The web site co-ordinating the campaign, Nominet-No.co.uk,
argues that Nominet will be breaching data protection laws by
displaying more details about those who registered domain names in
the past, because these individuals registered the names in the
expectation that, while Nominet could hold their addresses, only
their names would appear in the publicly accessible WHOIS
database.
For instance, no name appears on the Nominet-No web site; but
Nominet.org.uk’s WHOIS pages show that it is registered to Colin
Clarke. Under Nominet’s plans, Clarke’s full contact details,
including his home and e-mail addresses, will also appear
on-line.
Nominet says it has come under pressure to make the contact
details publicly available, in line with other country code Top
Level Domains registries around the world. The registries for the
generic TLDs – such as .com or .biz – already make these details
available.
The Nominet-No site points to a provision which could, until
recently, be found in Nominet’s terms and conditions:
"The Register of .UK Domain Names will
include the names of the Applicant and the Administrative Contact
and other details relating to them. This information (if it refers
to individuals) is 'personal data' for the purposes of data
protection legislation. NOMINET UK may allow other organisations
and members of the public to access the data for the purpose of
obtaining information about the registration of the Domain Name or
any other related purpose."
Nominet-No argues that this means that the Register will only
display “the names.” However, while Nominet’s practice until now
has been to display only the names, it would likely argue that the
words “and other details relating to them” gave it authority to
display additional information – such as home or e-mail addresses.
The Data Protection Act effectively puts an obligation on Nominet
to tell those registering domain names anything which is necessary
to guarantee fair processing of their personal data. The debate is
whether or not Nominet complies with this or should have been more
explicit.
Nominet has updated its terms and conditions, clarifying any
ambiguity. In its explanation of the proposed change to the WHOIS
records, it argues that it is entitled to display the additional
information on the basis of its terms and conditions – but in doing
so it refers only to the new wording, not that to which most
individuals agreed when registering their domain names over the
past few years. Those who registered domain names under the old
conditions will only become subject to the new conditions upon
transfer or renewal of their domain names.
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