[ga] BC WHOIS Statement

[Danny Younger <dannyyounger@xxxxxxxxx>]

Statement of the Commercial and Business Users
Constituency, regarding WHOIS, October-2007
 
On 6 September 2007, the GNSO Council approved a
motion requesting constituency statements regarding
reports by the WHOIS Task Force, WHOIS Working Group,
and Staff Overview.    Statements were requested by
October 4, 2007.

In response, the Commercial and Business Users
Constituency (BC) submits a two-part statement.
First, the BC re-submits its statement of concerns
with the Operational Point of Contact (OPOC) proposal,
as published in the Final Task Force Report on Whois
Services, 16 March 2007 (see excerpt below). The BC is
resubmitting its previous position because the
concerns raised earlier this year remain relevant to
the current WHOIS discussion.  Moreover, BC membership
believes that most questions raised regarding OPOC
were not sufficiently resolved within the WHOIS
Working Group, notwithstanding the remarkable efforts
invested by Working Group participants.

Second, the BC has adopted the following position
regarding the Final Outcomes Report of the WHOIS
Working Group 2007 :
The BC does not consider the Final Outcomes Report of
the WHOIS Working Group an adequate basis for
implementation of the OPOC proposal.
The BC has devoted considerable resources and time to
understand the extent of privacy concerns raised with
regard to the WHOIS service.  While there has been
extensive discussion and debate over positions and
views, we still have insufficient fact-based
information upon which to evaluate proposed changes to
WHOIS.  With respect to whatever information and
analysis has been compiled thus far, the BC does not
see sufficient justification for abandoning or
changing the current WHOIS service.  We still lack
data on the characteristics of registrants, how WHOIS
data is being used, and how misuses of WHOIS may be
affecting registrants.

The BC believes that any changes to Whois Services
should not be considered until the completion of four
studies recommended in Section 8 of the Working Group
Final Outcomes Report (Section 8 shown below, from
http://gnso.icann.org/drafts/icann-whois-wg-report-final-1-9.pdf
)
  
Moreover, the BC believes the recommended studies
should be conducted in three phases.  The benefit of a
phased approach is to reduce demands on ICANN
resources in the event that early studies show that
subsequent studies could be eliminated or more tightly
targeted.  
We propose phasing these studies as described below:

Phase One Studies
In the first phase, ICANN staff should proceed with
the fourth study recommended by the Working Group
Final Outcomes Report: Information on gTLD registrants
and registrations and the use and misuse of WHOIS
data. 
 
This study is consistent with a study proposed earlier
by the GAC.  It should go beyond the June 2007 ICANN
SSAC study on spam in order to document all specific
misuses of WHOIS data.

In addition, the BC recommends that this first phase
include a review and analysis of proxy services
presently available. That should include an analysis
of the extent and characteristics of users who avail
themselves of proxy services, and an evaluation of how
proxy vendors are responding to requests to relay
communications and reveal information about
registrants. Expert resources should be used for the
development of the study.   
Study results from this initial phase should be
published for review and consideration by Council and
the ICANN community. 
 
Phase Two Studies
A second phase of studies would be needed if the first
phase reveals that there is significant misuse of
WHOIS data.  In the second phase, ICANN staff would
proceed with the cost-related studies recommended in
the Working Group Final Outcomes Report:
?       costs to implement the verification and consent
proposals described in sections 2.4 and 2.5;
?       costs to implement the Request/compliance issues of
section 4;
?       costs to implement the Access options described in
section 6;
?       marginal costs to implement a new fee-based system
for Accessors compared with recovering additional
costs from user fees using existing systems;
Study results from this second phase should be
published for review and consideration by Council and
the ICANN community. 
 
Phase Three Studies
If the phase two cost studies reveal costs that are
justified in order to remedy the documented misuse of
WHOIS data, ICANN staff should proceed with a third
phase of studies.   This third phase should combine
the two remaining studies recommended in the Working
Group Final Outcomes Report:

?       data privacy issues arising from the
self-declaration of Accessors in the Access proposal
described in section 6 of the Working Group Final
Outcomes Report.  This should include an analysis of
ex-post review mechanisms; 
?       mechanisms for a practicable, cost-effective,
globally scaleable means of authenticating Accessors
as described in section 6.  This should include
authentication of any parties with a legitimate
interest in the data

Study results from the third phase would inform
implementation planning for any mechanisms to restrict
access to WHOIS data.  

For the full text of this statement (including
annexes) please see -- http://www.bizconst.org/




       
____________________________________________________________________________________
Yahoo! oneSearch: Finally, mobile search 
that gives answers, not web links. 
http://mobile.yahoo.com/mobileweb/onesearch?refer=1ONXIC