ICANN|ARCHIVES

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

The .com/.net/.org Whois Committee was convened by the ICANN staff to give advice on implementation of Whois service for the .com/.net/.org domains as required under the Registrar Accreditation Agreement. The Committee addressed implementation questions posed in a 1 December 2000 letter to the Committee from the ICANN staff. In March 2001, the Committee provided a response with two recommendations:

• .com/.net/.org registrars should provide Whois replies in a standard format.
• A standard Whois format should be phased in as expeditiously as possible that does not rely on TCP port 43, such as the XML-based format, which is described in detail in the Internet draft 'Whois Export and Exchange Format' of January 26, 2001. This standard should be developed in coordination with the IETF.

The committee's work was concluded in April 2001. The ICANN staff is currently studying how these recommendations might be implemented in the context of the registrars' accreditation agreements and expects then to consult with registrars and the IETF.

.com/.net/.org Whois Committee Members

Registrars:

CORE
Domain Bank
Melbourne IT
NSI Registrar

Registry:

VeriSign Global Registry Services

Intellectual Property Interests:

Motion Picture Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
Verizon

Documents

Committee Documents

• Letter from Louis Touton to the Committee Requesting Advice on Implementation (1 December 2000)
• Recommendations of the Committee on Questions 1 and 2 (6 March 2001)

Related Developments

• Amicus curiae brief submitted by ICANN in Register.com, Inc. v. Verio Inc. (22 September 2000)
• Advisory Concerning Register.com v. Verio Litigation (22 September 2000)
• Order Granting Injunction in Register.com, Inc. v. Verio, Inc. (8 December 2000)
• Verio's Petition for Termination of Register.com's Registrar Accreditation Agreement (21 December 2000)
• Second Advisory Concerning Register.com v. Verio Litigation (26 December 2000)
• Register.com's Response to Verio's Petition for Termination of Register.com's Registrar Accreditation Agreement (26 January 2001)
• Investigation Report by VeriSign Global Registry Services Concerning Verio, Inc.'s Use of Zone File Access (30 January 2001)
• Third Advisory Concerning Register.com v. Verio Litigation (2 February 2001)
• Invitation to Verio to Submit Response in Connection With Petition for Termination of Register.com's Registrar Accreditation Agreement (17 February 2001)
• Verio's Response to Register.com Submission Concerning Petition for Termination (7 March 2001)

DNSO Whois (Policy-Development) Committee

The .com/.net/.org Whois Committee's charter was to develop recommendations for the ICANN staff on implmentation considerations under the contractual provisions already in place between ICANN and .com/.net/.org registrars. The Domain Name Supporting Organization (DNSO), which is primarily responsible for working toward consensus-based recommentations on domain-name-system policy, has formed a Whois committee, which is chaired by Paul Kane. Proposals for changes in Whois policy and similar comments should be directed to the Domain Name Support Organization.