{"id":8301,"date":"2015-07-06T19:08:36","date_gmt":"2015-07-06T13:38:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.resellerclub.com\/?p=8301"},"modified":"2026-05-22T09:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T09:22:10","slug":"whois-privacy-report-reactions-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.resellerclub.com\/blog\/whois-privacy-report-reactions-more\/","title":{"rendered":"WhoIs Privacy Report: Reactions & More"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently, a ‘”commotion” has broken out online, creating waves. Let\u2019s bring you up to speed to the topic that\u2019s created quite a stir online. A topic that affects many\u2026 small and large businesses and individuals including you and me\u2026 privacy. The stir was in response to the GNSO Privacy & Proxy Services Accreditation Issues (PPSAI) Working Group Initial Report. The report aims to bring privacy and proxy services, currently uncontrolled by ICANN, under ICANN\u2019s contractual wing. You can read the entire report here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The problematic area with the report, in simple terms is this: Your privacy provider would be forced to disclose your contact data in WHOis or give it to anyone who complains about your website, without due process.<\/p>\n

Why was the report commissioned & why does anyone need Privacy Protection:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The report was drafted with the intention to tackle the issue of privacy protection abuse, however a few suggestions made by the report in fact, threatens the privacy of thousands of other users. Privacy protection becomes critical in countries where the media is repressed and the Internet is the only outlet. Anonymity for the sake of protecting of one’s own life is threatened if the user cannot use privacy services. And even in a situation that is not life threatening, a user may simply not want to disclose his contact details to avoid spam that may come his way.<\/p>\n

What has been the response to the report:<\/strong><\/p>\n

In less than a week, a comment-driven campaign has hit ICANN with over 8,000 pro-privacy responses led by the biggest domain registrars including us. Reportedly, it is the largest volume of comments received by ICANN since protests against the domain extension .XXX by right-wing Christian activists in 2010.<\/p>\n

What are the points of contention:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1) The first is the right<\/em><\/strong> bestowed on trademark & copyright owners to force registrars to disclose the details of the private registrant<\/em><\/strong>, irrespective of the size of the business or the nature of the website.<\/p>\n

Privacy services will then have 15 days to obtain a response from a customer & then take a decision whether to reveal their contact information to the IP owner or not.<\/p>\n

Is there an exception to this proposed policy? Not really.<\/p>\n

The Privacy Protection Service provider cannot refuse to disclose the privacy citing the lack of:<\/p>\n