2002-12-02 - Amendment to .name Registry Agreement

Whereas, on 9 November 2002 Global Name Registry Limited (GNR), which operates the registry for the .name top-level domain under a registry agreement it entered with ICANN on 1 August 2001, requested that its registry agreement be amended to revise the manner in which, and the conditions under which, GNR provides public Whois data for the .name top-level domain;

Whereas, the GNR proposal follows consultations since February 2002 with users of the public Whois and other interested persons, including registrars, law enforcement, the intellectual property community and privacy advocates;

Whereas, in August 2002 GNR's proposal (as it then existed) was posted on the DNSO Whois Task Force public list, the DNSO Registrar constituency's discussion list, and the DNSO General Assembly discussion list;

Whereas, in October 2002, GNR formally briefed the DNSO Whois Task Force, the DNSO Business constituency, and the DNSO Registrar constituency on its proposal and sought comments;

Whereas, GNR revised its proposal based on these consultations;

Whereas, letters of support for, or non-objection to, GNR's revised proposal have been received from the three gTLD Registry Constituency representatives to the Names Council,Ken Stubbs (Registrar Constituency Names Council representative), and Steve Metalitz (President of the Intellectual Property Constituency);

Whereas, the ICANN General Counsel has presented the Board with an analysis concluding that because the proposed changes to the .name Whois service are unlikely to harm legitimate interests of third parties, streamlined consideration of the amendment, without resort to the formal consensus-development process, is appropriate and recommending that the proposal for an amendment be approved;

Whereas, the General Counsel has presented the Board with a proposed substitute Appendix O to the .name registry agreement intended to implement GNR's proposal, and has indicated that conforming and supporting revisions to other appendices will be necessary;

Whereas, the Board concludes that the requested modifications are justified by the unique business and legal circumstances of the .name top-level domain, and the approval of these modifications should not be viewed as establishing a precedent that applies to other circumstances;

Whereas, in view of GNR's stated position that the modifications will provide heightened confidence that its Whois service complies with applicable data protection laws in the United Kingdom, GNR has undertaken to provide timely and appropriate assurances regarding the achievement of this objective; and

Whereas, GNR has stated its understanding that additional substantial modification to the proposed extensive Whois access agreement (including charging a fee for such access) will require ICANN approval, and that future requests for approval should be preceded by documented consultation by GNR with parties to existing extensive Whois access agreements;

Resolved [02.142] that the President is authorized to enter an amendment to ICANN's .name registry agreement with GNR revising the appendices to that agreement to implement GNR's proposal to revise the manner in which, and the conditions under which, .name public Whois data is made available.

(The Board approved the above resolution by a 12-0-2 vote, with Dr. Blokzijl and Mr. Mueller-Maguhn abstaining.)