AFNIC organised a public survey between Febuary and March 2007 on the Whois database evaluating expectations of various role-players with regards to data access and offering value-added services.

17 contributions were received. 7 of these 17 came from registrars members of AFNIC, representing 28% of the .fr domain names totals. Some contributions came from domain holders of other TLDs.

These contributions confirm clear-cut support for the following: 1. a service for everyone, meeting basic needs (availability of a Domain Name, contacts and holder identification...). This would be free of charge, no particular judicial framework or authentification. This would integrate technical limitations and offer information under a restricted publishing format; 2. a service dedicated to registrars meeting operational and customer handling needs. The service would be in the membership convention framework with no other obligations. The service would not be limited but exclusively would concern data linked to the registrar portfolio itself or on data needed for .fr administration procedures.

Opinions are divided with regards to opening up advanced services (monitoring services, prospecting activities, ...) which stir up controversy and would deserve a longer debate. Contributions reveal different views: For 52% of the participants, the AFNIC directly owns the Whois database, but for the 48% others, the association does not own it directly. On the other hand, its responsibility with regards to handling the database is not denied. Nor is its duty to respect the legal constraints, especially those on personal data. Purposes in the public survey have been identified, especially use for academic research, issue of registration titles and cybersquatting. 47% of the participants are in favour of the structure in services proposed by FNIC. 59% of participants are in favour of offer 1 as presented in the consultation. Creating a simple availability tool (Yes/No) and tools limiting automated requests were highlighted. Information quoted as essential (despite the domain name) are the domain's holder and registrar and the DNS servers. Some participants offered to keep administrative contact with public contact details but no restricted publishing avaliable. 82% of participants thought registrars should benefit from total data access of domains, provided an obligation not to resell information was added to the convention. 60% of participants do not favour the service (that would allow access to the lists of .fr domain names).

If decision is taken to open this kind of service, a judicial framework and data use monitoring are needed and matching sanctions. No consensus has yet been reached for a specific form of service and participants consider transmissible limited to domain name, the holder and registrar as well as DNS servers. 17% of participants are in favour of closing the Domain Names list for those registered in the past 30 days (including 2 registrars) whilst 6% want to keep the list provided contractual frame-work is given.

The results of this consultation (as well as opinions from consultative committees of March 2007) will be examined by the AFNIC's Board in the near future who will decide on the follow-up