Expert Working Group on gTLD Directory Services (EWG) Final Report Overview

In this session, the Expert Working Group (EWG) on gTLD Registration Directory Service (RDS) will provide an overview of their Final Report

The EWG was formed to reexamine the purpose and provision of gTLD registration data, envisioning a next-generation solution that will better serve the needs of the global Internet community.

This Final Report represents the culmination of an intense 15+ month effort during which this diverse group of volunteers considered over 2600 pages of public comments, survey responses, and research results.

Ultimately, the EWG agreed that today's WHOIS model of giving every user the same entirely anonymous public access to often-inaccurate data should be abandoned.

The EWG's 166-page Final Report details a proposed next-generation RDS that would collect, validate and disclose gTLD registration data for permissible purposes only, leaving minimum data publicly available while safeguarding the rest through a new paradigm of gated access.

Attend this session to learn how the proposed RDS tackles, in an unprecedented manner:

• Difficult data privacy issues;
• Validation challenges that have long degraded data quality and accuracy; and
• Striking a workable balance between access and accountability

Learn about key features of the proposed RDS – the foundation from which the community (through the GNSO) can develop a new global policy for gTLD registration data to protect personal privacy and ensure greater accuracy, accountability, and transparency for the entire ICANN ecosystem for years to come.

Documents:

• EWG Final Report [PDF, 5.12 MB]