RDS PDP WG Example Use Cases

Objective

This page will be used by the RDS PDP WG to post draft example use cases for review and discussion by WG members.

As decided in the face-to-face meeting in Helsinki and as added to Work Plan Task 11, the WG plans to consider example use cases for Registration Data and Directory Services as a means to prepare for deliberation on possible RDS requirements.  In particular, discussing use cases should help us identify and better understand the following:

• Existing WHOIS uses
• Users who access gTLD registration data today
• Their specific purposes for doing so
• The specific data elements involved
• Privacy considerations
• Problems that next-gen RDS policy could be required to address
• Possible improvements that next-gen RDS policy might include
• Possible new next-gen RDS users, purposes, or data elements that the WG should consider
• Example use cases that are associated with the same overall purpose
• Data elements that are involved in many use cases
• Privacy considerations that apply to many use cases
• and more...

Note that example use cases are only intended to help the WG examine real-world scenarios as it prepares for deliberation. Before deliberation, use cases can be helpful to educate the entire WG about existing uses and problems and proposed possible requirements. After the WG begins deliberation, use cases may be helpful to model or test proposed improvements/additions. Use cases may include both factual uses of today's WHOIS policy as well as proposed uses of a next-gen system; however, to avoid confusion between the two, use cases should clearly differentiate between the two.

Important qualifications to the above explanation:

1. Drafting an example use case for WG discussion does NOT imply that the described user or purpose should be permissible or that all referenced data elements should be published by a RDS. In fact, use cases can help the WG understand purposes that should be actively deterred, data elements that should not be accessible, and the real-world impacts of possible constraints on data collection or access.
    
2. Our goal is not to create a complete set of all possible use cases but rather to get a sampling of some that cover the key questions we will be addressing in out deliberation.  It is less about having a flawless use case than it is about getting us all thinking about the various issues we will need to consider when deliberating.  So our objective is not to fix use cases but instead to discuss them from multiple perspectives.

Template

A draft template has been circulated to the WG to serve as a starting point for use case development and to promote consistency in content and format:

• Draft-RDSUseCaseTemplate-19July.docx

Supporting Materials

For reference, the following excerpt from the EWG's Final Report listing example use cases and associated purposes, users, and data elements can be found here:

• EWG Report - Example Use Case and Related Data Annexes.doc

RDS PDP WG members volunteering to develop use cases are welcome to start with the EWG's draft example use cases, but are not required to do so.
 

Draft Example Use Cases

Example Use Cases now under development by RDS PDP WG members are summarized and linked to the table below.

Draft Use Cases (and any feedback on them) should be submitted directly to the RDS PDP WG mailing list.

Staff will update this table with new draft use cases as they are submitted.