The organization charged with managing the worldwide Domain Name System (DNS) has launched a study to gauge privacy concerns raised by the plethora of personal information contained in the "Whois" database, a publicly searchable resource used to determine the identity of domain name registrants.
The study, to be conducted by the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), is directed at anyone who has ever used the service and will be used to assess whether changes should be considered to the current Whois policy adopted by ICANN.
"There have been calls from some quarters for more information to be made available, and from other quarters - namely the privacy areas - for less information to be made available," said Paul Kane, chairman of the Whois Committee, a subset of ICANN's Domain Name Supporting Organization (DNSO). "So, it's very much a fact-finding mission."
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