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Provided to the WHOIS Policy Review Team by

Liz Gasster, Senior Policy Counselor, ICANN Policy Support

Pam Little, Senior Director, ICANN Contractual Compliance

Denise Michel, Advisor to ICANN President & CEO

1.  Background

2.  Selected Whois Accuracy Work by Compliance

3.  Overview of Selected Whois Policy Activity (historical)

4.  Overview of Current Whois Policy Activity

5.  IANA and Whois

6.  Two Whois-related sessions in Cartagena

7.  Additional Information

     a.  Links to Other Reports and References

     b.  Status of GNSO Council-requested WHOIS studies – November 2010 Update

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1.  Background

1.1 General

  • Whois protocol is ~25 years old (RFCs 812/954/3912 from 2004) (Use IETF RFC "quick search" for RFC text)
  • ICANN requirements for gTLD registries and registrars are largely unchanged since 1999
  • 10+ years of task forces, working groups, workshops, surveys and studies have resulted in a few policy changes (see Section III -- Overview of historical Whois policy activity)
  • Basic policy issues of concern: access,  accuracy, privacy, obsolescence of protocol, costs to change
  • General Policy Page on Whois:  http://gnso.icann.org/issues/whois/

1.2  Whois Registry Data ("thick" vs. "thin"):

  • "Thin" registries display technical data (e.g., nameservers, expiration/creation dates, registrar)
  • "Thick" registries display technical and personal data (e.g., contact names, addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers)
  • gTLD registrars display technical and personal data for all names in Whois
  • Thick registries promote SRS continuity in event of failed/non-compliant registrars

1.3  Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) Registrar Obligations: 

  • Provide free access via webpage and a port 43 service
  • Eight Whois data elements
  • Comply with any Whois specification or policy
  • Provide third-party bulk access
  • Maintain Whois for 3 years
  • Escrow data with ICANN approved escrow agent
  • Freeze data in certain UDRP disputes
  • Take reasonable steps to investigate and correct inaccuracy claims

1.4  RAA Registrant Obligations:

  • Provide accurate and reliable Whois contact details
  • Failure to do so shall constitute a breach and is grounds for cancellation of the domain name
  • Licensor to a third party (i.e., proxy or privacy service) is the Registered Name Holder of record
  •  Licensor must disclose privacy data given evidence of harm or be liable
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