RE: [gnso-dow123] Uses of WHOIS data

["Marilyn Cade" <marilynscade@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

 THANKS, BRUCE.        

 

I'll just note that the previous TF did find marketing uses of WHOIS
objectionable. in saying that, I am of course  noting that was a widely held
view, not just that of one or two constituencies. 

 

MC

 

  _____  

From: owner-gnso-dow123@xxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-gnso-dow123@xxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Bruce Tonkin
Sent: Monday, June 06, 2005 9:52 PM
To: gnso-dow123@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [gnso-dow123] Uses of WHOIS data

 

Hello Kathy,

 

I suspect that what one party might consider to be a "use" of WHOIS, another
party might consider the same use as an abuse of WHOIS.

 

For now, the Council has asked Maria to collect information on the uses of
WHOIS.

 

The purpose is likely to be a narrower subset of these users in the context
of ICANN's mission and core values.

 

For example, a current use of WHOIS today could be to collect leads for
making sales calls.  This is unlikely to be considered to be part of a new
policy on the WHOIS purpose.

 

A more recent use of WHOIS is to collect information for use in making
search engines more effective.  Again while this may be a reasonable use of
WHOIS, it may not be part of a policy with respect to the purpose of WHOIS.

 

 

With respect to item 3 of the WHOIS task force terms of reference, it could
be worth documenting some of the abuses of WHOIS that have been collected so
far - with respect to considering how to avoid such abuse.   However I think
this is best considered after the purpose of WHOIS has been defined.

 

For example it may be considered to be an abuse of WHOIS to use WHOIS to
determine the home address of a registrant for the purpose of visiting that
address in person for a reason unrelated to the domain name.   A way of
preventing that abuse could be for a registrant to use a service that
forwards postal mail to a home address.  The address of the service could be
displayed in the WHOIS for the purposes of contacting that person via the
postal mail system.

 

Regards,

Bruce Tonkin

 

 

 

 


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From: KathrynKL@xxxxxxx [mailto:KathrynKL@xxxxxxx] 
Sent: Tuesday, 7 June 2005 12:06 AM
To: Bruce Tonkin; maria.farrell@xxxxxxxxx
Cc: council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx; gnso-dow123@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [gnso-dow123] Uses of WHOIS data

Bruce:

In the past, the WHOIS task forces have also surveyed the *Abuses* of the

WHOIS data and service.   Information is always used in positive ways.  Its 

downsides do not emerge and cannot be fairly and fully evaluated (we have

found in our past TF work) without review of the downsides, the Abuses.

 

As Maria goes through so much collected data, do your directions to her

also include collecting past discussions, survey results and comments 

regarding Abuses of WHOIS data?

 

Thanks

Kathy (Kleiman/NCUC)

Hello Maria,

In the past, the WHOIS task forces have surveyed the users of the WHOIS
service and collected information on how the data retrieved from WHOIS
is currently used by these users.

TO assist the WHOIS task force to determine the purpose of the public
display (via the WHOIS service) of data collected at the time of
registration, please collate the current uses of WHOIS data as recorded
in previous WHOIS policy work.

The GNSO Constituencies can review the information and make any
corrections or additions.

I hope this can be done within 7 days.

Once all the information is available, the WHOIS task force can begin to
develop a policy that specifies a purpose for WHOIS in the context of
the ICANN mission and core values. 

For the GNSO public forum in Luxembourg, the aim should be to provide
the public with information on the current uses of WHOIS, and a proposed
policy for the purpose of the WHOIS service.   The task force can then
take advantage of public comment.

Regards,
Bruce Tonkin