ICANN opens public consultation on system for standardised access to domain name registration data

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has launched a public consultation on a series of recommendations related to a proposed System for Standardized Access/Disclosure to non-public domain name registration information (SSAD). The recommendations were developed within the framework of the Expedited Policy Development Process on the Temporary Specification for Generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) Registration Data (EPDP), initiated in July 2018 (the Temporary Specification was adopted by the ICANN Board in May 2018 to modify requirements related to the availability of domain name registration data included in the Registrar Accreditation and Registry Agreements in order to comply with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation. One of the recommendations is that the SSAD must provide reasonable access to registration data for entities that require access for the exercise of their public policy tasks, such as civil and criminal law enforcement authorities, data protection authorities, judicial authorities, and consumer rights organisations granted a public policy task. To participate in the SSAD, such entities would need to be accredited by an approved accreditation authority. Another recommendation is to establish priority levels for granting access to data: Priority 1 – urgent requests (limited to circumstances that pose an imminent threat to life, serious bodily injury, critical infrastructures, or child exploitation); Priority 2 – ICANN administrative proceedings; and Priority 3 – all other requests. Other recommendations are related to issues such as requestor purposes, automation of SSAD processing, and criteria and content of data access requests. The public consultation is open until 30 March.