From my point of view:
The WHOIS information is a little too public. Privacy services are often offered by registrars at an additional cost. Therefore, it seems to me it should be made a choice whether to make information public, and so too should the cost of the privacy be a choice. Really, only ICANN and my registrar should have my contact information. Not just anyone who wants to mine the data from one of the many available access points. Thanks, Randy Glass A@L On 4/11/07, Wendy Seltzer <wendy@seltzer.com> wrote:
Re-titled so that others may find this message in overflowing mailboxes:
The GNSO is chartering another working group on WHOIS and the privacy issues implicated by its publicly available database of domain name registrants' identifying information (name, address, email, and telephone number). The previous working group proposed permitting registrants to replace this personal information with an "Operational Point of Contact," who could accept notices and pass them along to the registrant. The new working group is tasked with determining operational details of that plan, among other things.
The working group is open to anyone, and since it is chartered to work by consensus rather than vote, individuals may actually have meaningful opportunity to shape the discussion here. Please, join us!
More info at <http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/council/msg03357.html> and pasted below.
Please email Maria Farrell (maria.farrell at icann.org) or the GNSO Secretariat (GNSO.SECRETARIAT[at]GNSO.ICANN.ORG) if you would like to join the working group.
--Wendy
As per the GNSO resolution in Lisbon, a WHOIS Working Group is being formed with a 120-day timeline. All may participate.
The Charter for the WHOIS Working Group may be found here: http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/council/msg03357.html
1 Introduction The GNSO Council voted on 28 March, 2007 to create a Whois Working Group with a broad, balanced and representative membership to take the output of the WHOIS task force and carry out further work to address concerns raised by the community and seek to reach greater consensus around improvements to the WHOIS service that achieve a balance between providing contact information adequate to facilitate timely resolution of any problems that arise in connection with the Register Name, and the need to take reasonable precautions to protect the data about any identified or identifiable natural person from loss, misuse, unauthorized access or disclosure, alteration, or destruction.
2 Background Whois ICANN's agreements with gTLD registrars and gTLD registries require them to provide data concerning active Registered Names via three mechanisms: port-43 WHOIS, an interactive web page (often called WHOIS service), and third-party bulk access. The Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) spells out which data is collected and which data is made available. The data includes contact information of natural persons that includes names, postal addresses, email addresses, fax and voice telephone numbers.
Whois Policy Development Process (PDP) The GNSO is approaching the end of a PDP on Whois that should fulfill terms of reference agreed in June 2005. The terms of reference of the PDP (http://gnso.icann.org/policies/terms-of-reference.html) are to make policy recommendations to the Board on: 1.The purpose of the Whois service 2.The purpose of the Whois contacts (ie Registered Name Holder, technical contact, and administrative contact) and the purpose for which the data is collected. 3.Which data should be available for public access, and determine how to access data that is not available for public access. 4.How to improve the process for notifying a registrar of inaccurate data, and how to improve the process for correcting inaccurate data. 5.How to deal with any conflicts between the requirements of ICANN agreements, and local or national privacy laws
Regarding term of reference #5, a Policy on conflicts between Whois requirements and local or national privacy laws was developed by the GNSO and approved by the Board on 10 May 2006. A draft Procedure for Handling Whois Conflicts with Privacy Law has been published on the ICANN website at ( http://gnso.icann.org/issues/whois-privacy/whois_national_laws_procedure.htm ). The Final Task Force Report on Whois Services was submitted to the GNSO Council on 12 March, 2007. The Task Force Report and Staff Discussion Points on Potential Implementation Issues are available at http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-16mar07.htm. The GNSO Council met to consider the WHOIS task force report on Saturday 25 March 2007, and also met with the Government Advisory Committee. Various concerns were raised regarding some of the recommendations in the report, and subsequently the GNSO Council met on Wednesday 28 March and decided to form a working group to attempt to resolve some of the issues raised.
3 Objective The objective of the WG is to examine the issues raised with respect to the policy recommendations of the task force and make recommendations concerning how those policies recommendations may be improved to address these issues.
4 Work Plan 4a Define the roles, responsibilities, and requirements of the contacts available for unrestricted public query-based access, and what happens if the responsibilities are not fulfilled.
4b. Determine how third parties may access registration data that is no longer available for unrestricted public query-based access for legitimate activities.
The GAC Policy Principles on gTLD Whois Services (dated 28 March 07) sets out a list of legitimate (subject to applicable national law) activities, including:
1. Supporting the security and stability of the Internet by providing contact points for network operators and administrators, including ISPs, and certified computer incident response teams;
2. Allowing users to determine the availability of domain names;
3. Assisting law enforcement authorities in investigations, in enforcing national and international laws, including, for example, countering terrorism-related criminal offences and in supporting international cooperation procedures. In some countries, specialized non governmental entities may be involved in this work;
4. Assisting in combating against abusive uses of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), such as illegal and other acts motivated by racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance, hatred, violence, all forms of child abuse, including paedophilia and child pornography, and trafficking in, and exploitation of, human beings.
5. Facilitating enquiries and subsequent steps to conduct trademark clearances and to help counter intellectual property infringement, misuse and theft in accordance with applicable national laws and international treaties;
6. Contributing to user confidence in the Internet as a reliable and efficient means of information and communication and as an important tool for promoting digital inclusion, e-commerce and other legitimate uses by helping users identify persons or entities responsible for content and services online; and
7. Assisting businesses, other organizations and users in combating fraud, complying with relevant laws, and safeguarding the interests of the public.
4c Determine whether and how a distinction could be made between the registration contact information published based on the nature of the registered name holder (for example, legal vs. natural persons) or its use of the domain name (for example, commercial versus non-commercial use)..
The membership of this WG extends to the following:
• Nominating Committee appointed GNSO councilors • GNSO constituency members
In addition, observers and liaisons may join the working group on the following basis:
Observers shall not be members of or entitled to vote on the working group, but otherwise shall be entitled to participate on equal footing with members of the working group. In particular observers will be able to join the mailing list, and attend teleconferences or physical meetings.
Observers must provide their real name, organization (if associated with an organization) and contact details to the GNSO secretariat, and the GNSO secretariat will verify at least their email address and phone contact information. Observers will also be requested to provide a public statement of interest, as for working group members.
The email address of the GNSO Secretariat is GNSO.SECRETARIAT[at]GNSO.ICANN.ORG
-- Wendy Seltzer -- wendy@seltzer.org Visiting Assistant Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet & Society http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/seltzer.html http://www.chillingeffects.org/
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