[gnso-rds-pdp-wg] 2013 RAA Data Elements

[Andrew Sullivan]

Hi,

Just to expand slightly on what Greg is saying.

On Tue, Jun 13, 2017 at 09:19:31PM +0000, Greg Aaron wrote:
> 
> Registry Domain ID: this is a unique identifier and is useful for differentiating different "lifetimes" of a domain.  For example: someone registers domain1.tld; that domain gets an ID.  A year later the domain expires and is not renewed.  Some time later someone else registers domain1.tld again; this time it will receive a different ID.  Each of those "lifetimes" will have different Domain IDs.  The ID can be used for tracking ownership, billing reference, etc.
> 

Also, if you think tracking ownership, billing reference, and so on is
not good, this is _also_ a way to know that the domain that you think
ought to be working in one way is not the domain you think it is.  So
it's a good way to detect that the problem is not in your network, but
in someone else's operation (in keeping with the "distributed
management" approach of the DNS and Internet).

> Registrar Abuse Contact Email and Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: these were added so people can easily contact the registrar if the domain is being used for malicious purposes.  Among other things, this information is: a) a helpful way to help protect the public and make the Internet safer, and b) useful when the registrar's web site is in a language different from the one you speak.
> 

And it's useful when your network is getting abusive traffic from a
domain and you don't know where to start pulling.  _Especially_ if we
might close off access to individual humans' email addresses without
authentication, this contact information for the registrar is going to
be needed in order to bootstrap any authentication plans.  Again, this
places the parties involved in the connections in a position to
contact each other, so the same "distributed model" song you have all
heard me sing so many times :)

> Reseller: the registrar populates this field if it wants to and it is applicable.  (The field itself is mandatory to display, but filling it is optional, and is it sometimes left blank.)  Purpose: Business Domain Name Purchase/Sale, domain maintenance.  The reseller is usually responsible for providing customer service to the  registered name holder (not the registrar); the reseller is the place to go for account info and login to manage the domain.  Some registrars like to populate this field in WHOIS so registrants and other inquiries are directed to the right party.
>
> URL of the ICANN WHOIS Data Problem Reporting System: provided as a way to encourage data accuracy.

I feel less sure that these fields contribute quite so much to the
distributed model.  The reseller field probably does more so -- if I
want an abuse contact, it's probably actually the reseller's, but I
can probably go through the registrar.

Best regards,

A

-- 
Andrew Sullivan
ajs at anvilwalrusden.com