At the GNSO Council meeting today in Paris, the Council asked again for additional reports, despite the 1500 pages or so that have already been produced. These delaying tactics will further slow down a process that has been on the ICANN table for 8 years.

This is damageable to the public but also to registries and registrars. As I reminded the GNSO several times in public consultations over the years, the data regarding natural persons is protected under the EU directive 2002/58/EC. This applies not only to data processed in the EU, but also to data belonging to EU citizens and processed abroad.

On the particular issue of the whois databases, the Article 29 working party issued a commentary in 2003. It makes it clear that the current public exposure of the registration details of natural persons is not acceptable. This was reminded in a letter sent to then ICANN Chairman Vint Cerf last year.

Hence, every registrar or gTLD registry with European customers that try to follow ICANN’s current policy on the whois are breaching the law.  In the end, it is an irresponsible attitude from the ICANN community to expose companies to possible judicial consequences. Maybe it is time to remind those who think the Internet is not subject to real world legislation that they are playing with fire.