[whois-sc] other items for tomorrow's call

[Steve Metalitz <metalitz@xxxxxxxx>]

May I suggest that we spend part of tomorrow's call of the Steering Group in
clarifying how (if at all) our work intersects with the following
initiatives announced by Paul Twomey in his missive of September 18
(http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-18sep03.htm):  

1) CRISP Review. The Internet Engineering Task Force's (IETF
<http://www.ietf.org>'s) Cross-Registry Information Service Protocol (CRISP)
Working Group <http://www.ietf.org/html.charters/crisp-charter.html> will
define a standard mechanism that can be used to support commonly required
queries for domain registration information. Participation is encouraged.
The CRISP protocol may, at a future date, be adopted and affect the services
currently implemented in WHOIS. The CRISP Working Group is in the process of
refining requirements (identifying the community of users, deciding on
scope, identifying needs, and determining features), and has called for
comments on the functional requirements statement
<ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-crisp-requirem
ents-06.txt> contained in the IETF's draft request for comments (RFC) on the
CRISP protocol. The GNSO Council <http://gnso.icann.org>, under the
direction of Bruce Tonkin (GNSO Council Chair), will be launching such a
review and is encouraging its constituencies and liaisons to participate.
2) WHOIS Data Element Review. With ICANN staff support, an analysis will be
conducted on the existing uses of the registrant data elements currently
captured as part of the domain name registration process. The intent is to
determine whether all of the data elements now collected are necessary for
current and foreseeable needs of the community, and if so, how they may be
acquired with the greatest accuracy, least cost, and in compliance with
applicable privacy, security, and stability considerations.
3) Domain Name Registrant Classification. At the Montreal workshop, there
was discussion about whether it was feasible to distinguish different
classes of domain name holders such that the WHOIS information collected
from them, and made available to the community, could reflect differing
types of use and potentially different privacy considerations. The
Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC
<http://www.gac-icann.org/web/index.shtml>) WHOIS Working Group, chaired by
Robin Layton (GAC's US Accredited Representative), is investigating this
possibility.
....

[4] (numbering added) To help advance these efforts and encourage
coordination and collaboration, two activities are planned for ICANN's
Carthage meeting </carthage/> in late October. ICANN will sponsor a second
WHOIS workshop </carthage/whois-workshop-agenda.htm> focusing on identifying
the priority WHOIS issues to be addressed by ICANN and discussing applicable
"best practices."
[I note by the way that an agenda for this workshop has been posted today.
http://www.icann.org/carthage/whois-workshop-agenda.htm]
In the interests of efficiency and avoiding duplication of effort, it would
be valuable to have greater clarity on whether these announcements render
anything we have talked about redundant, and/or whether this announcement
creates new deadlines or expectations for the pace or priority of our work.

Steve Metalitz