Libby Baney Addresses Push for Congress to Provide WHOIS Data Access With Communications Daily

In “Congress Urged to Act on Whois Data; Latta Mulls Legislation,” government and regulatory affairs Partner Libby Baney spoke to Communications Daily about how stakeholders concerned with intellectual property, online security, law enforcement and other interests are urging Congress to provide access to personal WHOIS data.

According to Communications Daily, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is working on a standardized model for access to domain name registration information but has not resolved the issue. The publication explained how this was exacerbated by the EU’s general data protection regulation (GDPR). As a result, complaints to lawmakers about the difficulty of accessing WHOIS data have come from the Coalition for a Secure and Transparent Internet (CSTI) and others.

Registries and registrars have never wanted to provide access, and now they’re using the GDPR as an excuse, said Baney. It’s a “perfect storm” for public policy, she said. The first piece of internet accountability is knowing who’s behind websites.

The full article is available for Communications Daily subscribers.