[council] Preliminary Issue Report on 'Thick' Whois

[Glen de Saint Géry <Glen@xxxxxxxxx>]

Preliminary Issue Report on 'Thick' Whois Comment Period Deadlines (*)

Important Information Links Public Comment 
Box<http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/thick-whois-preliminary-report-21nov11-en.htm>
Open Date: 21 November 2011 To Submit Your Comments 
(Forum)<mailto:thick-whois-preliminary-report@xxxxxxxxx>
Close Date: 30 December 2011 Time (UTC): 23:59
View Comments 
Submitted<http://forum.icann.org/lists/thick-whois-preliminary-report/>

Section I: Description, Explanation, and Purpose

ICANN Staff is seeking comments on its Preliminary Issue Report on 'Thick' 
Whois<http://gnso.icann.org/issues/whois/preliminary-report-thick-whois-21nov11-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 635 KB]. Specifically, this Report addresses not only a possible 
requirement of 'thick' WHOIS for all incumbent gTLDs in the context of the 
Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy (IRTP), but also considers any other positive 
and/or negative effects that are likely to occur outside of IRTP that would 
need to be taken into account when deciding whether a requirement of 'thick' 
WHOIS for all incumbent gTLDs would be desirable or not.

The Preliminary Issue Report informs the GNSO Council concerning the possible 
requirement of 'thick' Whois for all incumbent gTLDs in advance of the 
Council's vote on whether to commence a Policy Development Process (PDP) on 
this issue.
This Public Comment solicitation represents an opportunity for the ICANN 
community to provide its views on this topic and on whether a Policy 
Development Process should be initiated to consider the requirement of 'thick' 
Whois for all incumbent gTLDs. This Preliminary Issue Report will be updated to 
reflect community feedback submitted through this forum. A Final Issue Report 
will then be presented to the GNSO Council for its consideration. Section II: 
Background

In the context of the Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy (IRTP) Part A as well as 
the Part B Working Group, the issue of 'thick' Whois was discussed and it was 
noted that: "The benefit would be that in a thick registry one could develop a 
secure method for a gaining registrar to gain access to the registrant contact 
information. Currently there is no standard means for the secure exchange of 
registrant details in a thin registry. In this scenario, disputes between the 
registrant and admin contact could be reduced, as the registrant would become 
the ultimate approver of a transfer". At the same time it was noted that even 
though requiring 'thick' Whois for all incumbent gTLDs would have benefits in 
the context of transfers, it would be important to explore 'any other potential 
positive or negative effects that are likely to occur outside of IRTP that 
would need to be taken into account'. As a result, the IRTP Part B Working 
Group recommended requesting: "an Issue Report on the requirement of 'thick' 
WHOIS for all incumbent gTLDs. Such an Issue Report and possible subsequent 
Policy Development Process should not only consider a possible requirement of 
'thick' WHOIS or all incumbent gTLDs in the context of IRTP, but should also 
consider any other positive and/or negative effects that are likely to occur 
outside of IRTP that would need to be taken into account when deciding whether 
a requirement of 'thick' WHOIS for all incumbent gTLDs would be desirable or 
not". This recommendation that was adopted by the GNSO Council at its meeting 
on 22 September 2011 (see http://gnso.icann.org/resolutions/).
Section III: Document and Resource Links

Preliminary Issue Report on 'Thick' 
Whois<http://gnso.icann.org/issues/whois/preliminary-report-thick-whois-21nov11-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 635 KB]
Section IV: Additional Information None Staff Contact: Marika Konings Email: 
policy-staff@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:policy-staff@xxxxxxxxx?subject=More%20information%20on%20the%20Preliminary%20Issue%20Report%20on%20Thick%20Whois%20public%20comment%20period>

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