[registrars] Moving Forward wrt Whois Issues

["Michael D. Palage" <michael@palage.com>]

Ross,

Thanks again for taking the initiative to host another call. However,
wouldn't it be a good idea to create the list, generate some discussion and
then formulate an agenda before having another call. It has only been seven
days since the first call, and there are two days of public work shops set
aside in Montreal. Rome wasn't built in a day, and I do not believe that the
Whois problem will be solved in the next three weeks.

Some questions that perhaps TUCOWS could answer to start the "fact finding"
ball rolling?

(1) Has TUCOWS ever purchased the Bulk Whois from other registrars? If so
how was it used statistical, marketing, etc.

(2) Has TUCOWS ever licensed it Bulk Whois to other third parties, if so how
many?

(3) Does TUCOWS provide domain name registrants the ability to opt of the
bulk whois in connection with marketing?

(4) What is the percentage of the registrants that have opted out of being
included in the bulk whois?

(5) What programs has TUCOWS employed either directly or through its channel
partners to educated registrants as to the ability of opting out of
marketing solicitations;

(6) In connection with questionable marketing practice involving Whois data,
what percentage is attributable to a third party violating the Bulk Whois
license and what percentage is attributable to illegal data mining.

(7) Does TUCOWS subscribe to any of the gTLD Zone File Access agreements?

(8) If TUCOWS engages in any high volume queries using the Zone Files does
it do so for statistical purposes or other value added products or services?

(9) If TUCOWS engages in any high volume queries using the Zone Files how
does it take proactive steps not to include/mine any registrant data
provided by thick registries?

(10) Does TUCOWS conduct business in the European Union?

(11) Has TUCOWS ever directly received a letter from an European Data
Privacy agency (or equivalent) inquiring into its business practice
regarding Whois data?

(12) If a third party has been found to have violated the terms of its Bulk
Whois license, what steps has TUCOWS taken to remedy this violation. (During
the call I believe Elliot or yourself ellude to finding a violation of your
Bulk Whois licensing terms by a third party)

(13) Where a violation of privacy rights has occurred what remedial measures
has TUCOWS taken to notify its customers of this breach

(14) How many daily whois queries does TUCOWS receive on average (via port
43 and web based interface)

(15) Has TUCOWS employed any safe guards to ensure that only humans are
retrieving Whois information via the web based interface? (i.e. gif and
other safety features)

(16) Has TUCOWS employed safeguards to monitor and block high automated
queries from specific IP blocks;

(17) How often have these safeguards needed to be activated to block
perceived abuses;

(18) What terms and conditions are included in the Whois information
provided via Bulk Whois, Web based interface, and port 43?

(19) Are these contractual terms identical or do they vary, if they vary in
what ways?

(20) Does these contract terms impose additional obligations currently not
enumerated in the ICANN Registrar Accreditation Agreement.


I have a whole list of other questions but I figure these first 20 should
get the ball rolling in preparation for Friday's call. I will repost these
questions once you subscribe me to the new list. I think it would be helpful
if Register.com and NSI similarly responded to these questionnaires to help
facilitate the fact finding process.

Best regards,

Mike

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-registrars@dnso.org [mailto:owner-registrars@dnso.org]On
> Behalf Of Ross Wm. Rader
> Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2003 3:45 PM
> To: registrars@dnso.org
> Subject: [registrars] Followup Whois Call
>
>
> Folks,
>
> A second teleconference has been established for this coming Friday June
>   6, 2003 @ 10:00am through 12 noon EST.
>
> The call details are:
>
> Dialin #:(954)797-1944
> Participant code:249534
>
> An agenda will be distributed shortly with the primary purpose being a
> continuation of the progress made on last weeks call.
>
> I will be collecting RSVPs.
>
> Also note that we have created a mailing list to further help flesh out
> the discussion. If you wish to subscribe, please send a blank email to
> whois-coordination-join@lyris.tucows.com. Note that this is a moderated
> list.
>
> If you have any questions, please let me know.
>
>
>
>
>                         -rwr
>
>
>
>
> "There's a fine line between fishing and standing on the shore like an
> idiot."
> - Steven Wright
>
> Get Blog... http://www.byte.org/
>
>
>
>