[Rt4-whois] Definitions of Privacy and Proxy [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

Tue Nov 29 01:03:00 UTC 2011

Hi Susan,

Thanks for picking this up, and I agree with your comments about consistency.

To add to the complexity, I've pasted below the definitions we agreed in Dakar (taken from the recommendations document):

Proxy:  A relationship in which the registrant is acting on behalf of another.  The WHOIS data is that of the agent and the agent alone obtains all rights and assumes all responsibility for the domain name and its manner of use.

Privacy: Registrant Name and a subset of other information (possibly null set) [PN: withheld?] but consistent across ICANN.

I can see that we may not want to use the exact same set of words throughout the report, as there are different contexts etc, but we should keep an agreed set of words in mind and make sure any subsequent references are fully consistent.

My preferred 'proxy' definition is the one we agreed in Dakar, as it makes the legal aspects very clear.

The NORC 'privacy' definition seems fine, but equally we could flesh out the one we developed in Dakar a bit more - it seems fine, but a bit skeletal (I think we may have run out of words/time to finish it). Some of the other privacy definitions go into detail about how a service should act (i.e. it should provide 'mail forwarding' or 'pass non-SPAM messages'), which to me seems out of place in a definition.

Cheers,

Peter

From: rt4-whois-bounces at icann.org [mailto:rt4-whois-bounces at icann.org] On Behalf Of Susan Kawaguchi
Sent: Tuesday, 29 November 2011 11:40 AM
To: rt4-whois at icann.org
Subject: [Rt4-whois] Definitions of Privacy and Proxy

Hello All,

We seem to use varying definitions of privacy and proxy.   I found these two  definitions of both terms in our draft report

In Chapter 4 page 43
u Privacy Services provide the Registrant's Name, but the Privacy Service's contact information. The Privacy Service passes on  non-spam messages to the Registrant, particularly legal notices, acting as a type of "registered agent."

u Proxy Services register the domain name and license it to another for use.

Chapter 8 Page 80

Privacy services limit certain user details from WHOIS by offering alternate contact information and mail forwarding services, while not actually shielding the user's identity.

Proxy services have a third-party register domain names on the user's behalf and then license the use of the domain name so that a third-party's contact information (and not the licensee's) is published in WHOIS.

I prefer the definitions from the Sept. 28, 2009 NORC report.

Background

To ensure that the community can identify who is responsible for a domain name, a registered name holder is required to provide and update, as needed, their contact information with their registrar of record. Registrars are required by ICANN to collect and provide free public access to the name of the registered domain name and its name servers and registrar, the date the domain was created and when its registration expires, and the contact information for the Registered Name Holder, the technical contact, and the administrative contact.

In some instances, a registered name holder chooses to limit the amount of personal information that its registrar of record makes available to the public via a Whois query of their database. To do so, a registered name holder generally uses a privacy or proxy registration service. For the purpose of this study, the definitions of privacy and proxy services, as they relate to their use in the domain name system, are as follows:

A privacy service provider offers the registrant an opportunity to register a domain name while concealing some personal identifying information listed in a WHOIS directory, such as his or her address, telephone number, or email address, by providing alternate contact information, often that of the privacy service provider.
A proxy service provider registers the domain name on the registrant's behalf and then licenses the use of the domain name to the registrant. The contact information in a WHOIS directory for a domain name registered with a proxy service is that of the proxy service provider.

There may be an intentional use of the other definitions that I am not aware of but I feel we should provide an extremely clear definition of each term since they are currently used interchangeably in the marketplace.

Susan

Susan Kawaguchi
Domain Name Manager

Facebook Inc.
1601 California Avenue
Palo Alto, CA

Phone - 650 485-6064
Cell - 650 387 3904

Please note my email address has changed to skawaguchi at fb.com
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