Re: [gnso-whois-wg] clarification of GAC relevance to GNSO WGs

["Bertrand de La Chapelle" <bdelachapelle@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dear all, dear Milton,

Once again, it is important that people understand the exact meaning of the
formulation in the GAC whois principles. I already posted it but it's worth
reiterating for those who did not see it.

What the GAC principles say is :
"As the Internet has evolved, Whois data is now used in support of other
legitimate activities, including ... [add list here]" And there is a
footnote to indicate that the legitimacy is in respect to national law.

The formulation was very, very carefully worded because it was a critical
point. It is the activities that are qualified as legitimate, not the use of
whois data for them. It does not say "legitimate uses of whois data",
precisely because in many cases the accessibility of the data is in
contradiction with national privacy laws. This is the core of the problem.

At the same time, it is true that the (non-inclusive) list in the GAC
principles can be used as a guideline to identify what I have often labelled
in conference calls "purposes" . These are the activities that need some
information and the Whois services are one of the many tools that they can
use, provided the Whois services are compliant with national laws.

Best

Bertrand




On 7/26/07, Milton L Mueller <mueller@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-gnso-whois-wg@xxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:owner-gnso-whois-wg@xxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Dan Krimm
> Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2007 11:02 AM
>
> >In today's call we had a comment from the GAC
> >referring to a listing or enumeration of public
> >interests, or something to that effect, when
> >discussing Section 1 of our report (Objective).
>
> Actually the GAC WHOIS principles provide a list of what the GAC members
> thought to be "legitimate uses" of Whois data. It did not say that all
> of them were "public interest" uses. Furthermore, the same section which
> lists these uses recognizes "the misuse of Whois data" and potential
> conflicts with national law.
>
> The simple fact is that the GAC principles tell us nothing about how to
> reconcile those two things. That's our job.
>
> Furthermore, if you take a careful look at those "legitimate uses" you
> can see that about half of them could occur with OPoC-shielding; e.g.,
> checking for the availability of a name.


--
____________________
Bertrand de La Chapelle
Délégué Spécial pour la Société de l'Information / Special Envoy for the
Information Society
Ministère des Affaires Etrangères / French Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Tel : +33 (0)6 11 88 33 32

"Le plus beau métier des hommes, c'est d'unir les hommes" Antoine de Saint
Exupéry
("there is no better mission for humans than uniting humans")