Statement of the Commercial and Business Users Constituency, regarding WHOIS, October-2007 On 6 September 2007, the GNSO Council approved a motion requesting constituency statements regarding reports by the WHOIS Task Force, WHOIS Working Group, and Staff Overview. Statements were requested by October 4, 2007. In response, the Commercial and Business Users Constituency (BC) submits a two-part statement. First, the BC re-submits its statement of concerns with the Operational Point of Contact (OPOC) proposal, as published in the Final Task Force Report on Whois Services, 16 March 2007 (see excerpt below). The BC is resubmitting its previous position because the concerns raised earlier this year remain relevant to the current WHOIS discussion. Moreover, BC membership believes that most questions raised regarding OPOC were not sufficiently resolved within the WHOIS Working Group, notwithstanding the remarkable efforts invested by Working Group participants. Second, the BC has adopted the following position regarding the Final Outcomes Report of the WHOIS Working Group 2007 : The BC does not consider the Final Outcomes Report of the WHOIS Working Group an adequate basis for implementation of the OPOC proposal. The BC has devoted considerable resources and time to understand the extent of privacy concerns raised with regard to the WHOIS service. While there has been extensive discussion and debate over positions and views, we still have insufficient fact-based information upon which to evaluate proposed changes to WHOIS. With respect to whatever information and analysis has been compiled thus far, the BC does not see sufficient justification for abandoning or changing the current WHOIS service. We still lack data on the characteristics of registrants, how WHOIS data is being used, and how misuses of WHOIS may be affecting registrants. The BC believes that any changes to Whois Services should not be considered until the completion of four studies recommended in Section 8 of the Working Group Final Outcomes Report (Section 8 shown below, from http://gnso.icann.org/drafts/icann-whois-wg-report-final-1-9.pdf ) Moreover, the BC believes the recommended studies should be conducted in three phases. The benefit of a phased approach is to reduce demands on ICANN resources in the event that early studies show that subsequent studies could be eliminated or more tightly targeted. We propose phasing these studies as described below: Phase One Studies In the first phase, ICANN staff should proceed with the fourth study recommended by the Working Group Final Outcomes Report: Information on gTLD registrants and registrations and the use and misuse of WHOIS data. This study is consistent with a study proposed earlier by the GAC. It should go beyond the June 2007 ICANN SSAC study on spam in order to document all specific misuses of WHOIS data. In addition, the BC recommends that this first phase include a review and analysis of proxy services presently available. That should include an analysis of the extent and characteristics of users who avail themselves of proxy services, and an evaluation of how proxy vendors are responding to requests to relay communications and reveal information about registrants. Expert resources should be used for the development of the study. Study results from this initial phase should be published for review and consideration by Council and the ICANN community. Phase Two Studies A second phase of studies would be needed if the first phase reveals that there is significant misuse of WHOIS data. In the second phase, ICANN staff would proceed with the cost-related studies recommended in the Working Group Final Outcomes Report: • costs to implement the verification and consent proposals described in sections 2.4 and 2.5; • costs to implement the Request/compliance issues of section 4; • costs to implement the Access options described in section 6; • marginal costs to implement a new fee-based system for Accessors compared with recovering additional costs from user fees using existing systems; Study results from this second phase should be published for review and consideration by Council and the ICANN community. Phase Three Studies If the phase two cost studies reveal costs that are justified in order to remedy the documented misuse of WHOIS data, ICANN staff should proceed with a third phase of studies. This third phase should combine the two remaining studies recommended in the Working Group Final Outcomes Report: • data privacy issues arising from the self-declaration of Accessors in the Access proposal described in section 6 of the Working Group Final Outcomes Report. This should include an analysis of ex-post review mechanisms; • mechanisms for a practicable, cost-effective, globally scaleable means of authenticating Accessors as described in section 6. This should include authentication of any parties with a legitimate interest in the data Study results from the third phase would inform implementation planning for any mechanisms to restrict access to WHOIS data. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com