On March 10, the traditional TechDay was held at ICANN82. Experts presented the latest research and technological innovations in domain infrastructure management, cybersecurity, and introduction of new technologies.
The future of WHOIS and the Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP), which replaced the WHOIS access to registration data, was a key topic.
RDAP was developed by the IETF in accordance with standards (IETF Standard 95), at the initiative of the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs), in collaboration with ICANN.
WHOIS was created even before ICANN and was used not only by generic top-level domain registries (gTLDs), but also by most ccTLD registries, as well as registrars.
Starting from January 28, 2025, most registry operators and all gTLD registrars are no longer required to provide registration data service via the WHOIS protocol. For example, 74 gTLD registries have already stopped providing the WHOIS service.
The first RDAP protocol was designed in 2015. This protocol is required for all gTLD registries and registrars starting from August 26, 2019. Today, RDAP is used by all gTLDs and half of ccTLDs, as well as all RIRs.
RDAP has several advantages over WHOIS, such as capacities for internationalization. It is also more secure, has structured queries and responses, provides a standardized method for finding authoritative servers, and allows the use of extensions.
Most ccTLDs have already implemented RDAP or are about to do so. They can also use Open Source for this purpose. If the Registry Service Provider (RSP) serves gTLD clients in addition to ccTLDs, it can also introduce RDAP for ccTLDs.
Cybersecurity and DNS protection were also of great interest. Experts discussed the development of DNSSEC with multi-signature, which will increase the DNS system’s fault tolerance by using several cryptographic keys simultaneously.
Special focus was placed on the integration of blockchain domains and DNS, which can possibly result in potential conflicts in the address space, especially on the eve of the second stage of the New gTLD program.
The forum continues, so follow our updates.
