ICANN policy wonks and CircleID readers (is that redundant?) may flock to this report, if they haven't already seen it.

This document is the Preliminary Task Force Report on the Purpose of Whois and of the Whois Contacts. The report was produced by the Whois Task Force of the GNSO, and published following a unanimous task force vote on publication for public comments on 18 January, 2006. The report comprises the task force's work on tasks 1 and 2 of its terms of reference. On 2nd June, 2005, the GNSO Council agreed terms of reference for the Whois Task force. These terms of reference required the Whois Task Force to complete the following tasks regarding the purpose of Whois:

(1) Define the purpose of the WHOIS service in the context of ICANN's mission and relevant core values, international and national laws protecting privacy of natural persons, international and national laws that relate specifically to the WHOIS service, and the changing nature of Registered Name Holders.

(2) Define the purpose of the Registered Name Holder, technical, and administrative contacts, in the context of the purpose of WHOIS, and the purpose for which the data was collected.

I'm sure the serious wonks have already seen this ...