Michael Roberts Dear Mr. Roberts: I am writing to express the concern of the Department of Commerce regarding the lack of progress by ICANN accredited registrars in implementing a capability that permits query-based Whois search functionality across all registrars. If electronic commerce is to reach its full potential, Internet consumers must have web-based access to complete, accurate, and up-to-date registrant contact information. Likewise, businesses must have confidence that their trademarks and other intellectual property can be protected in the online environment. For these reasons, the Department of Commerce has expressed strong support for Section II.F.4 of the ICANN Accreditation Agreement that requires registrars to:
To date, ICANN's Registrar Constituency has not proposed such a policy. Technology exists to enable this distributed capability across registrars -- and, indeed, across registries and we are aware that at least one such service is under development and has been made available to registrars free of charge. Moreover, Section II.F.4 of the Accreditation Agreement is intended to minimize delays in the adoption of a consensus policy by further providing:
We urge the ICANN Board to consider whether the registrars have had a reasonable time period in which to act. If the Board concludes, as we have, that the time for action has come and gone, it is incumbent on the Board to move this process forward by, as appropriate, (1) imposing an early deadline for cooperative implementation of this requirement by registrars, (2) insisting that registrars work to further the development available or proposed approaches, or (3) requiring registrars to supply data to facilitate the development of a centralized Whois database. I would be happy to discuss our concerns
in greater detail with ICANN staff and/or members of its Board
of Directors.
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