[gnso-rds-pdp-wg] key concepts: say "contact data" when that is what we mean

[Andrew Sullivan]

Hi Michael,

On Wed, Dec 07, 2016 at 04:13:01PM -0500, Michael D. Palage wrote:

> I appreciate Greg's historical context of Whois data primarily being for
> purposes of "contacting" the registrant of a domain name using those data
> fields with personally identifying information. However, I think
> introducing/relying upon the concept of "CONTACT DATA" as proposed by Greg
> while well intentioned will only lead to greater confusion.

If instead of "contact data" we want to call it "the flying monkey
all-singing-and-dancing circus data", I don't care.  I think Greg's
point is that there are several different kinds of data here, and we
could start with the little set that is unambiguously related to the
domain _qua_ domain, and hammer out some agreement there.  That would
have the salubrious effects that we would have found some common
ground, it would allow us to close coversations on some parts of the
data, and it would allow us to acknowledge that there are at least two
classes of data here.  For that reason,

> First Greg acknowledges that not ALL data other than the thin technical data
> falls within his CONTACT DATA definition

we might well acknowledge that there are at least two kinds of data
we're talking about, and start with the first class.  Then we could
work on a second class.  At some point, we'll run out of classes that
people will be able to mention; we don't need to know in advance
exactly how many there are.  They're surely fewer than 30.

> Second, the use of this terminology ignores the reality in the marketplace
> that Registrant data is widely relied upon to make legal determinations

What these different classes of data are used _for_ is an entirely
different problem from what kinds of data they are.  Those potential
uses, indeed, are something we need to consider when asking under what
circumstances a given datum may be disclosed, and to whom.  But the
use is not part of the definition of the kind of data.

> "ICANN's WHOIS Lookup gives you the ability to lookup any generic domains,
> such as "icann.org" to find out the registered domain owner."

I do not believe one can argue from the premise that this is how
things have always been done to the conclusion that it is how things
_should_ be done.

> So I think we stick to one of the first things I learned as a young
> engineer. Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS)

Agreed.  And for that reason, we should start with the simple cases
and forge some consensus there before we start with the hard cases.

Best regards,

A


-- 
Andrew Sullivan
ajs at anvilwalrusden.com