RE: [council] Update on Whois studies

["Gomes, Chuck" <cgomes@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks Liz.  Very helpful.
 
In planning for our agenda(s) in Nairobi, it would be helpful to know
soon whether you think Whois Studies should be on the agenda there.
 
Chuck


________________________________

        From: owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Liz Gasster
        Sent: Friday, January 15, 2010 8:20 PM
        To: Council GNSO
        Subject: [council] Update on Whois studies
        
        

        All,

         

        Attached and following, please find an update on the Whois
studies that the policy staff has been working on.

         

        I.                    Background:

         

        The GNSO Council concluded that a comprehensive, objective and
quantifiable understanding of key factual issues regarding the gTLD
Whois system would benefit future GNSO policy development efforts. In
March 2009, the GNSO Council asked ICANN staff to conduct research on
feasibility and cost estimates to study several high priority aspects of
WHOIS, and to report back to the Council with that information for
further decision-making. Staff has categorized these studies into three
areas (the first three areas listed in the attached chart), and is
soliciting bids from independent researchers to help determine costs and
feasibility issues in each area using an RFP approach.  The GNSO Council
resolution making this request can be found here:
http://gnso.icann.org/resolutions/#200903. 

         

        II.                  Update:

        Following is a list of the study RFPs that are being issued (may
include more than one study), with a short update on each:

         

        1.       WHOIS Misuse -- Studies will assess extent of misuse of
public Whois data to generate spam or for other illegal or undesirable
activities.   One Misuse study will survey registrants about specific
acts they have experienced that they believe occurred using Whois
contact data; survey registrars about how Whois can be queried, and
survey others about reported incidents from cybercrime, research and law
enforcement organizations.  A second Misuse study will measure a variety
of harmful acts by classifying messages sent to unpublished test domain
names registered specifically for the study using a representative
sample of registrars. The study will compare harmful acts associated
with public vs. non-public addresses and examine impact of public Whois
and anti-harvesting measures. An RFP was released on 28 September and
closed on 27 November 2009.  3 responses were received. Staff review and
analysis is underway. 

         

        2.       WHOIS Registrant Identification - Study will explore
Whois registrations and the extent to which domains used by legal
persons (commercial entities) or for commercial purposes are: 1) not
clearly identified as commercial entities in Whois (perhaps their
identity is obscured or suggests the registrant is a non-commercial
entity); and 2) are correlated to use of privacy and proxy services. An
RFP was released October 23 and closed on 23 December 2009.  5 responses
were received. Staff review and analysis is underway.

        3.      Whois Proxy and Privacy Services - Studies will look at:
1) the extent to which domain names used to conduct illegal or harmful
Internet activities are registered via proxy and privacy services to
obscure the perpetrator's identity; and 2) the degree to which proxy and
privacy services impede or delay timely identification of perpetrators.
More information about these studies will be available in the coming
weeks. 

         

        III.                Next steps and timeframe:

        There is a significant amount of work involved in drafting RFP
terms of reference for the third set of studies at the same time that we
are analyzing responses for the first two study areas. Staff is taking
great care with the analysis and budget implications, and the third set
of studies is complex.   Due to delays in preparing an RFP for the third
set of studies, we have been delayed in our review of the RFP responses.
We are just beginning that analysis now, and following that review, we
will then be presenting information to the GNSO Council for its
consideration and action.  For these reasons, the staff analysis on the
first two sets of studies will likely take several more weeks to
complete.   

         

        Please let me know if you have any questions or would like more
information.

         

        Thanks, Liz