[ga] draft gac whois principles text

[Danny Younger <dannyyounger@xxxxxxxxx>]

I noticed this correspondence on the NCUC discuss
list.  It should be of interest to GA members in light
of the recent comments on WHOIS from the NTIA's John
Kneuer. 

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: draft gac whois principles text
From: "Suzanne Sene" <ssene@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, September 21, 2006 1:02 am

** High Priority **

hello everyone, as the convenor of gac working group
1, i am pleased to
forward the text of the draft gac whois principles
regarding the 
purpose
and use of whois data, prepared by our gac colleagues
from australia
(ashley cross and paul szyndler).

this draft text is the culmination of both internal
gac discussions and
external public sessions the gac has organized since
2005 to address 
the
public policy aspects of the purpose and use of whois
data.

during our most recent meeting in marrakech, the gac
plenary agreed to
finalize the principles at the sao paulo meeting in
December, 2006.

to meet the December deadline for gac plenary approval
of the text, all
gac members are requested to submit comments via the
working group 1
discus thread on whois according to the following
timeline:

October 13:  submission of first round of comments

October 27:  revised text circulated

November 2:  submission of second round of comments

November 27:  final version of text circulated

we will discuss the text during the working group 1
meeting in sao 
paulo
on December 3, followed by discussion and adoption by
the gac plenary.

please note the availability of background documents
on the gac discus
site under the whois heading, and feel free to contact
me should you
have any questions.

thanks in advance for your attention and support for
this gac priority
project.  best regards, suz.

Suzanne R. Sene
Senior Policy Advisor
NTIA/OIA
202-482-3167 (ph)
202-482-1865 (fax)

--- text version of attached document ---



DRAFT

GAC PRINCIPLES REGARDING THE PURPOSE
AND USE OF WHOIS DATA

Presented by the Governmental Advisory Committee
December 6, 2006

Preamble

1.1    The purpose of this document is to identify a
set of general 
public policy principles related to the operation and
management of the 
generic top level domain (gTLD) WHOIS service.

1.2These principles have been developed in
consultation with privacy, 
law enforcement, consumer and intellectual property
bodies within each 
GAC member government.

Objective of this document

2.1These principles are intended to guide the work
within ICANN 
pertaining to the WHOIS service and to inform the
ICANN Board of the 
consensus views of the GAC regarding the range of
public policy uses of 
WHOIS data.

Public Policy Aspects of WHOIS Data

3.1   The GAC believes that the WHOIS database serves
many legitimate 
purposes, including:

1.Assisting national law enforcement agencies, both
civil and criminal, 
in resolving cases that involve the use of the
Internet (such as child 
pornography, violent crimes, wire fraud, cyber crime,
consumer fraud, 
identity theft, phishing, and other violations of
consumer privacy and 
data security);

2.Combating intellectual property infringement and
theft through the 
identification of cybersquatters, trademark
infringers, counterfeiters, 
and copyright pirates;

3.Supporting Internet network operators responsible
for the operation, 
security, and stability of the Internet;

4.Protecting the rights of consumers by facilitating
their 
identification of legitimate online businesses; and

5.   Assisting businesses in investigating fraud,
phishing and other 
violations of   law affecting their business interests
and the 
interests 
of their customers.


3.2 While the GAC recognizes the complexity posed by
such a broad range 
of public policy uses of WHOIS data, the GAC believes
that the policy 
development process regarding the definition, purpose
and operation of 
gTLD WHOIS services needs to reflect the interests and
concerns of this 
broad range of users of WHOIS data.

Principles Applicable to WHOIS Data

4.1   The GAC believes that a fully functional WHOIS
service should:

1.Satisfy the traditional and ongoing goal of ensuring
the security and 
stability of the Internet;

2.Facilitate continued, timely and cross-border access
to accurate 
WHOIS 
data for law enforcement, intellectual property rights
protection, 
consumer protection, and compliance and regulatory
purposes;

3.Provide the necessary level of data regarding domain
name registrants 
and registrations to any user who seeks it, including,
for example, 
civil and criminal law enforcement officials, online
consumers, network 
operators, intellectual property rights holders, and
registries and 
registrars; and

4.Consider national laws and global agreements
associated with trade 
practices, consumer protection, intellectual property
rights and 
copyright protection, and privacy protection.



__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com