The Whois TF has finally issued a report. 
Please notify relevant organizations and encourage them to comment in support of the OPoC proposal and to oppose the IPR proposal. They might also wish to criticize the OPoC proposal on the grounds that it may make too many concessions. 

>>> "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]> 11/26/2006 4:12 AM >>>
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[To: liaison6c[at]gnso.icann.org; council[at]gnso.icann.org]
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http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-24nov06.htm 

ICANN launches Public Comments on WHOIS Task Force Report
http://gnso.icann.org/issues/whois-privacy/prelim-tf-rpt-22nov06.htm 

The Public Comment Period is from 24 November 2006 to 15 January 2007.

Send comments to: [log in to unmask] 
View comments at: http://forum.icann.org/lists/whois-services-comments 

ICANN is launching a public comments period on the Preliminary Task 
Force Report on Whois Services. This report forms part of the GNSO 
policy development process (PDP) on Whois which seeks to build consensus 
on policy issues in the generic top level domain (gTLD) space. The 
public comment period will last from 24th November, 2006 to 15 January, 
2007.

After the public comment period, the Whois Task Force will consider the 
public comments received and prepare a final task force report for 
submission to the GNSO Council. The Council is expected to deliberate on 
the final task force report in early 2007, and work to achieve a 
super-majority vote on a recommendation to the ICANN Board. The GNSO 
Council will then submit a report to the ICANN Board, and the Board will 
then carry out its own deliberations and voting.

This report sets out the key findings that have emerged during the work 
of the Whois Task Force on the following terms of reference:

(3) Determine what data collected should be available for public access 
in the context of the purpose of Whois. Determine how to access data 
that is not available for public access. The current elements that must 
be displayed by a registrar are:

- The name of the Registered Name;

- The names of the primary nameserver and secondary nameserver(s) for 
the Registered Name;

- The identity of Registrar (which may be provided through Registrar's 
website);

- The original creation date of the registration;

- The expiration date of the registration;

- The name and postal address of the Registered Name Holder;

- The name, postal address, e-mail address, voice telephone number, and 
(where available) fax number of the technical contact for the Registered 
Name; and

- The name, postal address, e-mail address, voice telephone number, and 
(where available) fax number of the administrative contact for the 
Registered Name.

(4) Determine how to improve the process for notifying a registrar of 
inaccurate Whois data, and the process for investigating and correcting 
inaccurate data. Currently a registrar "shall, upon notification by any 
person of an inaccuracy in the contact information associated with a 
Registered Name sponsored by Registrar, take reasonable steps to 
investigate that claimed inaccuracy. In the event Registrar learns of 
inaccurate contact information associated with a Registered Name it 
sponsors, it shall take reasonable steps to correct that inaccuracy."

(The full terms of reference are available here: 
http://gnso.icann.org/policies/terms-of-reference.html)

Public comments are particularly invited on specific proposals in the 
report:

     * The Operational Point of Contact (OPoC) proposal * pages 38 to 42
     * The Special Circumstances proposal * pages 43 to 49
     * The five proposals in the discussion on access to data * pages 24 
to 27.


-- 
Glen de Saint Géry
GNSO Secretariat - ICANN
gnso.secretariat[at]gnso.icann.org
http://gnso.icann.org