What the provocative WHOIS note means for domain investors
Sweeping changes to registrant data could have major impact on domain name investors.
ICANN’s working group on gTLD Directory Services released its initial note overnight. If I were to use one word to describe the note, it would be “provocative”.
I just finished reading the 49 page note that describes a way to upend WHOIS as we know it and replace it with an Aggregated Registration Data Service (ARDS).
Calling it something completely different than the current technical name of WHOIS was no accident.
Under the possible fresh directory service, the whois system as we know it would be scrapped. It would be replaced by a sort of “super-thick” WHOIS managed by a service provider that collects data from both registrars and registries.
Much of the registrant information stored by the ARDS would have restricted access.
The good news is that the working group considered just regarding every use case for why people access WHOIS data, counting domain investors’ uses. The goal is to accommodate all legitimate uses of registrant data (counting by domain investors) while blocking nefarious uses (such as sending out scam notices and spam).
ARDS would enable domain investors to research the ownership of a domain name counting historical data (WHOWAS). (Granted, it wouldn’t have much historical data at first.)
The system also contemplates a formal reverse whois, in which you could see all domains registered to a particular person or entity, that would function across registries.
The directory service take into consideration how individuals and firms manage their domain portfolio as well. It seems that my use of Watch My Domains Pro to access registrant information on my own domains for monitoring and management purposes would be enabled in ARDS.
Still, this data will be restricted. How you request the data will be a key detail.
The initial note doesn’t mention journalists as one of the key users of registrant data, although almost all of the uses I right now access WHOIS for fall under one of the other permissible uses, such as Domain Name Research.
A comment period is now open through August 12. ICANN will also hold a webinar regarding the note on July 8. I recommend reading the note and participating in the process as a number of interests will be pushing their own agendas during this overhaul.
