[council] Roadmap to Implement SAC 051

[Glen de Saint Géry <Glen@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-6-04jun12-en.htm
Roadmap to Implement SAC 051
4 June 2012

As requested by the ICANN Board, ICANN is publishing the updated 
Roadmap<http://www.icann.org/en/groups/ssac/documents/sac-051-roadmap-04jun12-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 218 KB] for the coordination of the technical and policy discussions 
necessary to implement the recommendations outlined in SAC 051. There are two 
main recommendations in SAC 051: 1) improve Whois terminology to enhance and 
disambiguate the discussion; and 2) replace the Whois protocol to address 
various technical issues (e.g., internationalization). This Roadmap is the 
second version of the document, which was revised to include input from the 
community. The Roadmap will be submitted to the ICANN Board for its 
consideration.

Created in the 1980s, Whois began as a service used by Internet operators to 
identify individuals or entities responsible for the operation of a network 
resource on the Internet. The Whois service has since evolved into a tool used 
for many purposes. However, as usage of Whois service evolved, few changes have 
been made to the protocol that supports the service. As a result, there is 
growing concern that the protocol would not meet the need of the community.

Beginning in 2002, ICANN's Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) 
published various advisories describing deficiencies related to the WHOIS 
protocol, service and data schema, most recently SAC 051: SSAC Report on Domain 
Name WHOIS Terminology and 
Structure<http://www.icann.org/en/groups/ssac/documents/sac-051-en.pdf> [PDF, 
243 KB]. SAC 051 summarizes the previous advisories, and among other things, 
recommends that the ICANN community evaluate and adopt a replacement protocol.

Recognizing its concerns with the WHOIS protocol deficiencies, on 28 October 
2011, the ICANN Board approved a 
resolution<http://www.icann.org/en/groups/board/documents/minutes-28oct11-en.htm#5>
 directing staff to produce, in consultation with the community, a roadmap for 
the coordination of the technical and policy discussions necessary to implement 
the recommendations outlined in SAC 051.

On 18 February 2012, ICANN published a draft Roadmap to implement SAC 051 for 
public 
comment<http://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/sac-051-draft-roadmap-18feb12-en.htm>.
 Most commentators agreed with the approach proposed in the draft roadmap to 
replace the WHOIS protocol (SSAC recommendations 2 & 3). Given the general 
consensus on the proposed roadmap, it was deemed not necessary to open a second 
round of public comment. Instead, this updated Roadmap to implement SAC 051 is 
being published.

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