There is growing talk about GDPR compliance that will likely cause major changes to the Whois database. Most of the changes are still up in the air, and there have been discussions about what to do in the short term while a long term solution is hammered out.
From my vantage point, this is going to change the business of domain investing. I don’t know if it will have a major impact or if the Whois change will end up simply adding a step or two to the process of contacting domain owners or performing due diligence.
Perhaps it is just me, but it does not seem like most domain investors are concerned about this. Perhaps it is a lack of awareness or maybe people think things will work out in the end. I am curious if you are concerned about Whois changes that are likely coming as a result of GDPR compliance. I invite you to vote in the poll below and share your thoughts.
I am extremely concerned. its going to be a huge mess and will change domaining as we know it. Like I said I do 100’s of lookups per day…I will vastly have to change how I do things if I can no longer do this. It will make it harder to buy not just from domain owners but everywhere. Rearching owners of other tlds will be extremely hard (unless there is a site on the domain). Even checking the whois if my own domains won’t be possible? its a huge mistake.
Agreed. Only EU and ICANN bureaucrats would think this is going to help protect people. Whois privacy has been around for decades and it works, when you need it. A few years ago EU tried to pass a law that would prohibit the production of carbonated drinks, including champagne to reduce carbon emissions. This is the type of stuff these idiots come up with to “protect” their citizens.
It has huge impact to our business for sure. Especially to independent brokers.
Seems like industry is on self destruct. Between new Gtld’s,..and google stealing all traffic,…now THIS. I think domains will keep dropping in value. RUN!
If you are not worried, than you should be.
Speak up, before it is too late!
I buy domain names privately all the time. I am extremely concerned about this.
Its already implemented in the whois of .de domains.
Go to denic.de and try to lookup the whois for any .de domain. They will put you through a multiple choice and you have to check for what reason you are trying to obtain that information. Mess
Current UDRP panellists view opted in privacy as bad faith so when privacy is forced are they going to conclude the same?
Whois demonstrates legal title, how does one prove that you own a name on a regular basis if that information is limited to a few access requests.