NCUC Statement on Whois Notification - final draft

[Chun Eung Hwi]

Perfect!


On Mon, 31 Jan 2005, Milton Mueller wrote:

> This would be the final draft, to be sent to the Task Force and GNSO.
> Note that the only dissent is recognized in the statement. (sec. 2)
>
> =====
>
> Statement of the Noncommercial Users Constituency on Whois Task Force
> 1/2 Recommendation:
> Improving Notification and Consent for the Use of Contact Data in the
> Whois Service
>
> 1. Constituency position
> Noncommercial domain name users welcome efforts to ensure that domain
> name registrants are better informed about the publication of their
> private contact information via the Whois system. Public, anonymous
> access to private contact information poses a number of risks to
> registrants and may violate their rights to privacy. Until this
> situation is reformed, conspicuous notification is essential.
>
> The text we reviewed contains an error. Under point 3, the sentence
> "Registrars must obtain a separate acknowledgement from registrars that
> they have read and understand these disclosures" should read
> "Registrars
> must obtain a separate acknowledgement from _registrants_ that they
> have read and understand these disclosures."
>
> NCUC strongly supports the requirement to set aside the notification
> and to require a distinct and separate acknowledgement from registrants
> that they are aware of the exposure of their private information. We
> observe, however, that for customers registering multiple domain names
> in the same transaction, only one such acknowledgement should be
> required. The constituency would like to make sure that the same
> notification and acknowledgement should take place during renewals.
>
> We strongly support the statement "The wording of the notice provided
> by registrars should, to the extent feasible, be uniform." Because of
> the highly competitive nature of the registrar business, registrars have
> an incentive to downplay or obscure the privacy implications of
> registering a domain name because they fear it may deter customers from
> signing up. The specific wording of the notification, therefore, should
> not be left to the discretion of registrars. We suggest that the wording
> be developed by staff subject to the approval of the GNSO Council, and
> translated as literally as possible into different languages by an
> independent party. This language should then be incorporated into the
> Registrar Accreditation Agreement.
>
> 2. Method for Reaching Agreement on NCUC position
>
> NCUC's Chair drafted and circulated via email a constituency
> statementon its discussion list, soliciting input from its members. A
> minor addition to the draft, concerning renewals, was suggested and
> agreed and incorporated into the constituency statement. All comments
> were supportive except for one, which emphasized the additional burden
> on registrants of the additional process.
>
> 3. Impact on Constituency.
> While there is some recognition that the registration process might be
> slightly more complicated as a result of the proposed change, all member
> organizations but one considered the benefits of more prominent
> notification and registrant awareness to outweigh any burden.
>
>
>
> Dr. Milton Mueller
> Syracuse University School of Information Studies
> http://www.digital-convergence.org
> http://www.internetgovernance.org
>

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Chun Eung Hwi
General Secretary, PeaceNet |   fax:     (+82)  2-2649-2624
Seoul Yangchun P.O.Box 81   |   pcs:     (+82) 019-259-2667
Seoul, 158-600, Korea       | eMail:   chun at peacenet.or.kr
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