Hello All, In light of the extensive feedback we have received this week, I believe we have the following options: (1) Revise definition of purpose (2) Keep current definition, but expand on what that definition means (3) Leave definition as is for now, until the task force completes its work on recommending any changes to WHOIS (e.g changes to what is made public, and how data that is not public can be accessed by legitimate users). Then re-evaluate the definition. Lets discuss this further in the Council meeting tomorrow. In any case, I recommend that the task force continue its current work program. Any work on purpose should be done at the Council level. Note that in cases where the task force decides to remove certain data elements from public access, the mechanism to access those elements may or may not be called part of the WHOIS service in future, and may or may not use the current port-43 protocol. E.g We may end up with a revised "WHOIS service", and a separate "Dealing with bad people" service, or maybe a "Standard WHOIS service" and "Advanced WHOIS service". Rather than worrying about what it is called for now, or worrying about the technical protocols, lets focus on the functional aspects. Regards, Bruce Tonkin