[gnso-whois-study] RE: [gnso-whois-study] Domain Name Wire » News » Canada Leading the Way with Whois Changes - The Domain Industry's News Source
I wrote a post on my blog yesterday about the new CA WHOIS rules. Unfortunately, I only wrote it in French: http://www.stephane-vangelder.com/archives/75-Les-canadiens-copient-les-fran cais-sur-le-WHOIS.html I mention this, not through some attempt at self-promotion :-), but simply because the English-media news stories I've read on the subject all seem to be misinformed. The Canadians aren't actually breaking new ground with this. The system they are introducing has been in use in France since June 2006, when .FR was opened up to individuals. I don't actually know who got the idea from whom (the Canadian initiative dates back to 2004, but it's taken years to implement), but the fact remains that France has 2 years experience of it. And I'm afraid there's several things wrong with it. Because individuals have their WHOIS data automatically masked - all their contact data - they feel immune to the possible repercussions of domain name abuse. What we've seen in France is an increase in the amount of abuse or attempted abuse using hidden WHOIS names. And an increase in the complexity and cost of the response from rights holders. That is explained by the fact that the only possibility of contacting registrants who have their WHOIS information hidden is through a "contact form" (Canada is setting up the exact same system). There's no obligation for a domain owner so contacted to even respond or acknowledge, so often the only real recourse to abuse is either legal or through dispute resolution. Gone is the simpler and quicker option of contacting the owner and trying to sort things out directly. As there are many cases of what I would call "involuntary" abuse, that's when an individual whom by definition might not have a good understanding of prior rights registers someone else's brand or product name in good faith. In such cases, a simple phone call from the rights holder would tend to sort things out. There are similar systems that work along the same principles of protection personal data while retained some kind of useful WHOIS function, like .EU's system for example, where individuals are only required to provide a valid email address, so they don't have to list phone or cell numbers, but still there is a possibility of contacting them (BTW, EURid's WHOIS displays the email in a format that can't be copied to prevent bots from using them). And if that fails, EURid provides a "contact form" system, but it is handled by them rather than being left at the discretion of the domain owner, meaning that if people want to contact domain owners, they have to apply formally to EURid and explain why they wish to do so. Pity Canada didn't apply this kind of process instead. Stéphane Van Gelder Directeur Général / General manager INDOM – Noms de domaine / Domain names 124-126, rue de Provence 75008 Paris. France 0820 77 7000 (Prix d'un appel local) De l'étranger (calling from outside France): + 33 1 76 70 05 67 www.indom.com Daily domain name industry news: www.domaines.info Mon blog/My blog : www.stephanevangelder.com -----Original Message----- From: owner-gnso-whois-study@xxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-gnso-whois-study@xxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Ken Stubbs Sent: mardi 6 mai 2008 14:02 To: gnso-whois-study@xxxxxxxxx Subject: [gnso-whois-study] Domain Name Wire » News » Canada Leading the Way with Whois Changes - The Domain Industry's News Source http://domainnamewire.com/2008/05/05/canada-leading-the-way-with-whois-chang es/ Attachment:
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