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Whois: Whois Database
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The removal of registrants’ contact information from the Whois database is an important first step toward protecting the privacy rights of individuals. However, EPIC disagrees with the OPoC’s proposal to continue to publish registrants’ names and countries of origin. The task force stated that the publication of registrants’ names and countries of origin would assist third parties considering or pursuing enforcement actions; this is beyond the scope of the purpose of Whois data, as confirmed by the definition adopted by GNSO Council.
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Whois databases have become the master directories for domain name registrations. When a new domain is added or changed, the information is sent to the appropriate Whois database. Domain name registrars may provide a search function on their sites that can access various or all of the Whois databases. Following are some of the Web sites that provide information from the Whois databases:
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Whois performs generic, string-based searches on several databases maintained by InterNIC, the most important of these being the domain registration database. This database contains entries for all valid second-level DNS names, along with contact information and name server addresses. Another database contains thousands of contact people, arranged alphabetically. All of these records are indexed by keys, which can be used (if known) to match records exactly.
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ICANN Chooses Privacy for Whois The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the body that controls the assignment of domain names to Internet addresses, has voted to adopt a policy protecting the privacy of domain holders' personal information. ICANN stated that Whois, a public database containing the contact information of domain name holders, should be used only for its original purpose: to resolve issues related to the configuration of the records associated with the domain name. The ruling means that Whois data will not be expanded for other purposes, such as law enforcement and copyright investigations . EPIC advocated this position in its comments to ICANN in February. More information at EPIC's Identity Theft page. (Apr. 13)
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The long-running attempt by privacy advocates to bin the Whois database will be up for vote at the ICANN meeting in Los Angeles tomorrow. Cheerleaders for the six-year-old "sunset proposal" say people shouldn't be required to give up personal information to the web to register a domain name. It is frequently abused by spammers and fraudsters, they argue.
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The Whois service that maintains a database on owners of Internet domain names may be dismantled, if the "sunset" proposal before the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is approved. Tags: Whois, Service, Internet, Arun Radhakrishnan Blog posts 2007-10-30
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