[council] Facts about Whois

[Ross Rader]

I thought it would be useful to share some basic facts about Whois and 
Whois data. These are taken from the various registry/registrar 
agreements and might be useful in terms of gaining a better 
understanding of the current deliberation.

For the purpose of this discussion, I am limiting this definition to 
those uses by gTLD operators. There are many other Whois based services 
in use around the world (IP address registries, ccTLD managers, etc.)

The important point of understanding is the difference between the 
customer transaction data that registrars must undertake to process a 
customer request for a domain registration, and the Whois publishing 
requirements imposed on registrars and registries by the ICANN 
agreement.  The current whois task force is only chartered to deal with 
the policy related to the publishing mechanism.

****
1. What is whois? Whois is a simple API based protocol that provides 
query access to a database of information related to domain name 
registrations. Queries can be sent to a Whois server via a desktop 
client using port 43, or via a web form, which may also use back-end 
logic to communicate with the Whois server also via port 43. This two 
types, while very similar, are referred to respectively as "Port 43" and 
"Web-based" whois.

2. What is whois data? Whois data, according to the contracts, is the 
data that is published via the Whois API. Currently, this data consists of;

The domain name;
The nameservers for the domain names
The name of the registrar responsible for the registration
The date of registration
The date the domain name expires
The name and postal address of the registrant
The name, postal address, e-mail address, voice telephone number, and 
(where available) fax number of the technical contact; and
The name, postal address, e-mail address, voice telephone number, and 
(where available) fax number of the administrative contact.

Collection of this data is undertaken per the requirements of the 
ICANN-Registrar agreements, and the laws of the country in in which each 
of the registrar and registrant reside.

3. What other registration data do registrars collect? Registrars 
collect a lot more data than that which is required by the ICANN 
contracts (see 2). For example, Registrars collect credit card 
information, address information for the registrant, various opt-in and 
agreements to various legal clauses, and so on. The information 
registrars collect is very similar to the information that any internet 
merchant collects. The collection of this additional data permits the 
registrar to conduct its business and support the needs of its clients. 
Collection of this data is undertaken per the requirements of the 
national law in effect in the country in which each of the registrar and 
registrant reside.
****

-- 

                        -rr








                 "Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions.
                                            All life is an experiment.
                             The more experiments you make the better."
                         - Ralph Waldo Emerson


Contact Info:
Ross Rader
Director, Research & Innovation
Tucows Inc.
c. 416.828.8783

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