[RDS-WHOIS2-RT] Privacy issue

[Alan Greenberg]

At our meeting two weeks ago, we discussed privacy and the place it 
holds in our review process. I have thought about it a lot since 
then, and would like to summarize my feelings.

It is clear in my mind that:

- the current WHOIS implementation ignores privacy issues, and this 
has been a known issue for a long time;
- for whatever reasons, ICANN has chosen to largely ignore the issue, 
even though it has become of increasing importance to many parties 
and in multiple jurisdictions;
- the GDPR deadline has raised the importance and priority of the issue;
- ICANN is working on a GDPR response, and while opinions differ on 
whether their plans are reasonable or appropriate, the deadline of 25 
May 2018 will almost surely have passed by the time we deliver our 
final report;
- as important as GDPR (and its penalties for non-compliance) are it 
is not the only privacy issue that ICANN is facing or will face and 
we need to address the generic issue in any recommendations we make; 
and finally
- our recommendations need to be high level and not attempt to 
provide detailed policy or implementation which is the domain of the 
GNSO PDP and its follow-on activities.

Although this message is being sent on my own behalf as a RT Member, 
it has been reviewed by both Vice-Chairs and they are in general agreement.

I welcome thoughts on this.

Alan