news Whois data GONE in USA on May 25, 2018

[John Mauriello]

http://www.circleid.com/posts/20180412_holocaust_remembrance_day/

see the last 2 paragraphs

Yet privacy rights were not the issue raised in the discussion convened by the IPC/BC on their proposed model for 'accreditation' to access Whois data. Instead, last Friday, we heard - yet again - how to give unlimited access to Whois data to any law enforcement, any cybersecurity firm, any trademark owner; basically to anyone who seeks it. The potential that journalists might use the non-public WHOIS data was recognized and credited; the potential that journalists might be the subject of a fishing expedition by a government or individual they criticized in a publication was not. The IPC/BC lawyers heading the meeting then heard that the GDRP rejects unlimited access to data — and they, in turn, unilaterally rejected the interpretation and advice of the legal advisor to ICANN, in the Hamilton Memo (#3). They told 150 people listening to the meeting that ICANN could give unlimited access to non-public Whois data to those the IPC/BC chose in their accreditation model.

We need real community consultation and on neutral ground — at ICANN — where we can again discuss what the law requires and what real compliance involves. Most importantly, we need to stop talking about who wants access to domain name data and start talking about how to respect the privacy rights of registrants. On this day of all days, on this week of all weeks, it's time for ICANN to be on the right side of law, the right side of principle and the right side of history. We hold the personal and sensitive data of almost 200 million domain name registrants. Today we must recognize that the privacy of this data could be the difference between protection and suppression.

 

[elevator]

Does Whois give you the actual real person to meet for negotiations? 80% No! There are ways you get across to the CEO and Marketing Personnel without using WHOIS before now and such channels are still there.

 

[MR Harrist]

I think no whois is good news at least, I can build more PBN, withouth have to worry ! because sometime, Big G Checking my whois, and take down my PBN , and sometime, my competitor also checking my whois and loking for my networks.

btw Hiding Whois, seem overdo! , because legitimate business will never hide their whois

 

[alwaysforGod]

Well, a little bit of extra steps usually tends to help separate out people who are not as serious, which is beneficial to people are trying to be legitimate (most of the time), so I would like to think this will have positive effects for the internet in general.

 

[AuctionBio]

I think no whois is good news at least, I can build more PBN, withouth have to worry ! because sometime, Big G Checking my whois, and take down my PBN , and sometime, my competitor also checking my whois and loking for my networks.

btw Hiding Whois, seem overdo! , because legitimate business will never hide their whois

Well said,
you will not find legit business domain hidden behind privacy mostly,
Any one who wants to hide their info, already have the method.

anyways i hope this will work good for domainers, just have a landing page and sit and wait....
afternic is second good option

 

[Jasonn]

Mmmmm, it a part it is "good", because we will see less spam, but it is bad for our own privacy, those who wish to maintain their anonymity online.

I don't see why people care about spam. delete and move on. takes less than two seconds. most of the spam i get goes direct to spambox anyways, i don't even see it.

 

[Randolph]

Not sure what the freak-out is about, this is easily solved by landing pages.

Put in the work, get what it's worth.

 

[ajenipa]

Who sent that bro?

Moniker.com news letter

 

[elevator]

A few hours ago this policy has been applied for Donuts TLDs...
.life for example...

As of now - the following email address is displayed in WHOIS:
[email protected]
Who knows how the transfers will be processed from today? Are they possible at all with such email?

@namesilo

All I know is that GDRP does not stop the use of email address, provided you submit your email while registering your domains , the registry must still have the authority to use email to contact the owner for renewals and other purposes.

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

@Dynadot replied that they still don't know the new transfer procedure for Donuts TLDs... and that they will email me later regarding this matter...

 

[Kate]

EU ccTLDs are certainly affected by GDPR.

 

[bobbarato]

Not sure what the freak-out is about, this is easily solved by landing pages.

Put in the work, get what it's worth.

Yes, this.

And on an unintended consequences note, I predict that spam may actually increase because the spammers will launch salvos of emails with all the likely email names: webmaster, admin, support, sales, [email protected], etc.

 

[Josytal]

Anyone, know what the verification process for domains on sedo and godaddy will look like since they can't verify via whois (after 25th)?

Just received this email from Sedo:

WHOIS is disappearing – confirm your ownership now!
>>>>
On May 25, 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation will take effect. This means the WHOIS will “disappear”. In the new public record system, personal data will no longer be visible either to individuals or Sedo. So far we were able to verify from the WHOIS records that you are the legitimate owner of the domains you listed for sale. This means it will be much harder for us to match your account data with the WHOIS information in order to clear your domains for sale on our site.

The Solution: Our Owner Self-Verification. With the Owner Self-Verification, you can quickly prove your ownership of any domain you list for sale. Even on weekends and holidays!


3 steps to Owner Self-Verification

1. Sedo provides you with a personal ID in your account under "Domain Management" under the tab "Owner Self-Verification".
2. Copy it and enter it at your registrar. To do this, visit your registrar and make this update within the DNS settings.
3. Enter your verification ID into the TXT record field of your domains. If your registrar needs you to submit a Hostname, simply enter “@”. Also, if you need to enter a TTL value, please enter “3600”.

Your ownership will be verified once the DNS information is updated. With your support, we can ensure that only domains that have owner-verified credentials are still listed on the marketplace.

No Owner Self-Verification = longer wait times

If you do not perform the Owner Self-Verification, it will take at least 3 business days for your domains to be listed for sale. During the review period, we will randomly check individual domains and may contact you to request proof of ownership (e.g., in the form of an up-to-date screenshot of the domain entry).


Owner Self-Verification is not available for domain parking

If you already use Sedo's domain parking and forward your domains through our domain name servers (DNS), Owner Self-Verification is currently unavailable. DNS forwarding enables your domains to be automatically listed for sale without waiting time. As of now, nothing changes for you.


We want to provide buyers and sellers with a safe and user-friendly platform at all times and look forward to your support. Do you have questions about owner verification? Our Customer Support Team is happy to answer them.

Best regards,
Your Sedo Team

<<<<<

 

[tomcarl]

I wonder if domain registration/expiration date will still be seen? If not, that will be both good and bad.

 

[ResoluteDomains]

Wont they still be able to spam the owners? I know that if I set up email, I usually set it up as catch-all so that I can get even typos. So even if someone guesses the email address it should still arrive.

 

[MapleDots]

People worldwide have a right to privacy but "Forced Privacy" is not the same as "Right to Privacy" . Whois Privacy is a tool in legitimate commerce that helps all domainers and whois is also used to stop terrorism, and internet crimes ...l some Registranst will be at greater financial and other.

@John Mauriello

I'm really liking your comment above John

Makes so much sense

 

[DomainRecap]

Why not mandate registrars/registries make all European Registrants with EU Addresses moved to FREE Privacy with No OPT out option and offer free privacy to US and other non EU countries with OPT out?

Because EU citizens are required to have protection no matter where they live, and it would be a nightmare trying to track down everyone in the world who has dual/multi-citizenship to an EU nation.There is no "opt out" option for an EU citizen living in the US.

I have dual citizenship, as does my wife (different European countries) and I have no idea how ICANN would ever be able to determine that using their existing data.

And just to be clear, this is not being done to combat SPAM, but to provide identity protection and privacy from scammers who currently use WHOIS data for social engineering scams at banks, telcos, cell phone companies, registrars, etc,. and then steal like drunken sailors.

SPAM is an irritant, but losing your bank account, cell phone number or domain portfolio is far more serious and that is what we're talking about here.

 

[Jasonn]

People are catching up with technology.

Which is why there is more competition and that prices are going up.

People that were 'afraid' of tech are now venturing from underneath their rocks but still are armed with their crazy complaints. So new domain owners are having all of their precious "information" scraped and they go into a full panic.

It should force most domainers to go and get themselves a $3/mo hosting package, have their own landing pages with their eMail or contact form. $40/yr or continue to pay Sedo/GD 20% of every sale. I'm going witht he $40 cost cheaper route.

Things evolve, you evolve too. It's just another evolution, nothing to see here bro.

On my 500 domains I get zero phone calls and maybe 1 eMail per day like : "Regarding NameProstitutesTechnicalInstituteForTheSeeingEnabled" - there are ways bro to keep the spammers away and still keep your data ICANN compliant.

Me for personally, its the inability to research domains that is the most worry some as most domain owners who aren't domainers won't care if their info is hidden.

 

[DomainRecap]

Expect to see more phishing and spam in general.

I'd take the under on that one, for a significant amount of money.

Making WHOIS private is like getting an alarm system, sure you won't dissuade the serious 0.01%, but you will get rid of the 99.99% of 3rd world scammers who just strip the WHOIS records and go to work social engineering/identity thieving every morning.

Where the problems come up is researching domain ownership and title for sales, but after the initial moratorium, that info will be made available for qualified individuals and firms.

 

[Daniel Owens]

I hope that all the years of privacy I paid for at Godaddy aren't in vain. I hope that after the six months or so GD doesn't make me pay for some other form of hiding my info

 

[DomainRecap]

And if anyone wants to see if my comments are right or wrong, there is an easy test.

1) Count how much SPAM and attempted account intrusions you have now, weekly and monthly.

2) For the next 2 weeks, register a new .US domain every day (14) using a valid email and address (as required).

3) Count how much SPAM and attempted account intrusions you have now, weekly and monthly.

 

[Daniel Owens]

This change is interesting and after the 6 months it will be neat to see how the info is displayed if no privacy.

 

[DomainRecap]

law enforcement will still have access - what about infosec professionals and corporate security personnel?

I thought authorized personnel would either have access to a) the WHOIS data or b) a masked/encrypted contact form.

 

[DomainRecap]

I wasn’t talking about spam TO domain owners - that will decrease.

I meant that TOTAL SPAM will go down once WHOIS goes private.

 

[Josytal]

I meant that TOTAL SPAM will go down once WHOIS goes private.

NOPE!
It may only be more expensive to spam. There are other ways (many other ways) of illegal data mining. Closing the door to WHOIS automatically opens other "alternative" doors.

 

[Name Trader]

SPAM is not the reason this is being done, and over the past few years there has been a wave of African scammers using WHOIS data to steal a lot of $$$. SPAM is a bother, but someone rich and influential looking in their bank and finding it empty or checking their registrar account and seeing all their LL and LLL.COM domains gone will get serious political attention, as well it should.

I think the rich kids with those LL & LLL.COM should not be treated any differently than the Joe Blow with a 3 word .com which they use for their daily business or pleasure. As well it should, should apply to all evenly.