[council] FW: Request for feedback on GNSO Whois Studies

Tue Jul 6 13:39:08 UTC 2010

In follow-up to an action item from our Brussels meeting, I just sent
this letter to Heather Dryden, Interim GAC Chair requesting input
regarding Whois Studies.

Chuck

From: Gomes, Chuck 
Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2010 9:37 AM
To: ' (Heather.Dryden at ic.gc.ca)'
Subject: Request for feedback on GNSO Whois Studies
Importance: High

Heather,

I hope that your flight home from Brussels went well. I want to once
again congratulate you on your election as Interim GAC Chair and also
say that  I sincerely enjoyed having some time to interact with you at
the chairs dinner hosted by Rod.

Pasted below and attached is a letter requesting feedback from the GAC
or from GAC representatives in their personal capacity regarding the
GNSO Council's upcoming selection of Whois Studies to pursue in ICANN's
FY11.  Anything you can do to facilitate this would be very much
appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Chuck Gomes

6 July 2010

Ms. Heather Dryden

Interim Chair

ICANN Government Advisory Committee

Heather.Dryden at ic.gc.ca

Dear Heather,

The GNSO Council is currently discussing which of several proposed WHOIS
studies to initiate, and we would very much welcome input from the GAC
as we consider this matter.  As the GAC well appreciates, the Council is
assessing which studies might be the most useful in providing a factual
basis for further policy making on WHOIS. The FY 2011 budget which was
approved by the ICANN Board in Brussels includes over $400,000 in
funding for WHOIS studies.  The GNSO has identified four key study areas
as top priorities for consideration (combining a number of suggestions
made by the GAC and others in 2008).  Staff is in the process of
providing a cost and feasibility analysis for all four study areas and,
while not all costing information is available yet (see short
descriptions and status below), we are at the stage where we hope to
make some initial decisions on the first two study areas noting that
more information will be forthcoming on the last two areas in the coming
weeks.

Following is a summary of the options we are considering.  Staff's
initial analysis to-date can be found here
<http://gnso.icann.org/issues/whois/whois-studies-report-for-gnso-23mar1
0-en.pdf> .  A chart displaying all the study options (and a cross
reference to the original GAC proposals of April 2008) is attached.
Please note that the first three proposed WHOIS study areas contain many
elements originally suggested by the GAC.

1.       WHOIS Misuse - These studies will assess the extent, nature,
and impact of WHOIS public data misuse (i.e., harmful actions like spam,
phishing, and identity theft taken using WHOIS contact information).
Two types of studies would be conducted.  One is referred to as an
"experimental" study, which would register test domains and measure
harmful messages resulting from misuse.  The other is a "descriptive"
study of misuse incidents reported by registrants, researchers, law
enforcement and others. See detailed Terms of Reference for the Misuse
studies here
<http://gnso.icann.org/issues/whois/tor-whois-misuse-studies-25sep09-en.
pdf> .  Estimated cost to conduct: $150,000 USD.  

2.       WHOIS Registrant Identification - This study will explore WHOIS
data and the extent to which domains used by legal persons (commercial
entities) or for commercial purposes are: 1) not clearly identified as
such in WHOIS (e.g., user's identity is obscured or implies
non-commercial use); and 2) will correlate that information with use of
Privacy and Proxy services.  See detailed Terms of Reference for the
Registrant Identification study here
<http://gnso.icann.org/issues/whois/tor-whois-registrant-identification-
studies-23oct09-en.pdf> .  Estimated cost to conduct: $150,000 USD.  

3.       WHOIS Privacy and Proxy Abuse -- This study will look at the
extent to which domain names used to conduct illegal or harmful Internet
activities are registered via Privacy and Proxy services. An RFP to
solicit costs and feasibility information was published on 18 May 2010,
responses from independent researchers are due by 20 July 2010.  Staff
analysis to follow. See Terms of Reference and more information here
<http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-2-18may10-en.htm> .

4.       WHOIS Privacy and Proxy Reveal - This study will consider the
degree to which Privacy and Proxy registrant reveal handling impedes
timely identification of parties allegedly involved in illegal or
harmful activities. Development of study terms of reference is underway
and staff hopes to publish an RFP in the late-July-August time frame. 

Staff is also completing a separate "Inventory of WHOIS Service
Requirements
<http://gnso.icann.org/issues/whois/whois-service-requirements-draft-fin
al-report-31may10-en.pdf> " that was also requested by the GNSO Council
last year.  This "study" is a technical compendium of current WHOIS
service requirements and potential "requirements" that have been
suggested in past policy discussions.  The GNSO Council will also be
discussing how this information may also be useful, and GAC input on
this related report would be of value.

Again, we welcome your input. Recognizing that specific studies may take
a year or more to complete and that the FY11 funds are available now,
the GNSO Council will be trying to identify which studies to pursue in
the next month or so.  Therefore, timely GAC input, if possible, would
be very much appreciated.  Even input from one or more individual GAC
members who are especially attuned to WHOIS studies, speaking in their
personal capacities, would be welcome.  Liz Gasster of the policy staff
is available to provide further information and answer questions that
may arise.  More information about background work on WHOIS may be found
here <http://gnso.icann.org/issues/whois/> .   

Chuck Gomes

Chair, GNSO Council

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