Dear Ayden,
I don't know about "primary" uses, but I know that NGOs use WHOIS 
information all the time.

1. NGOs use WHOIS information to unearth connections between corporate 
entities (especially those involved in lobbying the government) which 
ought to be transparent, but are not.  Corporate entities ought not 
enjoy the same kinds of privacy rights as individuals, even when 
individuals within a corporate entity do not forsake their rights to 
privacy by virtue of entering into an association.

2. NGOs use WHOIS information to determine the antecedents of domains, 
just as everybody else does, for purposes of research.  Last year, my 
use of WHOIS to detect a fraudulent Android app (that used the same 
image and text as the Indian prime minister's official app), led to that 
app being ejected from the Google Play Store.

I hope that helps.

Regards,
Pranesh

gangadhar <[log in to unmask]> [Tue Jul 04 
2017 19:20:35 GMT+0530 (IST)]:
> Hi team,The primary purpose an NGO/Civil Society use WHOISis to check if the domain name is safe and secure.This is done by the NGO themselves or the service provider.best wishesGangadhar Panday Videos and ICT for Eco-awareness
> 
>      On Tuesday, 4 July 2017 4:15 PM, Salanieta Tamanikaiwaimaro <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>   
> 
>   Hi Ayden,
> In response to your call, here is my response:
> 1) Due Diligence when profiling for a specific intent;2)To report on "scams" such as phishing attempts to registrars and ICANN Compliance;3)General curiosity.
> Sala
> On 4 Jul 2017 22:37, "Ayden Férdeline" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> Greetings, all-
> 
> Along with Stephanie Perrin and Wendy Seltzer, I am a part of the ICANN GDPR Compliance Consultation Group. This group has been formed to help ICANN gather the information it needs to engage with data protection authorities and to obtain actionable legal advice.
> 
> I committed last week to keeping the NCSG updated on the activities of the Consultation Group over the coming months.
> 
> In our first meeting, we committed to participating in a data gathering exercise to identify the existing users of WHOIS, what data elements they use, and for what purpose. At this time we are not making the determination as to whether a purpose is legitimate or illegitimate, though that call will come, or if a data element comprises personally identifiable information. For now we are simply trying to include all user categories to get the most complete set of data points.
> 
> We are interested in understanding how non-commercial Internet users, who we in the NCSG purport to represent the interests of, use WHOIS. We have conducted some informal consultation among our peers and have been provided with a few use cases, but not too many. It is possible that end users do not use WHOIS widely [and that has been the assumption that has informed previous exercises like this one], but if you, as an end user, do use WHOIS, we would be curious to know for what purpose and which data elements you rely on. Please share your thoughts either on-list or with me privately, if you prefer.
> 
> We have a very short turnaround time for this exercise. Our next call is this Thursday, and ICANN staff envision this entire task being completed by next week. The time for you to provide input is thus now. Thanks!
> 
> Best wishes,
> 
> Ayden Férdeline
> linkedin.com/in/ferdeline
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>     
> 

-- 
Pranesh Prakash
Policy Director, Centre for Internet and Society
http://cis-india.org | tel:+91 80 40926283
sip:[log in to unmask] | xmpp:[log in to unmask]
https://twitter.com/pranesh