Despite efforts of the international domain name authority to
save the WHOIS database, it still appears likely to black out after
GDPR becomes effective. And the blackout could herald other
changes for this often-used and essential database, including toll
gates.
As previously reported, the European GDPR privacy mandate has
led ICANN, the domain name authority, to plan to shut down public
access to most information regarding owners of domain names once
GDPR goes into effect. Trademark and security professionals,
who regularly use and depend on the WHOIS database, have been
urging ICANN to keep it open, at least to them.
But an April 11, 2018 letter to ICANN from the European Article 29
Data Protection Working Group (WP29), the body charged with
advising on GDPR implementation, suggests that European regulators
are carefully scrutinizing how the registrant information in the
WHOIS databases is being removed and protected, and are unlikely to
permit anything like
