As requested, attached is the Definitions Document that was prepared by the GNSO's Whois Drafting Team in February 2009. By way of further background, much of the more recent GNSO work on various aspects of Whois can be attributed to an October 2007 resolution by the GNSO Council which approved a "comprehensive, objective and quantifiable understanding of key factual issues [that] would benefit future GNSO policy development efforts". As a result, a few GNSO groups were formed – first, a Whois Study Group to develop a list of possible Whois studies, followed by a Whois Hypothesis Working Group to develop a series of hypothesis to be tested, and then a Whois Drafting Team that consolidated and ranked suggested studies based on feedback from the GAC and the various GNSO constituencies. As part of its work, the Whois DT created the list of definitions that are attached to this email.

Subsequently, in March 2009, the GNSO Council resolved to investigate the cost and feasibility of certain Whois studies: http://gnso.icann.org/en/council/resolutions#200903. In April 2011, the GNSO Council resolved to proceed with the Privacy & Proxy Abuse Study: http://gnso.icann.org/en/council/resolutions#201104.

Since the question of Relay/Reveal was brought up both in this group's informal meeting in Buenos Aires and in the Expert Working Group's Status Report, members may also find the staff report on the proposed Relay/Reveal Study (which explains why a pre-feasibility study was done instead) helpful. As such, I've attached the staff report to this email as well.

For further background on the work of the 2008-2009 Whois DT (including the group's discussions on the Definitions Document), see http://forum.icann.org/lists/gnso-whois-dt/index.html.