WHOIS Task Force 3 Alternative to Best Practices Section (proposed by Registrars)
Registrar Constituency Minority Report
Matters Requiring Further Consideration, Policy Recommendations and Proposed
Best Practices
Registrar Consituency Introductory statement: "The GNSO Registrar Constituency does not believe that the findings of Whois TF3 are well-suited
to advance the goal of increasing the overall accuracy of the Whois database and in some cases may
actually increase data inaccuracy. While we do not support the existing recommendations of the task
force, we fully support the overall policy objectives of the GNSO and have therefore created an
alternate set of recommendations that we believe can be implemented and achieve the goals of the
task force as set out in the GNSO Council’ terms of reference for TF3."
I. Proposed Best Practices
a. Registrars must identify and disclose a designated public contact point responsible
for receiving and acting upon complaints received via the mandatory Whois Data
Problem Reporting System (WDPRS) and related whois record data accuracy issues.
i. ICANN should amalgamate and publish this list on their website.
ii. Registrar should certify that this contact point has been trained on Whois
Data Accuracy policy requirements.
b. Registrars should work together to create a clear, consistent process in order to
enable registrants wishing to update or correct their established whois data to do so
in a quick and simple manner to ensure compliance with Section 3.2.2 of the
Registrar Accreditation Agreement (http://www.icann.org/registrars/ra-agreement-
17may01.htm#3.2.2).
c. Registrars should take reasonable steps to prevent Registrants from supplying
inaccurate data at the time of registration.
d. Registrars should act upon complaints received via the WDPRS within one week of
receipt.
e. Registrars must resolve WDPRS complaints within 45 days of receipt.
i. Acceptable resolution includes;
1. correction of the report inaccuracy
2. confirmation of the validity of the data
3. cancellation of the registration in the event that the Registrant does
not provided corrected data in response to valid reported
inaccuracies.
II. Policy Recommendations
a. Participation in ICANN's Whois Data Problem Report System should be a
mandatory contractual requirement for registrars and registrants. The WDPRS
System should be the focal point in ICANN's efforts to promote Whois data
accuracy.
i. Registrars must respond to complaints received via the WDPRS and act
upon them in a timely manner
ii. Registrars must close problem reports when the issue has been resolved or
the name has been canceled.
iii. Registrars must attempt to contact registrants regarding the reported
inaccuracy through all means available to them.
1. It is recommended that Registrars first attempt to use automated
means such as an email sent to each of the domain name contacts
and if unsuccessful undertake a second attempt via telephone or
fax numbers and finally via post.
2. If the Registrar is incapable of contacting the Registrant or an
Agent of the Registrant via one of these means within the time
permitted by this process, the Registrar should place the
registration on hold for a period of 30 days. If within this period
the data accuracy issues are not resolved, then the Registrar should
cancel the registration permanently.
3. The Registrar shall verify the corrected data prior to reactivating
the domain name or closing the WDPRS problem report.
Registrars may choose to perform this function on a for-fee basis.
iv. The identities of parties filing complaints must be made verifiable by the
party accepting the accuracy complaint. The WDPRS system should require
the payment of a reporting fee or other mechanisms to discourage frivolous
complaints.
b. Amend RAA to ensure that Registrants who willfully provide false contact
information or fail to respond to requests for data verification within 30 days will
have their registration(s) cancelled.
i. Note: This is currently an optional condition.
III. We propose that the task force endorses these additional recommendations and request that
the GNSO Council consider them for further policy development work:
a. The Task Force endorses the following recommendations of the Security and Stability
Advisory Council:
i. Whois data must contain a "Last Verified Date" that reflects the last point
in time at which the information was known to contain valid data. It must
also contain a reference to the data verification process.
ii. A Whois service must discourage the harvesting and mining of its data.
iii. Whois services must provide mechanisms to protect the privacy of
registrants.
iv. Whois records known to be false or inaccurate must be frozen or held until
they can be updated or removed.
v. Whois records that have information that can not be validated may be
frozen or held until it can be verified.
vi. A standard format for Whois data must be developed.
vii. A publicly available list of publicly available Whois servers must be available
using a widely known and available resource
viii. A Whois service that supports searching in the current architecture of
distributed indices and separated registry and registrar services must be
developed.
b. The Task Force endorses the following additional recommendations received
throughout the consultative process;
i. Registrars must verify Whois data in a timely fashion when specific data
accuracy issues are brought to their attention.
1. Registrars must be allowed to charge for these services.
a. Potential implementations may include;
i. problem reporting fee
ii. data inaccuracy correction fee
iii. domain name "reconnection fee"
iv. other?
b. Such fees are only appropriate in instances where Registrants have not tried to previously update their data prior to the filing of the problem report but were unsuccessful because of Registrar non-compliance with Section 3.2.2 of the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (http://www.icann.org/registrars/ra-agreement-
17may01.htm#3.2.2)
ii. Registrars should be permitted to charge for all data verification activities.
iii. The GNSO should undertake the development of a policy that provides a
mechanism to forgive the Redemption fee in cases where the registrant can
ultimately verify the accuracy but had just been unavailable previously. It
may also be appropriate to develop this through the implementation
analysis process if applicable.
iv. ICANN should work with all relevant parties to continue to create its
ongoing compliance program to ensure that contractual parties are meeting
the WHOIS-related provisions of the present agreements. In developing
such a program, ICANN should consider:
1. The resources assigned to manage this plan, including up front and
careful consideration of the costs associated with implementing
various recommendations for registrars and flexible options for
registrars to implement the policies in a compliant manner;
2. The specific elements of compliance that the internet community is
primarily concerned with:
a. measurement and reporting mechanisms that allow
appropriate analysis of the effectiveness of this ongoing
program including existing compliance assistance
mechanisms such as ICANN's online Whois data
inaccuracy reporting tools;
b. continued outreach to and education of affected
stakeholders to ensure that existing requirements and
obligations are understood and met and that new
requirements are captured and appropriately dealt with.
This effort should ensure that ICANN advisories related
to this issue are specifically brought to the attention of
newly accredited Registrars and that resources be made
available to the Registrar community to ensure that the
impact and scope of these obligations are apparent and
understood.
c. requiring that informational resources be provided to
new Registrants and brought to their attention via the
registration agreement that all Registrants must agree to
prior to the activation and renewal of their gTLD
registration, based on a model version of materials, so that
no registrar gains a competitive advantage from differential
treatment of this requirement;
d. ongoing development and promotion of gTLD Registry,
Registrar and Registrant best practices that foster the
accuracy of the Registrant data contained in the Whois
database
