April 2, 2004 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (icann.org) published a report this week discussing Whois inaccuracies and the steps being taken to eradicate them.
Whois is a searchable database maintained by registries and registrars that contains information about domain name registrations for the top-level domains – .com, .net, .org, .aero, .biz, .coop, .info, .museum, .name and .pro.
The Whois database has been plagued over the years with inaccuracies, many of them perpetrated by organizations running illegal or quasi-legal operations, which often provide innaccurate contact information in order to avoid detection.
There is currently no system in place to verify the accuracy of Whois information. As a result, ICANN instituted the WHOIS Data Problem Report System (WDPRS) in September 2002 to let individual users report incorrect domain registration information.
The annual report was released earlier this week and found that 54 percent of the complaints dealt with missing or phony email addresses, while 49 percent dealt with bogus phone numbers.
