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Privacy veil slapped on Dot CA WHOIS searches

May 09, 2008 - Posted by Fred Vallance-Jones
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WHOIS searches on .ca domain names are about to get a whole lot less informative.

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority is slapping on new privacy restrictions. The name of the registrant, plus the contact information for sites registered to individuals will no longer be available via WHOIS. That means journalists researching who is behind a site will hit a dead end.  Searches for information on corporate sites will not be affected. Neither will searches of sites not in the dot CA domain.

CIRA says the restrictions are required by federal privacy law and come after a long period of consultation and review. The policy goes into effect June 10.

Information to be suppressed includes (from the CIRA.ca website):

  • The name, address, phone number, email, and fax number (if provided) of the Administrative Contact and Technical Contact;
  • The Registrant’s CIRA assigned Registrant number;
  • The name of the Registrant;
  • The CIRA assigned domain number for each domain name registration held by the Registrant;
  • The description field which the Registrant or the Registrant’s Registrar filled out during the registration process describing the Registrant or the Registrant’s business.

    More at www.cira.ca 

    More on the policy at http://www.cira.ca/en/Whois/whois_intro.html

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