Access

Tiered Access Requests

Since the GDPR came into effect on 25 May 2018, Com Laude, in common with all other ICANN-accredited registrars, has redacted the majority of information about domain name registrants and contacts that is available via its Whois page.

Recognising that there are a variety of legitimate reasons for accessing some or all of this redacted information, the ICANN community is working to develop an accreditation programme for requestors such as law enforcement agencies (LEAs) and trademark owners.  Registrars will be required to grant tiered access to properly accredited requestors, revealing more or less hidden data according to the requestor’s status.

Com Laude’s Tiered Access Request Process

Until an accreditation system is in place, Com Laude has created its own Tiered Access Request process, to facilitate legitimate requests.

If you represent an LEA, please write to us at abuse@comlaude.com, including the word [LEA] in square brackets in the subject line, setting out

• Your name
• Your email address
• Your phone number
• Your agency name
• The URL of your agency
• The domain name(s) you are enquiring about
• The nature of your interest

We will revert to you for proof of identity within one working day (UK time) and respond within a further working day of its receipt.  Please note that we will refer any emails falsely claiming to be from a Law Enforcement Agency to that agency for further investigation, so please do not include this information if sending in a non-law enforcement capacity.

If you are not an LEA, and you have another legitimate interest in a domain, you are invited to write to us at abuse@comlaude.com, setting out:

• Your name
• Your email address
• Your phone number
• Your company/organisation name
• The URL of your company/organisation
• The domain name(s) you are enquiring about
• Whether you are acting in your own capacity, or on behalf of someone else (if you are acting on behalf of someone else, please provide evidence of your authority to act on their behalf).
• The nature of your interest and the rights you have in the domain(s) (or, if you are acting on someone else’s behalf, the nature of their interest and the rights they have in the domain(s))

Your application should be accompanied by the following signed declaration on headed paper:

 The data disclosed by Com Laude will:

• only be used for the specific purposes identified in your report;
• be retained securely, kept confidential and not published, transmitted, or shared in any way; and
• be retained for the minimum period necessary in order to fulfil the identified purposes, to a maximum of 1 year, following which all copies will be deleted.

To the extent that you are either located in a third country or an international organisation as set out under Chapter V of The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (EU) 2016/679), you understand that any personal data transferred to you is subject to Article 49(1)e GDPR only, in the absence of an adequacy decision pursuant to Article 45(3), or of appropriate safeguards pursuant to Article 46.  You understand and agree to treat the data in compliance with the requirements for transfers (including onward transfers) of personal data as set out under Chapter V GDPR.

You agree that both you and the rightsholder shall indemnify Com Laude for any breach of the above terms.

Note that if you are an agent acting for a rights holder, the declaration should be provided both by yourself and by the rights holder.

Please note that we will be taking steps to verify the identity of requestors.  If we are unable to identify you and/or your organisation, we are very unlikely to be able to assist you. Note also that if information is disclosed, it will be in the full Whois format as would have been available before 25 May 2018: this may therefore show Whois privacy or a proxy service.