Re: [dow2tf] Topics to discuss

["Milton Mueller" <mueller@xxxxxxx>]

>>> "Jordyn A. Buchanan" <jordyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 04/21/04 09:36AM >>>

>1) What is the purpose of Whois?

This question is less troubling than it seems, if we keep our 
history and definitions straight. In fact, we know what the 
original purpose of Whois was: it was to provide the information 
needed for solving technical problems and other outages. 
The information was exchanged among a limited group of 
trusted technologists when the Internet was fairly small.

We also know that Whois began to be used for new purposes
as the domain name system commercialized and was opened
to the public. We know that neither before nor after ICANN was
created have we ever had a formal PDP or other proceeding 
redefining the purpose of Whois. And we know that some 
interests would like for the new and different purposes to be 
assumed and built into policy now. 

However, as Marilyn Cade observes, there is nothing in
the current description of work that asks us to redefine the
purpose of Whois. Therefore, the original purpose must be
assumed, and policy outcomes based on that.  

--MM