[ALAC] Fwd: [ISOC-AU-mems] itNews: 'Europe slams WHOIS data demands'

Tue Oct 2 07:11:40 UTC 2012

Hi Holly,

Thanks for the forward. Yes, this is precisely the challenges that will
explode if the SSAC advice is not followed. ICANN cannot afford to
politically isolate nor provoke European Governments by enforcing Policies
that encourage the breach of EU laws or directives and the same can be said
for other countries.

In order to mitigate the risk(s), the Board would exercise wisdom in
ensuring that these conflicts are minimised and handled. A clear logical
way to do that is to observe the SSAC's advice on the matter.

Otherwise, aside from the BRIC countries, you will also see the European
Commission pushing for the Internationalization of ICANN which we can
assume the US Government would not want.

It would seem that a Registration Data Policy as a precursor to proposing
solutions on the matter is an extremely minor tradeoff in the matter and it
can be said that it is not a tradeoff but an opportunity.

Kind Regards,
Sala

On Tue, Oct 2, 2012 at 6:21 PM, Holly Raiche <h.raiche at internode.on.net>wrote:

> Hi Everyone
>
> An email circulated on the Internet Society of Australia's mailing list -
> another aspect of the Whois accuracy debate
> Holly
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> >
> >
> > Europe slams WHOIS data demands
> > Juha Saarinen
> > Oct 2, 2012 4:27 AM (10 hours ago)
> >
> http://www.itnews.com.au/News/317528,europe-slams-whois-data-demands.aspx
> >
> > Extensive data retention proposals slammed.
> >
> > A European watchdog has opposed moved by the Internet Corporation for
> > Assigned Named and Numbers (ICANN) to force domain name registrars to
> > improve accuracy of the WHOIS database.
> >
> > Jacob Kohnstamm, chairman of the European Union's working party on
> > data protection, told ICANN's chairman and interim CEO in a letter
> > that the proposed changes to the organisation's registrar
> > accreditation agreements would likely run contrary to European
> > citizens' right to privacy.
> >
> > News blog Domain Incite, which published the EU letter, said the
> > changes included forcing registrars to re-verify domain registrant
> > contact data every year while retaining customer data for two years
> > after registration ends.
> >
> > The changes have been requested by law enforcement, according to
> > Domain Incite, and is backed up by the Governmental Advisory
> > Committee (GAC) of ICANN. Australia has a supporting delegate in the
> > committee.
> >
> > The WHOIS database provides public information about website
> > registration details including contact information and registration.
> >
> > It was originally designed to provide contact points for technical
> > and registration queries but has of late been accessed by law
> > enforcement to track down criminal activity on the Internet.
> >
> > "The fact that WHOIS data can be used for other beneficial purposes
> > does not in itself legitimise the collection and processing of
> > personal data for those other purposes," Kohnstamm wrote.
> >
> > The re-verification requirement was "excessive and therefore
> > unlawful", he said.
> >
> > Due to WHOIS databases having unlimited public accessibility, contact
> > details in them have been harvested on a large scale and abused for
> > spamming, the Working Group said.
> >
> > Thanks to the abuse, there is a strong incentive for people to
> > provide inaccurate contact details.
> >
> > ICANN had failed to address the spamming problem, making the proposed
> > solution a "disproportionate infringement of the right to protection
> > of personal data".
> >
> > A second proposal requiring extensive data retention based on wishes
> > from law enforcement was also deemed unlawful by the Working Group.
> >
> > Under ICANN's propsal, registrars would be forced to retain not only
> > registrants' personal information for two years after the
> > registration ceases, but also a raft of other data including phone
> > and email addresses not in WHOIS, credit card data and communications
> > identifiers such as Skype handles.
> >
> > Extensive logging with source Internet Protocol addresses and HTTP
> > headers, as well as dates, times, and time zones of communications
> > and sessions was also suggested.
> >
> > Acccording to Domain Incite, ICANN could impose the new requirements
> > despite EU objections, giving registrars in the European Union the
> > ability to stay out of the new requirements to comply with local
> > privacy laws.
> >
> > ICANN negotiations are currently being held on the topic have been
> > underway over WHOIS, whose information is often considered
> > inaccurate, obfuscated or non-existent.
> >
> >
> > [It doesn't appear that ISOC-AU has previously had a policy on this:
> > http://www.isoc-au.org.au/Submissions/SubmissionsByTopic.php
> >
> > [APF submitted re privacy and Whois:
> > in 2010:
> > http://www.privacy.org.au/Papers/WhoIs-RCI-101021.pdf
> > http://www.privacy.org.au/Papers/WhoIs-RCI-Anal-1010.pdf
> > in 2001:
> > http://www.privacy.org.au/Papers/AuDA010321.html
> >
> >
> > --
> > Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/
> >
> > Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
> >                    Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
> > mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/
> >
> > Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law               University of NSW
> > Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
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-- 
Salanieta Tamanikaiwaimaro aka Sala
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