Resellers access all the Whois contact data that we hold for end-users in the Reseller Control Panel. The technical data continues to show in the public-facing lookup. We have applied all Whois-related changes platform-wide, meaning all registrants receive the same level of data protection regardless of citizenship or location.
Whois public visibility
Under the GDPR, personal data may be collected and processed only when there is a legal reason. One such justification would be a contract; another is a situation where the data subject (the person to whom the data pertains) has given explicit consent for their data to be processed or collected.
Note: The domain privacy number continues to be displayed as this number is not considered personal data.
Data can only be shared when necessary to fulfill the intended purpose of the data collection. This means that the public Whois system exists today is incompatible with the principles of data privacy that the GDPR affirms.
We've added our Whois publicity tool to permit registrants the ability to display their details publicly.
Gated Whois
Registrant contact data, which is held based on contract, or for which we have consent, is displayed in the gated Whois unless the domain is privacy-protected. When the domain has our Whois Privacy service, the privacy masking data is displayed publicly and within the gated Whois.
The gated Whois is a portal where accredited third-parties can access full Whois information, and the output available here includes personal data hidden from the public Whois.
The Whois output for domains with Whois Privacy remains the same as before May 2018, both in the public Whois and in the gated Whois. This means that Contact Privacy details, including a contact privacy email, are displayed for domains with Whois Privacy in the gated Whois. For a helpful visual snapshot of the difference, check out our Whois changes blog post.
Law enforcement and privacy protected domains
The current system requires law enforcement to have warrants or legal grounds to obtain the Whois information for a privacy-protected domain.
Access to the gated Whois only reveals information which, before May 25, 2018, was public. It will not reveal the Whois information for privacy-protected domains.
The Whois output for privacy-protected domains remains the same in both the public and gated Whois. We continue to require a court order or other legal documentation for access to this information.