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Fake Contact Data Used to Register Hundreds of Domain Names

December 8, 2005

About one in every 20 domain names, that is around 2.3 million websites are registered with fake contact details like the required area of the contact information , as reported by the congressional auditors.

The Government Accountability Office says those seeking to register the names of their Web sites may provide inaccurate contact information to registrars in order to hide their identities or to prevent members of the public from contacting them. Contact information is made publicly available on the Internet through a service known as Whois. Data accuracy in the Whois service can help law enforcement officials to investigate intellectual property misuse and online fraud, or identify the source of spam E-mail, and can help Internet operators to resolve technical network issues.

The Department of Commerce and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers that is, ICANN, have taken steps to ensure the accuracy of contact data in the Whois database. In addition to implementing a Registrar Accreditation Agreement that requires registrars to investigate and correct any reported inaccuracies in the contact information, they have amended their memorandum of understanding to require ICANN to continue assessing the operation of the Whois service and to implement measures to secure improved accuracy of data.

Source: InformationWeek