[gnso-dow123] Response to Questions from the Chair

[Ross Rader <ross@xxxxxxxxxx>]

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Q1) Some constituency statements indicate that the purpose of the Whois
system is to provide contact information to assist in the resolution of
specific types of problems. For example, the NCUC statement suggests
that the purpose is limited to resolving "technical problems". On the
other hand, the IPC statement does not limit the purpose to resolving a
specific type of problem.

Should the purpose of Whois be defined in resolving specific types of
problems?

A1) The purpose of Whois should not be defined in terms of acceptable or
unacceptable criteria related to the process of making contact with a
domain holder. It is not reasonable or even possible to so narrowly
define the purpose of whois so as to exclude broad types of contact such
as "legal" or "consumer-rights" and include others such as "operational"
or "technical".

Instead the purpose of whois should be defined in terms of facilitating
the contactability of the registrant or a registrants agent by third
parties related to issues arising as a result of the registration or use
of the domain name.

This statement of purpose should be expressed as narrowly as possible
without necessarily defining the types of contact that should and should
not be made. Instead, the dataset presented via Whois should be tailored
to meet the narrow purpose defined by the contactability goals (i.e. the
multitude of contact points be merged into one or two contacts and the
data presented for each of these be reconsidered.) This revised dataset
should be expressed in such a way that undesirable behaviours are
discouraged and desirable behaviours are facilitated.

Q2) What types of problems should the purpose encompass? Technical
problems? Legal problems relating to the domain name itself? Legal
problems relating to the content hosted using the domain? Non-legal
issues relating to content? Others?

A2) N/A. See A1.

Q3) Is the purpose of Whois to provide contact information for the
registrant, or simply someone (presumably acting on behalf of the
registrant) capable of resolving the relevant issues?

A3) The latter. Whois was never intended to be a directory service. In
fact, during the early stages of development of relevant aspects of the
DNS, specific initiatives were undertaken to implement directory
services for host contact information outside of the Whois system
because of the scope and technical limitations of the Whois.

Q4) Without skipping ahead to the discussion of the various contact
types, if the purpose is to provide contact information for the
registrant, is it also necessary that additional contact information be
provided to resolve certain problems in a timely manner?

A4) N/A. See A3.
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                      -rwr



Contact info: http://www.blogware.com/profiles/ross
Skydasher: A great way to start your day
My weblog: http://www.byte.org
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