NTIA provides first semiannual note to Congress regarding ICANN

Note explains what NTIA is doing regarding GDPR/Whois.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has submitted its first note (pdf) to Congress regarding adopted ICANN policies.

Congress required NTIA to start providing a semiannual note as part of Senate Note 115-139, which accompanied the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2018.

The notes must include “adopted ICANN policies, counting whether or not NTIA supported any changes, and to note on any changes that affect the .gov, .mil, .edu, and .us domains.”

In its first note, NTIA discusses the impact of GDPR on Whois and explains that it is continuing to work to ensure that the final Whois specification “balances data protection with the needs to access WHOIS information for legitimate and lawful purposes”.

NTIA also stated that it is pushing back against ICANN’s proposal to delay the third Accountability and Transparency Review.

Finally, NTIA confirmed that no ICANN Board Resolutions or policy changes have affected the .gov, .mil, .edu, or .us domains.