Re[4]: [wg-c] Straw Vote

["William X. Walsh" <william@dso.net>]

Come on Tony. Stop this foolishness, ok?

Tuesday, August 17, 1999, 10:05:11 AM, A.M. Rutkowski <amr@netmagic.com> wrote:

> Hi Rita,

>>Great!  My understanding is that there are people on this list arguing 
>>against a universal whois.  I also understand that there have been claims 
>>of proprietary interest in the whois information by NSI, which claims may 
>>interfere with creating/accessing a universal whois.  Am I wrong?

> "Whois" has become a generic term for a client-server
> database for DNS zones.  No one has any objections to
> the "client" side of that service. :-)

> The issue on the server side is whether all or some subset
> of the 19 million some DNS zones are obligated to create
> an open, accessible whois server, and what intellectual
> property rights are associated with that information if
> it is made available.

The only ones that are of any importance are those from TLDs or second
level domains where the registration of names are handled by the same
authority as the TLD (such as co.uk).

You know this, and are merely being pedantic.  It has no place here.
Take it to domain-policy, where you and Crocker and have at it all
day.

We need real world SOLUTIONS here.


> Presently, only about 200 of those 19 million zones have
> open, accessible whois servers.  Most of them assert
> copyright ownership and significantly restrict use of
> the data.  One - the IE domain operator - cites EU privacy
> law and will make no information available.

> I notice that Arent Fox does not provide a whois server
> for ARENTFOX.COM.

> There are significant legal issues concerning the basis
> on which the provider of DNS services on private networks
> that constitute the Internet would be compelled to provide
> publicly accessible databases free from intellectual property
> claims and subject to regulation.  It's not apparent that
> these would be sustainable under most legal systems.

Simple, this data is important, and NOT only to Trademark holders.

Making such information easily accessible via whois protocols should
be a contractual obligation of the registry.

Also, should the company operating the TLD not meet up to its
contractual requirements or become unable or unwilling to continue
operation of the TLD, the whois data and all IP relating to the TLD
revert to ICANN for reassignment.

These are reasonable requirements, Tony.

--
William X. Walsh - DSo Internet Services
Email: william@dso.net  Fax:(209) 671-7934
Editor of http://www.dnspolicy.com/

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