announcement<https://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-10may13-en.htm>
To Submit Your Comments (Forum)<mailto:comments-wisp-10may13@xxxxxxxxx>
View Comments Submitted<http://forum.icann.org/lists/comments-wisp-10may13/>
Brief Overview
Originating Organization:
ICANN
Categories/Tags:

 *   Consensus Policies
 *   Whois
Purpose (Brief):

ICANN is opening a Public Comment Period for the proposed Whois Information 
Status Policy. Members of the Internet Community are asked to provide feedback 
on the proposed document. The proposed Policy is based on a recommendation from 
the Generic Names Supporting Organization Council related to the display of 
statuses in the Whois output by registry operators and registrars.
Current Status:

The Generic Names Supporting Organization Council ("GNSO") initiated a Policy 
Development Process in June 2009, which resulted in the submission of several 
policy and process recommendations to the ICANN Board of Directors, which the 
Board approved on 6 May 2012. ICANN staff developed this proposed Policy on the 
basis of a recommendation from a Working Group convened by the GNSO.
Next Steps:

ICANN will review the submitted comments and, where appropriate, incorporate 
suggested modifications into the Policy. Once finalized, the Policy will be 
implemented and made effective for all gTLD registrars and registries.
Staff Contact:
Steve Gobin
Email Staff 
Contact<mailto:steve.gobin@xxxxxxxxx?subject=More%20information%20on%20the%20Whois%20Information%20Status%20Policy%20public%20comment%20period>
Detailed Information
Section I: Description, Explanation, and Purpose:

The Registry Agreements<https://www.icann.org/en/about/agreements/registries> 
between the gTLD registry operators and ICANN as well as the Registrar 
Accreditation Agreement<https://www.icann.org/en/about/agreements/registrars> 
between the ICANN accredited registrars and ICANN require registry operators 
and registrars to provide a publicly available Whois service that makes 
available certain data related to the domain names that are registered via the 
respective registry operators and registrars. In most of the cases, those data 
include domain name statuses. The names of the existing statuses often vary 
between the registry operators and the registrars, while some of them don't 
make any information available about the meaning of each status they use, which 
might create confusion among users.

The purpose of the proposed Whois Information Status Policy is to create 
consistency across by requiring registry operators and registrars that display 
statuses in their Whois output to only refer to EPP status 
codes<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/transfers/epp-status-codes-30jun11-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 98 KB] and to include a link to an ICANN web page with a list of the 
statuses and their meaning.

The proposed Policy does not require registry operators and registrars to 
display statuses in their Whois output if they are not already obligated to do 
so, but it requires those who do display statuses to only use the EPP status 
codes and to provide the link noted above in their output. In that regard ICANN 
is also seeking comment from the community about whether the Policy should 
require all registry operators and registrars to display Whois statuses in 
their Whois output.
Section II: Background:
On 24 June 2009, the GNSO Council launched a Policy Development Process (PDP) 
in connection to the Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy 
(http://gnso.icann.org/en/council/resolutions#200906 - resolution 20090624-2) 
and the PDP working group submitted its Final Report on 30 May 2011 with a set 
of recommendations 
(http://gnso.icann.org/issues/transfers/irtp-b-final-report-30may11-en.pdf 
[PDF, 972 KB]), including Recommendation #8: to standardize and clarify Whois 
status messages regarding "Registrar Lock" status. On 22 June 2011, the GNSO 
Council resolved<http://gnso.icann.org/en/council/resolutions#201106> that 
prior to the consideration of approval of the recommendation regarding the 
standardizing and clarifying Whois status messages regarding Registrar Lock 
status, the GNSO Council would request ICANN staff to provide a proposal 
designed to ensure a technically feasible approach can be developed to meet 
this recommendation. In response to this request, ICANN Staff developed a 
proposal in consultation with the IRTP Part B working group, which was posted 
for public comment and subsequently adopted by the GNSO Council on 16 February 
2012 (http://gnso.icann.org/en/council/resolutions#20120216-1). Following 
another public comment forum on the recommendation and proposal 
(http://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/irtp-b-rec8-21feb12-en.htm<https://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/irtp-b-rec8-21feb12-en.htm>)
 the ICANN Board adopted these on 6 May 2012. 
(http://www.icann.org/en/groups/board/documents/resolutions-06may12-en.htm#1.5<https://www.icann.org/en/groups/board/documents/resolutions-06may12-en.htm#1.5>)
Section III: Document and Resource Links:

Whois Information Status 
Policy<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/draft-wisp-10may13-en.pdf> 
[PDF, 52 KB]
Section IV: Additional Information:

None

________________________________

(*) Comments submitted after the posted Close Date/Time are not guaranteed to 
be considered in any final summary, analysis, reporting, or decision-making 
that takes place once this period lapses.


Glen de Saint Géry
GNSO Secretariat
gnso.secretariat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://gnso.icann.org