[To: ga[at]gnso.icann.org; announce[at]gnso.icann.org] [To: liaison6c[at]gnso.icann.org; council[at]gnso.icann.org] FYI the following report has been published by ICANN. Community Experiences with the InterNIC Whois Data Problem Reports System http://www.icann.org/whois/wdprs-report-final-31mar04.htm Extract from the report: Introduction The following is a report summarizing ICANN's experience with the operation of the Whois Data Problem Report system at InterNIC.net <http://reports.internic.net/cgi/rpt_whois/rpt.cgi>. This report is being published pursuant to Section II.C.10.a of Amendment 6 to the ICANN/DOC Memorandum of Understanding, providing: ICANN shall publish a report no later than March 31, 2004, and annually thereafter, providing statistical and narrative information on community experiences with the InterNIC WHOIS Data Problem Reports system. The report shall include statistics on the number of WHOIS data inaccuracies reported to date, the number of unique domain names with reported inaccuracies, and registrar handling of the submitted reports. The narrative information shall include an evaluation of the impact of the WHOIS Data Problem Reports system on improved accuracy of WHOIS data. <http://www.icann.org/general/amend6-jpamou-17sep03.htm> Whois data for the generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) includes information about the registrant, administrative contact, technical contact, and nameservers associated with each domain name. This information is used for a variety of important purposes, including identifying and verifying online merchants, investigations by consumer protection and other law enforcement authorities, determining whether a domain name is available for registration, identifying the source of spam e-mail, enforcement of intellectual property rights, addressing cyber-attacks, and otherwise resolving technical network issues. Whois services have been available on the Internet since the early 1980s, and continue to be broadly used. According to an online survey of over 3000 participants (businesses, governments, ISPs, registrars, individuals, and non-commercial organizations) conducted in 2001 by the ICANN Domain Name Supporting Organization <http://www.dnso.org/dnso/notes/whoisTF/20020625.TFwhois-report.htm>, Internet users broadly consider accurate Whois data to be important and support measures to improve its accuracy. GNSO Secretariat