[council] Call for Volunteers: Whois Survey Working Group related to Service Requirements

[Glen de Saint Géry <Glen@xxxxxxxxx>]

Invitation for volunteers to join a Working Group to develop a survey to 
estimate the level of agreement that the conclusions and assumptions in the 
Inventory of Whois Service Requirements Report of 29 July 2010 have in the 
ICANN community. See: 
http://gnso.icann.org/issues/whois/whois-service-requirements-final-report-29jul10-en.pdf
 .  The goal of the Working Group to assist staff in developing the format, 
questions, response scale and scope of the survey, and to analyze survey 
results once obtained.
In May 2009 by the GNSO Council requested that staff prepare a compilation of 
potential future requirements for WHOIS service, based on current requirements 
and a review of previous GNSO WHOIS policy discussions. This resolution 
reflected increasing community concerns that the current WHOIS service is 
deficient in a number of ways, including data accuracy and reliability, as well 
as in other technical areas noted in recent SSAC reports, such as accessibility 
and readability of WHOIS contact information in an international environment. 
The report is a compendium of potential technical requirements and makes no 
policy recommendations. Some of the potential technical requirements included 
in the report are the following: a mechanism to find authoritative WHOIS 
servers; structured queries; a standardized set of query capabilities; a 
well-defined schema for replies; standardized error messages; improved quality 
of domain registration data; internationalization; security elements; thick vs. 
thin WHOIS; and a Registrar abuse point of contact. Staff published a first 
draft of the report 26 March 2010, solicited input from SOs and ACs, and posted 
a draft final report reflecting SO and AC input on 31 May.
On 19 May the GNSO Council asked ICANN staff to begin the process of seeking 
community volunteers Drafting Team for the purpose of developing a survey of 
views.  The Drafting Team prepared a charter, just approved by the GNSO Council 
on 6 October, defining the scope and tasks of this group.  See: 
http://gnso.icann.org/issues/whois/charter-wswg-06oct11-en.pdf
This invitation is extended to all members of the ICANN community.  We urge you 
to forward to this to all members of the community who may be interested in 
participating.  Expertise in the technical aspects of gTLD Whois, survey 
development, and background on the history of gTLD Whois policy development, 
would be particularly useful to this group.
Please contact the GNSO Council Secretariat at 
gnso.secretariat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:gnso.secretariat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> by 28 
October if you are interested in joining the Drafting Team.  Please contact Liz 
Gasster at liz.gasster@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:liz.gasster@xxxxxxxxx> if you have any 
questions about the report or the work of this group.
Thank you.
Kind regards,
Glen
Glen de Saint Géry
GNSO Secretariat
gnso.secretariat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:gnso.secretariat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
http://gnso.icann.org