And WIPO can’t comply with WHOIS, who can? — If ICANN

Technically ICANN and WIPO’s whois records aren’t compliant.

Since the meltdown of Registerfly.com a number of years ago, ICANN has continued to promise to better police compliance with the registrar accreditation agreement (RAA), counting the WHOIS provisions of the RAA.

I have recently heard that one of the clauses of the RAA which ICANN Compliance is looking at is this one:

3.7.7.1 The Registered Name Holder shall provide to Registrar accurate and reliable contact details and promptly correct and update them during the term of the Registered Name registration, counting: the full name, postal address, e-mail address, voice telephone number, and fax number if available of the Registered Name Holder; name of authorized person for contact purposes in the case of an Registered Name Holder that is an organization, association, or corporation; and the data elements listed in Subsections 3.3.1.2, 3.3.1.7and 3.3.1.8.

In other words, the RAA requires the name of an actual person as the contact.

But let’s take a look at the whois record for ICANN.org:

Registrant Name:Domain Administrator
Registrant Organization:ICANN
Registrant Street1:12025 Waterfront Drive
Registrant Street2:Suite 300
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Los Angeles
Registrant State/Province:California
Registrant Postal Code:90094-2536
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.4242171313
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:+1.4242171313

Instead of having the name of a contact, ICANN simply put “Domain Administrator”.

You’ll see something similar on WIPO’s whois record for WIPO.org:

Registrant Name:International Computing Centre
Registrant Organization:International Computing Centre
Registrant Street1:UNICC
Registrant Street2:Palais des Nations
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Geneva 10
Registrant State/Province:Geneva
Registrant Postal Code:1211
Registrant Country:CH
Registrant Phone:+41.229291411

Apparently there’s some guy at WIPO named International Computing Centre. I don’t think Mr. Centre exists.

Of course, what ICANN and WIPO are doing is common practice. Most sizable firms, counting Verizon, Facebook, and Google, don’t list an actual contact. It’s a security risk to list an individual at your firm as the contact.

Ought to the requirement of an actual name be enforced? Probably not.

But if ICANN is going to enforce this with registrars, perhaps it ought to take a look at its own whois record first.