I thought it would be useful to share some basic facts about Whois and Whois data. These are taken from the various registry/registrar agreements and might be useful in terms of gaining a better understanding of the current deliberation. For the purpose of this discussion, I am limiting this definition to those uses by gTLD operators. There are many other Whois based services in use around the world (IP address registries, ccTLD managers, etc.) The important point of understanding is the difference between the customer transaction data that registrars must undertake to process a customer request for a domain registration, and the Whois publishing requirements imposed on registrars and registries by the ICANN agreement. The current whois task force is only chartered to deal with the policy related to the publishing mechanism. **** 1. What is whois? Whois is a simple API based protocol that provides query access to a database of information related to domain name registrations. Queries can be sent to a Whois server via a desktop client using port 43, or via a web form, which may also use back-end logic to communicate with the Whois server also via port 43. This two types, while very similar, are referred to respectively as "Port 43" and "Web-based" whois. 2. What is whois data? Whois data, according to the contracts, is the data that is published via the Whois API. Currently, this data consists of; The domain name; The nameservers for the domain names The name of the registrar responsible for the registration The date of registration The date the domain name expires The name and postal address of the registrant The name, postal address, e-mail address, voice telephone number, and (where available) fax number of the technical contact; and The name, postal address, e-mail address, voice telephone number, and (where available) fax number of the administrative contact. Collection of this data is undertaken per the requirements of the ICANN-Registrar agreements, and the laws of the country in in which each of the registrar and registrant reside. 3. What other registration data do registrars collect? Registrars collect a lot more data than that which is required by the ICANN contracts (see 2). For example, Registrars collect credit card information, address information for the registrant, various opt-in and agreements to various legal clauses, and so on. The information registrars collect is very similar to the information that any internet merchant collects. The collection of this additional data permits the registrar to conduct its business and support the needs of its clients. Collection of this data is undertaken per the requirements of the national law in effect in the country in which each of the registrar and registrant reside. **** -- -rr "Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better." - Ralph Waldo Emerson Contact Info: Ross Rader Director, Research & Innovation Tucows Inc. c. 416.828.8783 Get Started? http://start.tucows.com My Blogware: http://www.byte.org