ICANN has written to the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) to see if a “Universal Access Model” for domain name registration data is possible under GDPR.
The letter, which was sent on Friday, also includes two other documents:
- Exploring a Unified Access Model for gTLD Registration Data
- TSG01: Technical Model for Access to NonPublic Registration Data
In a blog post ICANN CEO Göran Marby explains that the UAM paper was prepared by ICANN staff.
So why are they doing this?
Essentially the question is a very simple one. Either the concept of a UAM is possible under GDPR or it isn’t. And who can decide this? The EDPB basically.
The European Data Protection Board meet regularly and often issues opinions on a broad variety of issues related to data protection law in the EU including whether proposed “binding corporate rules” from various companies meet the criteria or not.
It’s unclear how long it’ll take ICANN to get a response to the letter and accompanying documents, though I suspect ICANN execs will have to field that question multiple times at the upcoming meeting in Montréal.
