Whois info must remain available: U.S. Gov

Fresh NTIA chief pushes back on effort to scale back Whois information.

David Redl, the fresh head of the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration, told an audience at State of the Net 2018 today that Whois data must remain available.

Speaking regarding efforts to obscure Whois information to comply with the EU’s fresh privacy law General Data Protection Regulation (GDRP), Redl stated:

Here are the facts: the text of the GDPR balances the interests of cybersecurity, law enforcement, and consumer protection, and many European officials have noted that limited changes to the WHOIS would be necessary to achieve GDPR compliance. Still, there are some who are trying to take advantage of the situation by arguing that we ought to erect barriers to the quickly and easily accessible WHOIS information. Some have even argued that the service must go dark, and become a relic of the Internet’s history.

Today, I would like to be clear — the WHOIS service can, and ought to, retain its essential character while complying with national privacy laws, counting the GDPR. It is in the interests of all Internet stakeholders that it does. And for anyone here in the U.S. who may be persuaded by arguments calling for drastic change, please know that the U.S. government expects this information to continue to be made easily available through the WHOIS service.

This seems to set up a battle with registrars and registries that have decided to reveal less information.

Also notable regarding the speech, Redl did not mention anything regarding “clawing back” the NTIA’s contractstate with ICANN that was relinquished under President Obama.

The full text of Redl’s comments is here.