4 ms·

Completely agree but publishing accurate Whois information is an ICANN requirement for all registrars and not some gimmick set up by registrars to profit from t

Completely agree but publishing accurate Whois information is an ICANN requirement for all registrars and not some gimmick set up by registrars to profit from their customers. If we failed to do this we would lose our accredidation. Whoisguard was set up to replace customer info but when we do that we are also exposed to all the legal issues that come with the territory which costs quite a bit to defend. We spend millions of dollars per year safeguarding user information and not simply turning off whoisguard without a proper legal order.

csomar 8y ago
So ICANN require the information to be public? I thought they just wanted that you provide accurate info to the registrar.
- ethbro 8y ago
  https://whois.icann.org/en/primer https://whois.icann.org/en/primer
- NamecheapCEO 8y ago
  Yes, it also needs to be made available via public whois.
  - mysterydip 8y ago
    Is there a process to get that modified/amended? It seems like a carryover from the days when the internet was a friendlier place and not full of abuse.
  - csomar 8y ago
    So how is whoisguard legal?
    - lightedman 8y ago
      I doubt it is, and this might as well be extortion, or maybe in some cases, actively aiding and abetting a crime.
    - mschout 8y ago
      Essentially because ICANN says so. ICANN requires the registrars to maintain accurate contact info, and also to publish the contact info on port 43. In addition they allow registrars to offer proxy registration service, which does has additional requirements for the registrar (see the whois primer linked in this thread). HOWEVER, due to the GDPR, ICANN's "Temporary Solution" to the GDPR changes a lot of these requirements. One of the changes is that the requirement to make the contact info publicly available via whois has been removed. Registrars now are only required to show the state+country of the registrant, as well as some anonymized way to contact the domain owner (e.g.: via an anonymous email, or, via a web form). For transfers of domain names between registrars, this also means the gaining registrar no longer is required to email you asking for authorization to transfer the domain (because the gaining registrar does not have access to the email addresses any longer). ICANN is working on a replacement for whois called RDDS which has tiered, authenticated access, as well as an accredidation process for people that need access to the real contact info such as law enforcement. However, they haven't worked out all of the details on this yet. ICANN has also said regsitrars are not required to distinguish between an EU customer or a non EU customer when applying this rule. So essentially, ICANN's temporary solution to the GDPR makes a lot of the reasons for "Whois Guard" or proxy registrations less useful. See: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/gtld-registration-data-specs-en https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/gtld-registration-data...

csomar 8y ago

So ICANN require the information to be public? I thought they just wanted that you provide accurate info to the registrar.

ethbro 8y ago
https://whois.icann.org/en/primer https://whois.icann.org/en/primer
NamecheapCEO 8y ago
Yes, it also needs to be made available via public whois.
- mysterydip 8y ago
  Is there a process to get that modified/amended? It seems like a carryover from the days when the internet was a friendlier place and not full of abuse.
- csomar 8y ago
  So how is whoisguard legal?
  - lightedman 8y ago
    I doubt it is, and this might as well be extortion, or maybe in some cases, actively aiding and abetting a crime.
  - mschout 8y ago
    Essentially because ICANN says so. ICANN requires the registrars to maintain accurate contact info, and also to publish the contact info on port 43. In addition they allow registrars to offer proxy registration service, which does has additional requirements for the registrar (see the whois primer linked in this thread). HOWEVER, due to the GDPR, ICANN's "Temporary Solution" to the GDPR changes a lot of these requirements. One of the changes is that the requirement to make the contact info publicly available via whois has been removed. Registrars now are only required to show the state+country of the registrant, as well as some anonymized way to contact the domain owner (e.g.: via an anonymous email, or, via a web form). For transfers of domain names between registrars, this also means the gaining registrar no longer is required to email you asking for authorization to transfer the domain (because the gaining registrar does not have access to the email addresses any longer). ICANN is working on a replacement for whois called RDDS which has tiered, authenticated access, as well as an accredidation process for people that need access to the real contact info such as law enforcement. However, they haven't worked out all of the details on this yet. ICANN has also said regsitrars are not required to distinguish between an EU customer or a non EU customer when applying this rule. So essentially, ICANN's temporary solution to the GDPR makes a lot of the reasons for "Whois Guard" or proxy registrations less useful. See: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/gtld-registration-data-specs-en https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/gtld-registration-data...