It seems GAC's working group headed by NTIA is keen to totally open 
WHOIS data -- not surprising, of course. Is this going to be the 
position of the GAC?

--c.a.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: draft gac whois principles text
From: "Suzanne Sene" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, September 21, 2006 1:02 am

** High Priority **

hello everyone, as the convenor of gac working group 1, i am pleased to
forward the text of the draft gac whois principles regarding the purpose
and use of whois data, prepared by our gac colleagues from australia
(ashley cross and paul szyndler).

this draft text is the culmination of both internal gac discussions and
external public sessions the gac has organized since 2005 to address the
public policy aspects of the purpose and use of whois data.

during our most recent meeting in marrakech, the gac plenary agreed to
finalize the principles at the sao paulo meeting in December, 2006.

to meet the December deadline for gac plenary approval of the text, all
gac members are requested to submit comments via the working group 1
discus thread on whois according to the following timeline:

October 13:  submission of first round of comments

October 27:  revised text circulated

November 2:  submission of second round of comments

November 27:  final version of text circulated

we will discuss the text during the working group 1 meeting in sao paulo
on December 3, followed by discussion and adoption by the gac plenary.

please note the availability of background documents on the gac discus
site under the whois heading, and feel free to contact me should you
have any questions.

thanks in advance for your attention and support for this gac priority
project.  best regards, suz.

Suzanne R. Sene
Senior Policy Advisor
NTIA/OIA
202-482-3167 (ph)
202-482-1865 (fax)

--- text version of attached document ---



DRAFT

GAC PRINCIPLES REGARDING THE PURPOSE
AND USE OF WHOIS DATA

Presented by the Governmental Advisory Committee
December 6, 2006

Preamble

1.1    The purpose of this document is to identify a set of general 
public policy principles related to the operation and management of the 
generic top level domain (gTLD) WHOIS service.

1.2These principles have been developed in consultation with privacy, 
law enforcement, consumer and intellectual property bodies within each 
GAC member government.

Objective of this document

2.1These principles are intended to guide the work within ICANN 
pertaining to the WHOIS service and to inform the ICANN Board of the 
consensus views of the GAC regarding the range of public policy uses of 
WHOIS data.

Public Policy Aspects of WHOIS Data

3.1   The GAC believes that the WHOIS database serves many legitimate 
purposes, including:

1.Assisting national law enforcement agencies, both civil and criminal, 
in resolving cases that involve the use of the Internet (such as child 
pornography, violent crimes, wire fraud, cyber crime, consumer fraud, 
identity theft, phishing, and other violations of consumer privacy and 
data security);

2.Combating intellectual property infringement and theft through the 
identification of cybersquatters, trademark infringers, counterfeiters, 
and copyright pirates;

3.Supporting Internet network operators responsible for the operation, 
security, and stability of the Internet;

4.Protecting the rights of consumers by facilitating their 
identification of legitimate online businesses; and

5.   Assisting businesses in investigating fraud, phishing and other 
violations of   law affecting their business interests and the interests 
of their customers.


3.2 While the GAC recognizes the complexity posed by such a broad range 
of public policy uses of WHOIS data, the GAC believes that the policy 
development process regarding the definition, purpose and operation of 
gTLD WHOIS services needs to reflect the interests and concerns of this 
broad range of users of WHOIS data.

Principles Applicable to WHOIS Data

4.1   The GAC believes that a fully functional WHOIS service should:

1.Satisfy the traditional and ongoing goal of ensuring the security and 
stability of the Internet;

2.Facilitate continued, timely and cross-border access to accurate WHOIS 
data for law enforcement, intellectual property rights protection, 
consumer protection, and compliance and regulatory purposes;

3.Provide the necessary level of data regarding domain name registrants 
and registrations to any user who seeks it, including, for example, 
civil and criminal law enforcement officials, online consumers, network 
operators, intellectual property rights holders, and registries and 
registrars; and

4.Consider national laws and global agreements associated with trade 
practices, consumer protection, intellectual property rights and 
copyright protection, and privacy protection.