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The ICANN
Domain Names Supporting Organization (DNSO) is conducting a study
of the Internet domain-name system's Whois system, which provides
information about registrations of domain names. The DNSO invites
you to participate by filling out the following survey and clicking
the "SUBMIT FORM" button at the bottom.
Whois Survey
Purpose
The purpose of this survey
is to:
1. solicit input from as
many people as possible concerning the use of Whois service, and
2. assess whether changes
should be considered to the current Whois policy adopted by ICANN.
The questions are designed
to focus on the purpose, use, and accuracy of the Whois service to establish
the appropriate balance between competing interests. The comment period
is open NOW until the 14th August 2001.
Background
The Whois service comprises
registrants' domain name registration information stored in the databases
of either ICANN Accredited Registrars (the source for .com/.net/.org
domain names) or at the registry of the appropriate country code or
other Generic Top Level domain. The Whois is a publicly searchable resources
and are used to determine the identity of domain name registrants and
the technical and administrative contacts associated with the domain
name or Internet Protocol address block (which identifies the network
to which a computer is connected). The Whois search facility is used
by various users for multiple purposes, including:
1. to identify the availability
of a particular name in which someone is interested
2. to determine if there are similar names already in use,
3. to identify and verify online merchants,
4. to identify online infringers for enforcement of intellectual property
rights,
5. to source unsolicited email and sites that may be inappropriate
for children, and
6. to identify contacts in the investigation of illegal activity,
including consumer fraud, child pornography, etc.
Whois also provides a crucial
resource for network administrators who may need to contact other network
system operators in resolving network problems or to determine the perpetrators
of spam or hacking attacks. In its multiple capacities, the Whois plays
a critical role in building user confidence in the operation of the
Internet and Internet activities.
The Whois database consists
of an individual or a company name, and address, the dates on which
the domain was created, when it expires and when it was last updated.
It includes the name of the administrative contact and its address and
technical contact with address, contact numbers and technical information,
such as Name Server details that are used to resolve a name into an
IP address. The IP address identifies the associated computer connected
to the Internet.
Today, it is estimated that
well over 70% of domain names are registered by businesses or organizations.
Names are also are registered by individuals who are holding names to
resell, or possibly use in the future. It is the disclosure of data
about individuals' registrations that has raised privacy issues.
Under the ICANN Accreditation
Agreement, a registrar or third party can list its own contact details
in lieu of registrants' personal information, provided that it accepts
liability for any harm caused by wrongful use, and that it promptly
discloses the identity of the true holder upon reasonable evidence of
actionable harm. In this way, it remains possible to pursue allegations
of illicit or improper activity. The ICANN accreditation agreement also
requires registrars to adopt reasonable measures to prevent predatory
use of data beyond the stated purposes in the registration agreement.
For example, these include measures to prevent mining of a database
for domain name holders' contact details for use in unrelated advertising,
sales and marketing or for third party resale.
Since the introduction of
competition in .com, .net and .org, the formerly centralized Whois lookup
has been dispersed into the record systems of approximately 80 ICANN
Accredited Registrars.
This survey seeks to establish
your views, please answer all questions and use the free text area on
the Summary page to inform us of any additional comments you may have.
Please supply your email
address, so we may send you a copy of your responses and publish them
on the Whois public comments selection, to ensure an open and transparent
process.
Questions
Type
of respondent
1.
Which of the following terms best describes your status as a respondent
to this survey?
(Please provide, where
applicable, an indication of the size of your organization, either
the number of employees or staff, or the number of members):
2. Have you registered any
domain names?
yes
no
If "yes":
a. How many ccTLD
domain names have you registered:
b. How many gTLD domain names have you registered:
What was the general purpose
of your registration:
3. How often do you use the
Whois service on average?
4. Which of the following
most accurately describes the use of Whois that is most important
to you or your organization:
Use
of the Whois
5. What should the purpose
of the Whois service be (place in order 1-7 where 1 is the most important):
6. Which of the following
best describes your attitude towards access to the data contained in
the Whois service?
7. Have you ever been harmed
or inconvenienced because the Whois data you received was inaccurate,
incomplete, or out of date?
a.
Yes, I have experienced inaccurate data.
b.
No, the data has been accurate.
What percentage of the
Whois records you relied on proved to be inaccurate, incomplete, or
out of date on average:
a.
Less than 5 percent
b.
5 - 25 percent
c.
25 - 50 percent
d.
More than 50 percent
If appropriate, please
describe the harm or inconvenience caused by the inaccurate data:
How do you think an improvement
can best be achieved?
Data
elements stored in the Whois
8. Currently, Whois records
in .com, .net, and .org are composed of the following data elements:
A. The name of the second-level
domain being registered and the top-level domain it is under;
B. The IP addresses of the primary and secondary name servers for
the registered domain;
C. The host names of the name servers;
D. The identity of Registrar;
E. The date of the original registration;
F. The expiration date of the registration;
G. The name and postal address of the registrant;
H. The name, postal address, e-mail address, voice telephone number,
and (where available) fax number of the technical contact for the
SLD; and
I. The name, postal address, e-mail address, voice telephone number,
and (where available) fax number of the administrative contact for
the SLD.
Would you describe these
data elements as
a.
Adequate for your purposes
b.
Inadequate for your purposes
c.
Unnecessary for your purposes
8.1 If you answered "Inadequate,"
What other data elements would you like to see included to promote
public confidence in Internet activities?
8.2. If you answered "Unnecessary,"
What other data elements would you like to see suppressed from public
disclosure?
9. Please indicate which
of the data elements listed in A-I above are, in your view, of valueless,
essential, or desirable:
A. The name of the second-level
domain being registered and the top-level domain it is under;
essential
desirable
valueless
B. The IP addresses of
the primary and secondary name servers for the registered domain;
essential
desirable
valueless
C. The domain names of
the name servers;
essential
desirable
valueless
D. The identity of Registrar;
essential
desirable
valueless
E. The date of the original
registration;
essential
desirable
valueless
F. The expiration date
of the registration;
essential
desirable
valueless
G. The name and postal
address of the registrant;
essential
desirable
valueless
H. The name, postal address,
e-mail address, voice telephone number, and (where available) fax
number of the technical contact for the SLD; and
essential
desirable
valueless
I. The name, postal address,
e-mail address, voice telephone number, and (where available) fax
number of the administrative contact for the SLD.
essential
desirable
valueless
Searchability
10. Should the publicly accessible
Whois database allow for searches on data elements other than domain
name?
Yes
No
If "Yes", please
specify from fields A-I above that you think should be usable as search
keys.
A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
F |
G |
H |
I
Should other enhancements
to searchability (e.g., Boolean searching on character strings) be
provided?
Yes
No
If "Yes", how
should the cost associated with such enhancements be paid for?
11. Do you use Whois in cctlds?
Yes
No
12. Do you think that the
data elements used in .com, .net, and .org should be available uniformly
in country code top-level domains?
Yes
No
Why or why not?
Uniform
data format to Whois
13. Do you support the concept
of uniformity of Whois data format and services?
Yes
No
What, in your view, is
the best way to achieve uniformity both in format and search capability
across Whois services?
Centralized
portal access to Whois
14. Do you support the concept
of centralized public access to Whois - e.g., a "one-stop"
point of Whois to access information:
Yes
No
(a) Across .com/.net/.org?
Yes
No
(b) Across all gTLDs (i.e.
including the new TLDs.)?
Yes
No
(c) Across all TLDs? (i.e.
including country code TLDs)?
Yes
No
If appropriate, what, in
your view, is the best way to achieve the level of centralized public
access that you support?
15. Who should bear the cost
burden of implementing centralized public access?
Sale
and marketing of customer data
16. Should registrars be
allowed to engage in resale or marketing uses of the registration contact
information?
Yes
Yes, but only with the express permission of the registrant (opt-in)
Yes, but only after the registrant has had the opportunity to opt-out
No
Bulk
access/mandatory sale of customer data/manipulation and adding value
to customer data
The current provisions with
regard to the mandatory sale of Whois data, and uses that can be made
of the data obtained through bulk access, are contained in the Registrar
Accreditation Agreement at sections 3.3.6 and following, Third
Party Bulk Access to Data.
These provide for the mandatory
sale of customer data on certain specified conditions. These conditions
are discussed in terms of a contract between the registrar and a third
party seeking access to the data. The data may not be used for
mass unsolicited emailing, but can by inference be used for mass mailing
(3.3.6.3), "other than such third party's own existing customers".
In addition, the "Registrar's access agreement shall require
the third party to agree not to use the data to enable high-volume automated
electronic processes that send queries or data to the systems of any
Registry Operator or ICANN accredited registrar, except as reasonably
necessary to register domain names or modify existing registrations".
(3.3.6.4)
The agreement says that the
registrar "... may enable Registered Name Holders who are individuals
to elect not to have Personal Data concerning their registrations available
for bulk access for marketing purposes based on Registrar's 'Opt-Out'
policy, and if Registrar has such a policy Registrar shall require the
third party to abide by the terms of that Opt-Out policy; provided,
however, that Registrar may not use such data subject to opt-out for
marketing purposes in its own value-added product or service."
(3.3.6.6)
The text allows the Registrar discretion
- to prohibit, or
- to permit under conditions
he chooses,
the use of the registrants' data
- to condition the subsequent use of the data (3.3.6.5), and
- to have a privacy policy, or not, (3.3.6.6)
but unless the registrar
takes positive steps to have a privacy policy different from the Registration
Agreement, the registrant's personal data is available as the Agreement
prescribes. "Personal data" refers exclusively to data about
natural persons.
17. Do you think that:
a. These provisions should
be maintained in the gTLD environment?
Yes
No
b. These provisions should
be extended to apply to other TLDs (subject to any comments in 12)?
Yes
No
c. As a user would you
welcome information from your chosen service provider introducing
you to the additional services they may be able to provide?
Yes
No
d. These provisions should
be changed?
Yes
No
If so, how?
Question
for registrars, ISPs, and hosting companies
18. Where non-disclosure
of the name and address is requested by the Domain Registrant, the ICANN
Accreditation Agreement allows for a name and address of a third party
to be used where the third party has an agreement with the Registrant,
does your company offer this service to its customers?
Yes
No
Question
for the public
19. To protect your privacy
if you were offered the opportunity to use the name and address of a
third party to act as your agent, would you register domains in the
name of the third party rather than your own name.
Yes
No
Other
Comments:
Please consider the following:
20a. What, in your view,
is the most important personal privacy interest applicable to the
Whois database?
20b. What, in your view,
is the most important consumer protection interest applicable to the
Whois database?
20c. What, in your view,
is the most important law enforcement interest applicable to the Whois
database?
20d. What, in your view,
is the most important interest with respect to protection of minors
applicable to the Whois database?
20e. What, in your view,
is the most important network operational interest applicable to the
Whois database?
20f. What, in your view,
is the most important competitive or economic interest applicable
to the Whois database?
20g. What, in your view,
is the most important interest with respect to intellectual property
rights that is applicable?
20h. What other interests,
besides those listed above, should be considered with regard to the
Whois database?
Free text area for any
other comments:
21a. Your e-mail address
so we may send you a copy of your responses:
21b. Your name and organization:
Your
comments will be published for public review, not associated with your
identity in item 21. Your e-mail address (item 21a) will be used to
send a copy of your responses back to you, but will not be provided
to third parties without your permission. Your name and organization
(item 21b) may be published as part of a list of responding parties.
Comments concerning the
layout, construction and functionality of this site
should be sent to webmaster@icann.org.
Page Updated
06-Aug-2002
©2001 The Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers. All rights reserved. |