<html><head></head><body>Dear all,<div class=""><br class=""/></div><div class="">I am sharing the press release below, and attached Court order, for information purposes. Note in particular that the (U.S.) Court rejected DomainTools’ claims that its historical Whois service provides a public interest benefit that outweighs the privacy interests of domain name registrants.</div><div class=""><br class=""/></div><div class="">Kind regards,</div><div class=""><br class=""/></div><div class="">Ayden Férdeline</div><div class=""><br class=""/></div><div class=""></div><div class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""/></div><div class="">——————————————————————</div><div class=""><br class=""/></div><div class=""><a href="https://dnc.org.nz/the-commission/news/1738" class="">https://dnc.org.nz/the-commission/news/1738</a></div><div class=""><br class=""/></div><div class=""><div id="block-dnc-page-title" class="block block-core block-page-title-block"><h1 class="page-title"><span property="schema:name" class="field--name-title field--label-hidden field--type-string field">Domain Name Commission wins first step in lawsuit against US company</span></h1></div><div id="block-dnc-content" class="block block-system block-system-main-block"><article data-history-node-id="1738" role="article" about="/index.php/node/1738" typeof="schema:Article" data-id="1738" data-type="article" class="article full node promoted sticky"><div class="node__timestamp">Published on 13 Sep 2018</div><div class="article-content-section"><div property="schema:text" class="field--label-hidden clearfix field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field__item field text-formatted"><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="line-height: 13.8pt;" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68);" class=""><br class=""/></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="line-height: 13.8pt;" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68);" class="">New Zealand’s Domain Name Commission has today won a motion for preliminary injunction in a US lawsuit against the company DomainTools.</span></span></span></span></span></span></div><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="line-height: 13.8pt;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal;" class=""><span style="orphans: 2;" class=""><span style="widows: 2;" class=""><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.901961);" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="line-height: 13.8pt;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal;" class=""><span style="orphans: 2;" class=""><span style="widows: 2;" class=""><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.901961);" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68);" class="">This is an important victory for the .nz domain name space and for domain name holders wanting to keep some of their personal details from public view.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="line-height: 13.8pt;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal;" class=""><span style="orphans: 2;" class=""><span style="widows: 2;" class=""><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.901961);" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="line-height: 13.8pt;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal;" class=""><span style="orphans: 2;" class=""><span style="widows: 2;" class=""><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.901961);" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68);" class="">Earlier this year, the Domain Name Commission mandated that a privacy option be offered for all .nz domain name holders that are not in trade. This means people can now withhold their address and phone number from publicly appearing in the online registration data search. More than 20,000 domain names have already taken up the privacy option.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="line-height: 13.8pt;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal;" class=""><span style="orphans: 2;" class=""><span style="widows: 2;" class=""><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.901961);" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="line-height: 13.8pt;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal;" class=""><span style="orphans: 2;" class=""><span style="widows: 2;" class=""><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.901961);" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68);" class="">DomainTools is a digital intelligence-gathering company in the US and has been scraping registration data from New Zealand’s Domain Name Commission for many years. This mass collection of data breaches the Commission’s terms of use and exposes details of domain name holders who choose to have their details kept private. This is because DomainTools makes available historic records which show the now withheld information.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="line-height: 13.8pt;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal;" class=""><span style="orphans: 2;" class=""><span style="widows: 2;" class=""><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.901961);" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="line-height: 13.8pt;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal;" class=""><span style="orphans: 2;" class=""><span style="widows: 2;" class=""><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.901961);" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68);" class="">Domain Name Commissioner, Brent Carey, says winning this lawsuit is good news for .nz domain name holders and their privacy.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="line-height: 13.8pt;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal;" class=""><span style="orphans: 2;" class=""><span style="widows: 2;" class=""><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.901961);" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="line-height: 13.8pt;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal;" class=""><span style="orphans: 2;" class=""><span style="widows: 2;" class=""><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.901961);" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68);" class="">“The ruling allows the Commission to continue balancing online accountability with respect for individual privacy. The ruling temporarily puts to an end DomainTools’ bulk harvesting of .nz domain holders’ personal information and selling that data for a profit. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="line-height: 13.8pt;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal;" class=""><span style="orphans: 2;" class=""><span style="widows: 2;" class=""><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.901961);" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="line-height: 13.8pt;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal;" class=""><span style="orphans: 2;" class=""><span style="widows: 2;" class=""><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.901961);" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68);" class="">“This is a step in the right direction to ensure that any person or company looking to build a business on domain name data, in violation of our Terms of Use, can’t do so,” says Carey.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="line-height: 13.8pt;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal;" class=""><span style="orphans: 2;" class=""><span style="widows: 2;" class=""><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.901961);" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="line-height: 13.8pt;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal;" class=""><span style="orphans: 2;" class=""><span style="widows: 2;" class=""><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.901961);" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68);" class="">Managers of other countries domain name systems across the world will want to pay attention to the judgment. This may raise confidence to fight their own cases should DomainTools be breaching their terms of use.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="line-height: 13.8pt;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal;" class=""><span style="orphans: 2;" class=""><span style="widows: 2;" class=""><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.901961);" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="line-height: 13.8pt;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal;" class=""><span style="orphans: 2;" class=""><span style="widows: 2;" class=""><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.901961);" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68);" class="">DomainTools argued that this lawsuit may cause an avalanche of litigation as other registries attempt to protect the privacy of their registrants - and Judge Lasnik stated they may be correct. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="line-height: 13.8pt;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal;" class=""><span style="orphans: 2;" class=""><span style="widows: 2;" class=""><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.901961);" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="line-height: 13.8pt;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal;" class=""><span style="orphans: 2;" class=""><span style="widows: 2;" class=""><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.901961);" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68);" class="">“We look forward to presenting our full case to the Court, as we seek to permanently prevent DomainTools from ever building a secondary .nz database offshore and outside the control of the Domain Name Commission,” says Carey.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="line-height: 13.8pt;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal;" class=""><span style="orphans: 2;" class=""><span style="widows: 2;" class=""><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.901961);" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="line-height: 13.8pt;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal;" class=""><span style="orphans: 2;" class=""><span style="widows: 2;" class=""><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.901961);" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68);" class="">In court, DomainTools requested more than 5 million NZD in bond to compensate for reworking database files to ensure that .nz data is not provided to its customers. However, the judge ruled that a nominal bond of only $1,500 NZD is required.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="line-height: 13.8pt;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal;" class=""><span style="orphans: 2;" class=""><span style="widows: 2;" class=""><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.901961);" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class=""><span style="line-height: 13.8pt;" class=""><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal;" class=""><span style="orphans: 2;" class=""><span style="widows: 2;" class=""><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.901961);" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68);" class="">ENDS</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div></div></div></article></div></div></body></html>