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WHOIS DATA REMINDER POLICY - A WHITE ELEPHANT?
18th June, 2003
As Demys.net previously reported generic top level domain name registrants will now be presented by their Registrar with their WHOIS contact details on an annual basis. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has now published the mechanism by which this will be achieved. In line with one of the great unwritten (but mostly observed) rules of the Internet, a new policy must be reborn as an acronym before it can take effect. Accordingly, ICANN has inaugurated the WHOIS Data Reminder Policy or 'WDRP'.
The Policy itself is expressed in a short paragraph:
At least annually, a registrar must present to the registrant the current Whois information, and remind the registrant that provision of false Whois information can be grounds for cancellation of their domain name registration. Registrants must review their Whois data, and make any corrections.
This much we already knew, but the most interesting aspect of the policy's implementation is how and what ICANN will use to audit Registrar compliance. The new WDRP Notice is the method by which a registrant will be presented with their details and invited to check them for accuracy. According to the policy, a Notice can be issued via web, fax, postal mail, e-mail, or other appropriate means, either directly or through the administrative contact for each registration.
In order that ICANN may inspect the Notices, Registrars must maintain copies or an electronic database documenting the date and time, and the content, of each. ICANN states that it will consider proper notification to have been given for a registration if the registrar can show that a WDRP Notice meeting the various requirements was issued at any time in the year before each anniversary of the registration's creation date. It therefore seems as though compliance can be demonstrated to ICANN by the sending of the Notice alone.
More details at: http://www.demys.net/news/2003/06/18_whois.htm
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