The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is an internationally organized, non-profit public benefit corporation responsible for coordinating critical Internet resources. These include Internet Protocol (IP) address space allocation, protocol identifier assignment, generic (gTLD) and country code (ccTLD) Top-Level Domain Name System (DNS) management, and root server system management. ICANN is dedicated to preserving the operational stability of the Internet; to promoting competition; to achieving broad representation of global Internet communities; and to develop policy appropriate to its mission through bottom-up, consensus-based processes.

As part of its work, ICANN implements policy for WHOIS services that provide public access to data about registered domain names. The extent of data collected at the time of domain name registration, and the ways such data can be accessed, are specified in agreements established by ICANN for domain names registered in gTLDs. For example, ICANN requires accredited registrars to collect and provide free public access to the name of the registered domain name, name servers, registrar, the date the domain was created, when its expires, the name and contact information for the domain name's Registered Name Holder, technical contact and administrative contact. Anyone can obtain this data by using a WHOIS client to send an RFC 3912-formatted query to TCP port 43, or by submitting a web form query to a WHOIS server. Data is returned in an unspecified human-readable form, predominately but not exclusively represented in US-ASCII.

1.2. ICANN has made commitments in an Affirmation of Commitments with the U.S. Department of Commerce related to WHOIS. In Section 9.3.1: "ICANN additionally commits to enforcing its existing policy relating to WHOIS, subject to applicable laws. Such existing policy requires that ICANN implement measures to maintain timely, unrestricted and public access to accurate and complete WHOIS information, including registrant, technical, billing and administrative contact information. One year from the effective date of this document and then no less frequently than every three years thereafter, ICANN will organize a review of WHOIS policy and its implementation to assess the extent to which WHOIS policy is effective and its implementation meets the legitimate needs of law enforcement and promotes consumer trust."

Based on this commitment, ICANN organized a WHOIS Review Team, which began its work in January 2011. The WHOIS Review Team is comprised of volunteer community members and includes designated nominees by the Chair of the Governmental Advisory Committee and the CEO of ICANN, representatives of the relevant Advisory Committees and Supporting Organizations, experts and representatives of the global law enforcement community and global privacy experts. Resulting recommendations from the WHOIS Review Team will be provided to the Board and posted for public comment. The Board will take action within six months of receipt of the recommendations.

1.3. Pursuant to the above mandate to review WHOIS policy, the WHOIS Review Team seeks to engage an independent consumer research organization to undertake data collection and analysis of consumer trust as it relates to the commitment to provide unrestricted and public access to accurate and complete WHOIS information as described above.

2.Objectives
2.1. The overall objective for seeking independent research is to be able to evaluate the effectiveness of WHOIS policy and its implementation as it relates to promoting consumer trust. It is expected that this research will provide a consumer perspective that cannot be obtained from the internal communication work with ICANN stakeholder groups to obtain input and opportunities for public comment.

2.2. Section 4 of the Affirmation of Commitments states: "ICANN and DOC recognize that there is a group of participants that engage in ICANN's processes to a greater extent than Internet users generally." The WHOIS Review Team has concluded that this wider group must also be polled to determine to what level they trust the Internet and specifically ICANN's role in establishing that trust as it relates to implementation of WHOIS policy.

2.3. The WHOIS Review Team is planning to prepare its preliminary findings and recommendations in September 2011. The results of this research are viewed as a critical input for that task. Therefore, interested parties are asked to submit applications no later than 25 July 2011. The intention is to select a firm and begin the research work by 15 August 2011. The target date for research results is 19 September 2011.

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