It’s Not Really that Bad: Domain Name Whois Accuracy

77% of whois data rubbish? More like 8%.

If you just read the headlines, you’d assume most domain name whois records are bogus. Here are a couple headlines from today:

“77% of domain registrations stuffed with rubbish” – TheRegister
“ICANN fails to control Internet, 77% of domains have no valid information” – Ecommerce Journal

Indeed, the numbers from ICANN’s recent whois study show there are problems. But you can pick your numbers as you wish.

The 77% number is derived by noting that only 23% of the domain records studied met the most stringent requirements for accuracy: a deliverable address, the owner’s name linked to that address, and the registrant confirmed ownership and correctness of all details during interview.

Another quarter of whois records resulted in either a minor flaw noted by the owner when being interviewed, or the examiners not being able to publicly link the registrant’s name to the address, but they were able to reach the registrant and confirm the whois information.

In another quarter of the records, the mailing address was deliverable and the registrant’s name was publicly linked to the address, but they weren’t able to reach the domain owner to interview them.

Then you have regarding 20% where the address was wrong or, if it was deliverable, the examiners couldn’t link it to the registrant or get a response for an interview.

That leaves 8% where the whois information was flat out wrong.

So I propose a fresh headline: “92% of whois records basically accurate”.