+1 Niels. Further, I always thought that the first question to be asked 
under European laws is not how people use the open data, but for what 
purpose is the data collected?

We now know from the work of the Registration Directory Services WG that 
the purpose of "Whois data" is to support the registration and 
maintenance of a domain name. Accordingly, why review the millions of 
ways that people may use (and misuse) domain name registration data?  
Why start with the "use cases" and not "the purpose?"

Best and tx to our NCSG representatives for the time they are dedicating 
to this fast-moving group,
Kathy

On 7/5/2017 5:05 AM, Niels ten Oever wrote:
> That people currently use WHOIS doesn't need they _need_ to use WHOIS.
>
> It's important not to conflate things.
>
> Owndership information could for instance also be obtained through the
> Chamber of Commerce or other company registers.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Niels
>
> On 07/05/2017 09:10 AM, Olévié Kouami wrote:
>> Hi all
>> Indeed NGOs use WHOIS.
>> As a registrant they need the use of WHOIS services. The RDS in
>> construction have to take it info account.
>> Cheers !
>> Olévié
>>
>> Le 5 juil. 2017 06:40, "Nadira Alaraj" <[log in to unmask]
>> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> a écrit :
>>
>>      Thanks for this exercise.
>>      I use the WHOIS for one of the attempts to
>>       authenticate the registrant of the domain name in particular the
>>      national NGOs.
>>
>>      Best
>>      Nadira
>>
>>      On Jul 4, 2017 1:37 PM, "Ayden Férdeline" <[log in to unmask]
>>      <mailto:[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 <http://www.linkedin.com/in/ferdeline>
>>
>>