Background Materials

1. Background

2. Current RDS/WHOIS Policy Materials

3. Current RDS/WHOIS Contractual Requirements and Compliance Materials

4. Previous WHOIS Review Materials

5. Additional Information

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1.  Background

WHOIS isn’t an acronym, though it may look like one. In fact, it is the system that asks the question, who is responsible for a domain name or an IP address?

To learn more about the Registration Directory Service (RDS, formerly known as WHOIS), visit: 

• WHOIS Primer
• Glossary of WHOIS Terms
• WHOIS Information Portal and Consolidated WHOIS Lookup Tool
• ICANN WHOIS Portal Knowledge Center Q&A: What is WHOIS data used for?
• WHOIS Protocol (RFC 3912)

2. Current RDS/WHOIS Policy Materials

• WHOIS Data Reminder Policy (WDRP) 
• Restored Names Accuracy Policy (RNAP)
• WHOIS Marketing Restriction Policy (WMRP) 
• Additional WHOIS Information Policy (AWIP) 

• WHOIS Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy and Rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy

• WHOIS New gTLD URS Policy and Rules for URS Policy

• WHOIS Expired Registration Recovery Policy
• WHOIS Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy
• Thick WHOIS PDP and Final Report  – see section 7.1 for Thick WHOIS Policy
• Thick RDDS (WHOIS) Transition Policy for .COM, .NET and .JOBS 
• Privacy & Proxy Services Accreditation Issues (PPSAI) PDP and Final Report
• Registry Registration Data Directory Services Consistent Labeling and Display Policy 
• Translation/Transliteration of Contact Information PDP and Final Report
• Final Report from the Expert Working Group on Internationalized Registration Data (2015)

3. Current RDS/WHOIS Contractual Requirements and Compliance Materials

• RDS/WHOIS Contractual Requirements
  • 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA), including RAA WHOIS requirements for Registrants
  • 2014 New gTLD Registry Agreement, including Specification 4 Registration Data Publication Services

• RDS/WHOIS-related Contracted Party Advisories
  
  • Advisory: Clarifications to the 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) Whois Accuracy Specification
  • Advisory: ICANN Posts Amended Description of 2013 RAA Data Retention Specification Data Elements and Purposes for Collection/Retention
  • Advisory: Clarifications to the Registry Agreement, and the 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) regarding applicable Registration Data Directory Service (Whois) Specifications
  • Advisory: Registrar Implementation of the 2013 RAA's Whois Requirements
    
    
• RDS/WHOIS Complaint Handling
  • WHOIS Inaccuracy Complaint Form
  • WHOIS Service Complaint Form
  • WHOIS Compliance FAQs

• RDS/WHOIS Accuracy Reporting System (ARS) Project
  • Pilot Study Report
  • ARS Phase 1 Reporting
  • ARS Phase 2 Reporting and Full Report

• Procedure for Handling RDS/WHOIS Conflicts with Privacy Law:
  
  • ICANN Procedure For Handling WHOIS Conflicts with Privacy Law (2008)
  • Review of the ICANN Procedure for Handling WHOIS Conflicts with Privacy Law (2014)
  • Final Report on the Implementation Advisory Group Review of Existing ICANN Procedure for Handling Whois Conflicts with Privacy Laws (2016)

• RDS/WHOIS Data Retention Specification Waiver and Discussion Document

• Registration Data Access Protocol
  • Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP - RFC 7480)
  • RDAP Operational Profile for Registries and Registrars (2016)
    
    

4. Previous WHOIS Review and Task Force Materials

• WHOIS Review Implementation Reports, including
  • Executive Summary of Implementation Report
  • Detailed implementation Report 
• WHOIS Review Team Final Report (2012) and Action Plan
• WHOIS Task Force Final Report (2007) [HTML] and [PDF]
• WHOIS Task Force Final Report (2003)
  
  

5. WHOIS1 Implementation Material

• WHOIS1 Implementation Briefings on Recommendations 4, 12, 13, 14: PPT, PDF
• WHOIS1 Implementation Briefings on Recommendations 5, 8, 10, 11: PPT, PDF
• WHOIS1 Implementation Briefings on Recommendations 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 15, 16: PPT, PDF
• Answers to RDS-WHOIS2 Questions on Implementation Briefings
  
  
• 2013 Annual Report on WHOIS Improvements
• 2014 Annual Report on WHOIS Improvements
• 2015 Annual Report on WHOIS Improvements
• 2016 Annual Report on WHOIS Improvements
  
  
• Implementation report - June 2016
  
  Written implementation briefings - ICANN Org
  • 01 
  • 02
  • 03
  • 04
  • 05-09
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12-14
  • 15-16

6. Additional Information