On 13 November 2008, SIDN organised the 2008 Domain Name Debate.
The event provided the Dutch internet community with the opportunity to express its views on a number of important policy issues, including the availability of personal data from the Whois and the need for registrars to verify registrants’ identities. One outcome of the debate – new rules for non-Dutch registrants on the use of a Dutch domicile address – was implemented back in October. SIDN will act on the other conclusions of the debate in the next few months.
Changes to the Whois
The Whois is an application on SIDN’s website, which can be used to look up information about .nl domain names. So, for example, one can check whether a particular domain name is still available for registration. It is also possible to get hold of the contact details of an existing domain name’s registrant. If the registrant is a private individual, such information is personal data and therefore has to be handled sensitively. During the debate, the arguments in favour of making registration data generally available were weighed up against the need to protect personal data. The conclusion was that the amount of personal data available from the Whois should be reduced. On 12 January 2010, changes to the Whois will therefore be implemented, so that less is revealed about registrants. Further details of the planned changes and the background to them are available here.
Reservation of domain names
SIDN proposed making it possible to reserve .nl domain names for a fee. Reservation would entail registering a name, without it being delegated (i.e. added to the zone file) by SIDN. No registrant’s details would be shown in the Whois for a reserved name. This proposal will be partially implemented in DRS5 – a new version of the domain registration system that SIDN and its registrars use to register names. In DRS5, which is due to enter use on 17 February 2010, it will be possible to register a domain name with the status ‘Inactive’; the name will then be reserved and not added to the zone file.
To read the entire article check out www.sidn.nl
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