[gnso-rds-pdp-wg] For WG Review - Redlined Problem Statement

Wed Aug 24 05:57:22 UTC 2016

I've taken a deeper look at this 5% (or 8%) "awareness" number that is
being bandied about.

This is a misuse of the data.  The question did not ask about awareness of
WHOIS.  The answer cannot be cited to demonstrate awareness of WHOIS; to do
so is misleading.  The more I look at the data, the less appropriate it is
to cite as if it answers this question.  As Mark Twain once said, "There
are three kinds of lies.  Lies, damned lies, and statistics."

*My primary conclusion after looking at the data is that it is useless to
prove anything about "awareness of WHOIS." *

My secondary conclusion is that, even if one were to attempt extract some
understanding of *use* of WHOIS (not even awareness, which is impossible),
relying solely on the WHOIS subset is inappropriate and likely a
significant underestimation of those who used WHOIS.

First, this is a follow-up question to a users who had "tried to identify
who created a particular website" (not "who owns a particular domain name,"
which would more likely lead to the use of WHOIS, since "who created a
particular website" may have nothing to do with the question of domain
ownership.

Those who had tried were asked "What did you use to figure this out?"
(i.e., figure out who "created a particular website").  It's unclear but
possible thaqt only a single answer was allowed, even if the user used
multiple tools.  The fact that 5% or 8% chose to list their use of WHOIS to
see who "created a particular website" (not "who owned a particular domain
name") proves nothing about *awareness* of WHOIS among those who used other
tools.

Notably, WHOIS as an answer is grouped with other "Specific Site Search"
answers - the rest being Google, Baidu, GoDaddy, DNS records and "other
specific site search mentions."  (The fact that "WHOIS" is listed as a
"specific site search" is enough to make one question the validity of the
analysis.)

Of those who tried to figure who created a particular site, the greatest
number turned to search engines -- not surprising among general users, as
search is often the primary tool used to find out *anything * on the
Internet.  That does not in any way demonstrate their lack of awareness of
WHOIS.

Also, the WHOIS answer likely undercounts those who actually used WHOIS.
There are other answers that may also refer to WHOIS, some with answers
nearly as high as those who expressly identified WHOIS as the "specific
site" they searched:

Domain/IP Address search (5% in 2015, 5% in 2016)
Online/Internet tools (Unspecified) (0%, 1%)
Using specific sites that classify/provide information on sites (5%, 2%)
Check registration/if it’s registered/certificate (2%, 2%)
Research (Unspecified) (4%, 1%)
GoDaddy (0%, less than 1%)
TOTAL 16%, 11%

It's impossible to know how many of these refer to WHOIS, but even a
minority would double the percentage in each year.

Finally, it's worth noting that the number who answered the same question
with the answer "Google" were 10% in 2015 and 14% in 2016.  It would be
ludicrous to say that this indicates 10% "awareness" of Google in 2015 and
14% "awareness" of Google in 2016.  Yet people somehow people feel
comfortable applying this characterization to the WHOIS answer.  I think
this is a strong indication that Mark Twain was right.

On Wed, Aug 24, 2016 at 12:55 AM, Winterfeldt, Brian J. <
BWinterfeldt at mayerbrown.com> wrote:

> +1 Susan also.
>
> *Brian J. Winterfeldt*
>
> Co-Head of Global Brand Management and Internet Practice
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> Mayer Brown LLP
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> On Aug 23, 2016, at 12:37 PM, Kiran Malancharuvil via gnso-rds-pdp-wg <
> gnso-rds-pdp-wg at icann.org> wrote:
>
> +1 Susan.
>
>
> Kiran Malancharuvil
> Policy Counselor
> MarkMonitor
> 415.222.8318 (t)
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> www.markmonitor.com
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>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: gnso-rds-pdp-wg-bounces at icann.org [mailto:gnso-rds-pdp-wg-
> bounces at icann.org <gnso-rds-pdp-wg-bounces at icann.org>] On Behalf Of Susan
> Kawaguchi
> Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2016 9:35 AM
> To: Volker Greimann; gnso-rds-pdp-wg at icann.org
> Subject: Re: [gnso-rds-pdp-wg] For WG Review - Redlined Problem Statement
>
> Volker,
>
> I completely disagree with your statement most registrants do not even
> what whois isŠ.  I might agree with most internet users do not know what
> registration data is or where to find it but a good portion of domain names
> are registered to commercial entities who completely understand the whois
> and use it daily for domain name management.
>
> I am sure you receive inquiries about whois from some registrants but I
> would guess the vast majority of registrants understand whois.
> Susan Kawaguchi
> Domain Name Manager
> Facebook Legal Dept.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 8/23/16, 9:27 AM, "gnso-rds-pdp-wg-bounces at icann.org on behalf of
> Volker Greimann" <gnso-rds-pdp-wg-bounces at icann.org on behalf of
> vgreimann at key-systems.net> wrote:
>
> I tend to agree. Most registrants do not even know what whois is...
>
>
>
> Volker
>
>
>
>
> Am 23.08.2016 um 18:17 schrieb Rob Golding:
>
> Are you suggesting that registrants do not have a vested interest in
>
> an
>
> RDS
>
> system?
>
> Correct - I believe they have a vested interest in there not being an
>
> RDS  system
>
>
> Rob
>
>
>
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