DNSO Names Council Whois Survey Results

Questions

Type of respondent

1. Which of the following terms best describes your status as a respondent to this survey?

	Category	#	%
a.	Commercial business user	1063	35.0%
b.	Non-commercial organization user	208	6.9%
c.	Governmental organization user	35	1.2%
d.	Individual or household user	1021	33.6%
e.	Domain name registrar and/or registry	130	4.3%
f.	Internet access provider or network operator	234	7.7%
g.	Other:	222	7.3%
	(No Response)	122	4.0%
	Total Responses:	3035	100.0%

2. Have you registered any domain names?

	yes	no	No Response	Grand Total
commercial	973	81	9	1063
governmental	20	14	1	35
individual	730	279	12	1021
isp	207	22	5	234
non-commercial	177	29	2	208
not stated	20	4	98	122
other	156	59	7	222
registrar-registry	114	14	2	130
Grand Total	2397	502	136	3035
	79.0%	16.5%	4.5%

If "yes":

a. How many ccTLD domain names have you registered:

	0	1 to 9	10 to 99	100 to 999	1000 to 9999	10000+	Not Stated	Grand Total
commercial	179	356	188	71	12	4	253	1063
governmental	3	14	1				17	35
individual	188	343	33	2			455	1021
isp	35	42	40	42	14	5	56	234
non-commercial	35	81	17				75	208
not stated	3	8		2		1	108	122
other	45	47	24	5		1	100	222
registrar-registry	12	29	15	16	20	5	33	130
Grand Total	500	920	318	138	46	16	1097	3035

b. How many gTLD domain names have you registered:

	0	1 to 9	10 to 99	100 to 999	1000 to 9999	10000+	Not Stated	Grand Total
commercial	66	316	205	107	32	4	333	1063
governmental	3	9	1				22	35
individual	74	403	53	4	1		486	1021
isp	8	45	57	42	20	5	57	234
non-commercial	19	87	28	1			73	208
not stated		9	4	2	1		106	122
other	16	53	35	14	4		100	222
registrar-registry	11	25	18	16	12	7	41	130
Grand Total	197	947	401	186	70	16	1218	3035

What was the general purpose of your registration?

	not stated	commercial	governmental	non-commercial	other	personal	Grand Total
commercial	70	920		18	18	37	1063
governmental	12		16	4	1	2	35
individual	244	119	2	63	24	569	1021
isp	17	169		12	11	25	234
non-commercial	26	11		145	7	19	208
not stated	100	11	1	4	2	4	122
other	50	98		17	34	23	222
registrar-registry	6	78	1	12	6	27	130
Grand Total	525	1406	20	275	103	706	3035

3. How often do you use the Whois service on average?

	not stated	daily	hourly	never	occasionally	weekly	Grand Total
commercial	1	184	183	31	374	290	1063
governmental		3	4	3	18	7	35
individual	4	131	72	45	509	260	1021
isp		58	109	3	22	42	234
non-commercial	2	32	32	7	69	66	208
not stated	99	4	1		13	5	122
other	2	27	40	13	58	82	222
registrar-registry	2	18	45	8	34	23	130
Grand Total	110	457	486	110	1097	775	3035

4. Which of the following most accurately describes the use of Whois that is most important to you or your organization:

a.	To determine if a specific domain name is unregistered/available?
b.	To find out the identity of a person or organization who is responsible for a domain name or web site I have encountered while using the Internet
c.	To support technical operations of ISPs or network administrators, including tracing sources of spam or denial of service attacks
d.	To identify the owner of a domain name for consumer protection or intellectual property protection purposes
e.	To gather names and contact information for marketing purposes
f.	To support government law enforcement activities (other than intellectual property)
g.	Other (please briefly describe):

	availability	responsibility	technical	IP	marketing	law	other	Grand Total*
Commercial	482	574	352	389	28	30	66	1063
governmental	26	16	19	6		7	4	35
Individual	513	626	322	136	18	23	71	1021
Isp	97	142	167	36	5	20	23	234
non-commercial	125	107	75	53	3	13	12	208
not stated	109	14	7	9	1	2	1	122
Other	140	97	49	117	8	12	31	222
Registrar-registry	48	73	50	34	5	7	11	130
Grand Total*	1540	1649	1041	780	68	114	219	*

*multiple responses were accepted

Use of the Whois

5. What should the purpose of the Whois service be (place in order 1-7 where 1 is the most important):

a.	Rank: to identify the availability of a particular name in which someone is interested
b.	Rank: to determine if there are similar names already in use
c.	Rank: to identify and verify online merchants
d.	Rank: to identify online infringers for enforcement of intellectual property rights
e.	Rank: to source unsolicited email
f.	Rank: to identify contacts in the investigation of illegal activity
g.	Rank: x other (specify):

Overall Rank:

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g
1	1284	189	240	368	327	423	323
2	400	772	292	339	382	431	101
3	302	488	512	439	436	383	72
4	224	389	522	524	329	421	46
5	241	391	480	423	372	374	61
6	194	358	402	317	407	435	97
7	117	118	166	200	349	150	488
Total	2762	2705	2614	2610	2602	2617	1188
	2.56	3.58	3.99	3.78	4.02	3.69

a. Availability:

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total	Avg
commercial	487	165	106	63	70	82	35	1008	2.45
governmental	3	5	5	3	3	4	3	26	3.85
individual	452	127	106	71	95	67	43	961	2.59
isp	102	35	22	24	22	11	12	228	2.61
non-commercial	76	19	27	24	28	9	7	190	2.81
not stated	13	7	1	1	1	1	2	26	2.27
other	80	29	26	26	17	17	8	203	2.77
registrar-registry	71	13	9	12	5	3	7	120	2.20
Grand Total	1284	400	302	224	241	194	117	2762	2.56

b. Similar Name Check:

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total	Avg
commercial	70	286	207	157	130	105	35	990	3.45
governmental	2	4	3	4	7	4	3	27	4.26
individual	66	284	149	119	145	146	40	949	3.62
isp	15	54	40	36	30	32	15	222	3.76
non-commercial	11	41	27	31	33	30	9	182	3.88
not stated	4	9	5		3	3	2	26	3.23
other	12	47	42	29	30	26	7	193	3.64
registrar-registry	9	47	15	13	13	12	7	116	3.33
Grand Total	189	772	488	389	391	358	118	2705	3.58

c. Verify Merchants:

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total	Avg
commercial	76	107	171	205	190	157	47	953	4.03
governmental	1		8	8	7	2	4	30	4.40
individual	102	105	203	193	156	123	42	924	3.79
isp	17	28	29	35	40	41	24	214	4.27
non-commercial	15	21	31	28	26	28	27	176	4.26
not stated	2	1