[council] Last WHOIS Issues report

["Bruce Tonkin" <Bruce.Tonkin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello All,

The issues report that initiated this current WHOIS PDP, was prepared by Louis 
Toutton in May 2003.

See: http://www.icann.org/gnso/issue-reports/whois-privacy-report-13may03.htm 

Here is an interesting quote:

"The staff recommends that the GNSO Council not initiate a PDP on any of the 
Whois/privacy issues until significant additional work is done on investigating 
the factual background, in analyzing interrelationships of the issues, and in 
more clearly delineating the issues to be pursued. Additional work in these 
areas should provide the necessary understanding of the circumstances 
surrounding the uses and misuses of Whois, their effects on privacy concerns, 
and the issues and their inter-relationships. "

Here are the positions of the constituencies at the time - 4 years ago:

"Non-Commercial Users - Place great emphasis on privacy of Whois data.

Commercial Users - Place great emphasis on accountability of uses of the 
Internet, and therefore on accessibility of Whois data for legitimate purposes.

Intellectual Property Interests - Stress the importance of ready access to 
accurate Whois data to support investigation of cybersquatting, copyright 
violations, and counterfeiting activities.

ISPs - Support ready access to accurate Whois data to facilitate resolution of 
network problems and sourcing of spam.

Registrars - View registrant data as an important business asset which should 
not be made available to competitors. (In this regard, registrars are largely 
aligned with resellers.) Registrars also receive complaints from registrants 
reporting that they have received unsolicited renewal notices, and other offers 
by phone, postal mail, fax, or e-mail targeted at registrants using the 
information available via Whois. However, registrars also need a mechanism to 
access the registrant data of competitors to confirm authorization of 
transfers. Registrars also bear the expense of providing registrar-level Whois 
service.

gTLD Registries - Registry operators bear the expense of providing 
registry-level Whois service, and may also view the aggregate data as an 
important business asset that should not be made available to competing 
registry operators."



Below is the list of issues catalogued:

Issues Concerning Data Collection

1. Should the elements of data that registrars are required to collect at the 
time of registration of a domain name be revised? (See Registrar Accreditation 
Agreement (RAA) § 3.2.)

2. Should registrars be prohibited by ICANN from collecting additional items of 
data?

3. Should all registrants, or certain classes of registrants (see Issue 18 
below), be afforded the option of not providing some or all elements that 
registrars are required to collect and, if so, which elements?

4. Should the current mechanism for pseudonymous registration be changed or 
supplemented with one or more alternative mechanisms? (See RAA § 3.7.7.3.) 
Should steps be taken to encourage broader availability of this mechanism?

5. Are the current requirements that registrars make disclosures to, and obtain 
consent by, registrants concerning the uses of collected data adequate and 
appropriate? (See RAA §§ 3.7.7.4 to 3.7.7.6.)


Issues Concerning Data Quality

6. Are the procedures currently followed by registrars adequate to promote 
accurate, complete, and up-to-date data, as required by both privacy and 
accountability principles? (See RAA §§ 3.7.7.1, 3.7.7.2, and 3.7.8, as well as 
the GNSO s Whois recommendations on accuracy adopted by the ICANN Board on 27 
March 2003.)

7. What should be the consequences when a registrant provides inaccurate or 
incomplete data, or fails to correct inaccurate or incomplete data? (See RAA §§ 
3.7.7.1, 3.7.7.2, and 3.7.8.) Are safeguards needed to prevent abusive reports 
of inaccuracies? Should certain classes of registrants (see Issue 18 below) be 
permitted to provide inaccurate or incomplete data?


Issues Concerning Data Handling

8. Are the current requirements that registrars handle personal data according 
to the notices given at the time of registration, and in a manner that avoids 
loss, misuse, unauthorized access or disclosure, alteration, or destruction, 
adequate and appropriate? (See RAA §§ 3.7.7.7 and 3.7.7.8.)

9. Are the current requirements for handling of registrar data by registry 
operators adequate and appropriate?


Issues Concerning Data Disclosure

10. Are the current means of query-based access appropriate? Should both 
web-based access and port-43 access be required? (RAA § 3.3.1.)

11. What are the purposes for providing public query-based access? Are the 
elements currently required to be disclosed in public query-based access 
adequate and appropriate? (RAA § 3.3.1.)

12. What measures, if any, should registrars and registry operators be 
permitted to take to limit data mining of Whois servers?

13. Should access to data be differentiated based on the party receiving 
access, or based on the use to which the data will be put? If so, how should 
differentiated access be implemented and how should the cost of differentiation 
be funded?

14. Should the current requirement that registrars provide bulk Whois access 
for non-marketing uses be further limited or eliminated? (RAA § 3.3.6, as well 
as the GNSO s Whois recommendations on accuracy adopted by the ICANN Board on 
27 March 2003.)


Issues Concerning Data Use

15. Which uses of Whois data by members of the public should be permitted 
(e.g., resolving technical problems, sourcing spam, identifying online 
merchants, law enforcement activities, identifying online infringers for 
enforcement of intellectual property rights, etc.)? Which uses should be 
prohibited?

16. How should restrictions on permissible uses by members of the public be 
enforced? (RAA §§ 3.3.6.3 to 3.3.6.5.)

17. To what extent is Whois data actually used to the harm of registrants 
(e.g., identity theft, spam, stalking, and other harassment)?


Issues Concerning Classification of Registrants

18. Should certain types of registrants (e.g., those using domains for 
political and similar activities) be exempt from the usual requirements to 
provide data, or to have it available in Whois? How should the eligibility of 
particular registrants for these exemptions be determined? Are measures 
required to address the possibility of abuses in the classification procedure?


Issues Concerning Commercial Confidentiality and Rights in Data

19. Should registrars have the option, independent of their customers, to 
protect the confidentiality of Whois data based on registrars  proprietary 
rights to that data? Are the current provisions permitting registrars to claim 
proprietary rights in personal data about their customers appropriate? (RAA § 
3.5.)

20. Should there be ICANN requirements limiting registrars' ability to sell or 
use Whois data, or other data collected about customers, for commercial 
purposes?