As it was reported many times previously, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will come into force in the EU in May 2018. Its provisions contradict the rules of Whois service, the support of which is a prerequisite in agreements concluded by ICANN with registrars and registries. In relation to this, ICANN corporation faced a necessity to review its rules; many observers said that the days of Whois were numbered. However, this week authorities on both sides of the Atlantic voiced their support for Whois service, reports Domain Incite.
The new head of The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) David Redl in a speech at the State of the Net conference in Washington DC said that the preservation of the Whois service is “one of NTIA’s top two priorities at the moment”. He called Whois the cornerstone, on which the transparency of Internet’s functioning is based on. He highlighted that the US government expects that the Whois service will remain a reliable and accessible source of information.
At the same time, European Commission members wrote a letter to ICANN calling for a pragmatic and effective solution. It should be a compromise between GDRP demands and the necessity to keep Whois, which is needed to fight cyber crime, provide Internet stability and protect copyright. Nevertheless, there is a significant difference between two government approaches. David Redl spoke out about keeping Whois data open to regular Internet users. Representatives of the European Commission tilt towards a more differentiated solution. For example, they highlight that the law enforcement should have direct and quick access to Whois data. However, they make it clear that this access can be restricted for other categories of users taking into account the need to protect registrants’ personal data.
