Amendment No. 2 to the .ORG Registry Agreement

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers and Public Interest Registry agree, effective as of ______________________________________ (“Amendment Effective Date”), that the modification set forth below is now made to the 22 August 2013 .ORG Registry Agreement (“Agreement”).

      I.         Section 3.1 (c)(i) of the Agreement is deleted in its entirety and replaced as follows:

 

3.1 (c)(i) Data Escrow.  Registry Operator shall comply with the registry data escrow procedures set forth in Appendix 1 attached hereto (“Appendix 1”).

    II.         Section 2 of Appendix 5 (Whois Provider Data Specification) is deleted in its entirety and replaced as follows:     

2.     Bulk Registration Data Access to ICANN

2.1.     Periodic Access to Thin Registration Data.  In order to verify and ensure the operational stability of Registry Services as well as to facilitate compliance checks on accredited registrars, Registry Operator will provide ICANN on a weekly basis (the day to be designated by ICANN) with up-to-date Registration Data as specified below.  Data will include data committed as of 00:00:00 UTC on the day previous to the one designated for retrieval by ICANN.

2.1.1      Contents.  Registry Operator will provide, at least, the following data for all registered domain names:  domain name, domain name repository object id (roid), registrar id (IANA ID), statuses, last updated date, creation date, expiration date, and name server names.  For sponsoring registrars, at least, it will provide:  registrar name, registrar repository object id (roid), hostname of registrar Whois server, and URL of registrar.

2.1.2      Format.  The data will be provided in the format specified in Appendix 1 for Data Escrow (including encryption, signing, etc.) but including only the fields mentioned in the previous section, i.e., the file will only contain Domain and Registrar objects with the fields mentioned above.  Registry Operator has the option to provide a full deposit file instead as specified in Appendix 1.

2.1.3      Access.  Registry Operator will have the file(s) ready for download as of 00:00:00 UTC on the day designated for retrieval by ICANN.  The file(s) will be made available for download by SFTP, though ICANN may request other means in the future.

2.2.     Exceptional Access to Thick Registration Data.  In case of a registrar failure, deaccreditation, court order, etc. that prompts the temporary or definitive transfer of its domain names to another registrar, at the request of ICANN, Registry Operator will provide ICANN with up-to-date data for the domain names of the losing registrar.  The data will be provided in the format specified in Appendix 1 for Data Escrow.  The file will only contain data related to the domain names of the losing registrar.  Registry Operator will provide the data as soon as commercially practicable, but in no event later than five (5) calendar days following ICANN’s request.  Unless otherwise agreed by Registry Operator and ICANN, the file will be made available for download by ICANN in the same manner as the data specified in Section 2.1 of this Specification.

  III.         Appendix 1 is deleted in its entirety and replaced in the form attached to this Amendment. 

   IV.         Registry Operator will have ninety (90) days from the Amendment Effective Date to comply with the terms of the Agreement as modified by this Amendment.  Prior to such date, Registry Operator remains obligated to comply with the provisions of the Agreement as they existed prior to the Amendment Effective Date.  

The parties agree that, except as set forth in this Amendment, the terms of the Agreement will remain in full force and effect.  All capitalized terms not defined will have the meaning given to them in the Agreement.

AGREED:

 

INTERNET CORPORATION FOR ASSIGNED NAMES AND NUMBERS

 

By:       _____________________________
            Akram Atallah
            President, Global Domains Division           

 

 

PUBLIC INTEREST REGISTRY 

 

By:       _____________________________
            David W. Maher

Senior Vice President ­ Law & Policy

 


APPENDIX 1


DATA ESCROW REQUIREMENTS

 

Registry Operator will engage an independent entity to act as data escrow agent (“Escrow Agent”) for the provision of data escrow services related to the Registry Agreement.  The following Technical Specifications set forth in Part A, and Legal Requirements set forth in Part B, will be included in any data escrow agreement between Registry Operator and the Escrow Agent, under which ICANN must be named a third-party beneficiary.  In addition to the following requirements, the data escrow agreement may contain other provisions that are not contradictory or intended to subvert the required terms provided below.

PART A – TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

1.              Deposits.  There will be two types of Deposits:  Full and Differential.  For both types, the universe of Registry objects to be considered for data escrow are those objects necessary in order to offer all of the approved Registry Services.

1.1.         Full Deposit” will consist of data that reflects the state of the registry as of 00:00:00 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) on the day that such Full Deposit is submitted to Escrow Agent.

1.2.         Differential Deposit” means data that reflects all transactions that were not reflected in the last previous Full or Differential Deposit, as the case may be.  Each Differential Deposit will contain all database transactions since the previous Deposit was completed as of 00:00:00 UTC of each day, but Sunday.  Differential Deposits must include complete Escrow Records as specified below that were not included or changed since the most recent full or Differential Deposit (i.e., newly added or modified domain names).

2.              Schedule for Deposits.  Registry Operator will submit a set of escrow files on a daily basis as follows:

2.1.         Each Sunday, a Full Deposit must be submitted to the Escrow Agent by 23:59 UTC.

2.2.         The other six (6) days of the week, a Full Deposit or the corresponding Differential Deposit must be submitted to Escrow Agent by 23:59 UTC.

3.              Escrow Format Specification.

3.1.         Deposit’s Format.  Registry objects, such as domains, contacts, name servers, registrars, etc. will be compiled into a file constructed as described in draft-arias-noguchi-registry-data-escrow, see Part A, Section 9, reference 1 of this Appendix and draft-arias-noguchi-dnrd-objects-mapping, see Part A, Section 9, reference 2 of this Appendix (collectively, the “DNDE Specification”).  The DNDE Specification describes some elements as optional; Registry Operator will include those elements in the Deposits if they are available.  If not already an RFC, Registry Operator will use the most recent draft version of the DNDE Specification available at the Effective Date.  Registry Operator may at its election use newer versions of the DNDE Specification after the Effective Date.  Once the DNDE Specification is published as an RFC, Registry Operator will implement that version of the DNDE Specification, no later than one hundred eighty (180) calendar days after.  UTF-8 character encoding will be used. 

3.2.         Extensions.  If a Registry Operator offers additional Registry Services that require submission of additional data, not included above, additional “extension schemas” shall be defined in a case by case basis to represent that data.  These “extension schemas” will be specified as described in Part A, Section 9, reference 2 of this Appendix.  Data related to the “extensions schemas” will be included in the deposit file described in Part A, Section 3.1 of this Appendix.  ICANN and the respective Registry Operator shall work together to agree on such new objects’ data escrow specifications.

4.              Processing of Deposit files.  The use of compression is recommended in order to reduce electronic data transfer times, and storage capacity requirements.  Data encryption will be used to ensure the privacy of registry escrow data.  Files processed for compression and encryption will be in the binary OpenPGP format as per OpenPGP Message Format - RFC 4880, see Part A, Section 9, reference 3 of this Appendix.  Acceptable algorithms for Public-key cryptography, Symmetric-key cryptography, Hash and Compression are those enumerated in RFC 4880, not marked as deprecated in OpenPGP IANA Registry, see Part A, Section 9, reference 4 of this Appendix, that are also royalty-free.  The process to follow for the data file in original text format is:

(1)           The XML file of the deposit as described in Part A, Section 9, reference 1 of this Appendix must be named as the containing file as specified in Section 5 but with the extension xml.

(2)           The data file(s) are aggregated in a tarball file named the same as (1) but with extension tar.

(3)           A compressed and encrypted OpenPGP Message is created using the tarball file as sole input.  The suggested algorithm for compression is ZIP as per RFC 4880.  The compressed data will be encrypted using the escrow agent’s public key.  The suggested algorithms for Public-key encryption are Elgamal and RSA as per RFC 4880.  The suggested algorithms for Symmetric-key encryption are TripleDES, AES128 and CAST5 as per RFC 4880.

(4)           The file may be split as necessary if, once compressed and encrypted, it is larger than the file size limit agreed with the escrow agent.  Every part of a split file, or the whole file if not split, will be called a processed file in this section.

(5)           A digital signature file will be generated for every processed file using the Registry Operator’s private key.  The digital signature file will be in binary OpenPGP format as per RFC 4880 Section 9, reference 3, and will not be compressed or encrypted.  The suggested algorithms for Digital signatures are DSA and RSA as per RFC 4880.  The suggested algorithm for Hashes in Digital signatures is SHA256.

(6)           The processed files and digital signature files will then be transferred to the Escrow Agent through secure electronic mechanisms, such as, SFTP, SCP, HTTPS file upload, etc. as agreed between the Escrow Agent and the Registry Operator.  Non-electronic delivery through a physical medium such as CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, or USB storage devices may be used if authorized by ICANN.

(7)           The Escrow Agent will then validate every (processed) transferred data file using the procedure described in Part A, Section 8 of this Appendix.

5.              File Naming Conventions.  Files will be named according to the following convention:  {gTLD}_{YYYY-MM-DD}_{type}_S{#}_R{rev}.{ext} where:

5.1.         {gTLD} is replaced with the gTLD name; in case of an IDN-TLD, the ASCII-compatible form (A-Label) must be used;

5.2.         {YYYY-MM-DD} is replaced by the date corresponding to the time used as a timeline watermark for the transactions; i.e. for the Full Deposit corresponding to 2009-08-02T00:00Z, the string to be used would be “2009-08-02”;

5.3.         {type} is replaced by:

(1)           “full”, if the data represents a Full Deposit;

(2)           “diff”, if the data represents a Differential Deposit;

(3)           “thin”, if the data represents a Bulk Registration Data Access file, as specified in Section 2 of Appendix 5;

5.4.         {#} is replaced by the position of the file in a series of files, beginning with “1”; in case of a lone file, this must be replaced by “1”.

5.5.         {rev} is replaced by the number of revision (or resend) of the file beginning with “0”:

5.6.         {ext} is replaced by “sig” if it is a digital signature file of the quasi-homonymous file.  Otherwise it is replaced by “ryde”.

6.              Distribution of Public Keys.  Each of Registry Operator and Escrow Agent will distribute its public key to the other party (Registry Operator or Escrow Agent, as the case may be) via email to an email address to be specified.  Each party will confirm receipt of the other party’s public key with a reply email, and the distributing party will subsequently reconfirm the authenticity of the key transmitted via offline methods, like in person meeting, telephone, etc.  In this way, public key transmission is authenticated to a user able to send and receive mail via a mail server operated by the distributing party.  Escrow Agent, Registry Operator and ICANN will exchange public keys by the same procedure.

7.              Notification of Deposits.  Along with the delivery of each Deposit, Registry Operator will deliver to Escrow Agent and to ICANN (using the API described in draft-lozano-icann-registry-interfaces, see Part A, Section 9, reference 5 of this Appendix (the “Interface Specification”)) a written statement (which may be by authenticated e-mail) that includes a copy of the report generated upon creation of the Deposit and states that the Deposit has been inspected by Registry Operator and is complete and accurate.  Registry Operator will include the Deposit’s “id” and “resend” attributes in its statement.  The attributes are explained in Part A, Section 9, reference 1 of this Appendix.

If not already an RFC, Registry Operator will use the most recent draft version of the Interface Specification at the Effective Date.  Registry Operator may at its election use newer versions of the Interface Specification after the Effective Date.  Once the Interface Specification is published as an RFC, Registry Operator will implement that version of the Interface Specification, no later than one hundred eighty (180) calendar days after such publishing.

 

 

8.              Verification Procedure.

(1)           The signature file of each processed file is validated.

(2)           If processed files are pieces of a bigger file, the latter is put together.

(3)           Each file obtained in the previous step is then decrypted and uncompressed.

(4)           Each data file contained in the previous step is then validated against the format defined in Part A, Section 9, reference 1 of this Appendix.

(5)           If Part A, Section 9, reference 1 of this Appendix includes a verification process, that will be applied at this step.

If any discrepancy is found in any of the steps, the Deposit will be considered incomplete.

 

9.              References.

(1)           Domain Name Data Escrow Specification (work in progress), http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-arias-noguchi-registry-data-escrow

(2)           Domain Name Registration Data (DNRD) Objects Mapping, http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-arias-noguchi-dnrd-objects-mapping

(3)           OpenPGP Message Format, http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc4880.txt

(4)           OpenPGP parameters, http://www.iana.org/assignments/pgp‑parameters/pgp‑parameters.xhtml

(5)           ICANN interfaces for registries and data escrow agents, http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-lozano-icann-registry-interface


PART B – LEGAL REQUIREMENTS

1.              Escrow Agent.  Prior to entering into an escrow agreement, the Registry Operator must provide notice to ICANN as to the identity of the Escrow Agent, and provide ICANN with contact information and a copy of the relevant escrow agreement, and all amendments thereto.  In addition, prior to entering into an escrow agreement, Registry Operator must obtain the consent of ICANN to (a) use the specified Escrow Agent, and (b) enter into the form of escrow agreement provided.  ICANN must be expressly designated as a third-party beneficiary of the escrow agreement.  ICANN reserves the right to withhold its consent to any Escrow Agent, escrow agreement, or any amendment thereto, all in its sole discretion.

2.              Fees.  Registry Operator must pay, or have paid on its behalf, fees to the Escrow Agent directly.  If Registry Operator fails to pay any fee by the due date(s), the Escrow Agent will give ICANN written notice of such non-payment and ICANN may pay the past-due fee(s) within fifteen (15) calendar days after receipt of the written notice from Escrow Agent.  Upon payment of the past-due fees by ICANN, ICANN shall have a claim for such amount against Registry Operator, which Registry Operator shall be required to submit to ICANN together with the next fee payment due under the Registry Agreement.

3.              Ownership.  Ownership of the Deposits during the effective term of the Registry Agreement shall remain with Registry Operator at all times.  Thereafter, Registry Operator shall assign any such ownership rights (including intellectual property rights, as the case may be) in such Deposits to ICANN.  In the event that during the term of the Registry Agreement any Deposit is released from escrow to ICANN, any intellectual property rights held by Registry Operator in the Deposits will automatically be licensed to ICANN or to a party designated in writing by ICANN on a non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, paid-up basis, for any use related to the operation, maintenance or transition of the TLD.

4.              Integrity and Confidentiality.  Escrow Agent will be required to (i) hold and maintain the Deposits in a secure, locked, and environmentally safe facility, which is accessible only to authorized representatives of Escrow Agent, (ii) protect the integrity and confidentiality of the Deposits using commercially reasonable measures and (iii) keep and safeguard each Deposit for one (1) year.  ICANN and Registry Operator will be provided the right to inspect Escrow Agent’s applicable records upon reasonable prior notice and during normal business hours.  Registry Operator and ICANN will be provided with the right to designate a third-party auditor to audit Escrow Agent’s compliance with the technical specifications and maintenance requirements of this Appendix 1 from time to time.

If Escrow Agent receives a subpoena or any other order from a court or other judicial tribunal pertaining to the disclosure or release of the Deposits, Escrow Agent will promptly notify the Registry Operator and ICANN unless prohibited by law.  After notifying the Registry Operator and ICANN, Escrow Agent shall allow sufficient time for Registry Operator or ICANN to challenge any such order, which shall be the responsibility of Registry Operator or ICANN; provided, however, that Escrow Agent does not waive its rights to present its position with respect to any such order.  Escrow Agent will cooperate with the Registry Operator or ICANN to support efforts to quash or limit any subpoena, at such party’s expense.  Any party requesting additional assistance shall pay Escrow Agent’s standard charges or as quoted upon submission of a detailed request.

5.              Copies.  Escrow Agent may be permitted to duplicate any Deposit, in order to comply with the terms and provisions of the escrow agreement.

6.              Release of Deposits.  Escrow Agent will make available for electronic download (unless otherwise requested) to ICANN or its designee, within twenty-four (24) hours, at the Registry Operator’s expense, all Deposits in Escrow Agent’s possession in the event that the Escrow Agent receives a request from Registry Operator to effect such delivery to ICANN, or receives one of the following written notices by ICANN stating that:

6.1.         the Registry Agreement has expired without renewal, or been terminated; or

6.2.         ICANN has not received a notification as described in Part B, Sections 7.1 and 7.2 of this Appendix from Escrow Agent within five (5) calendar days after the Deposit’s scheduled delivery date; (a) ICANN gave notice to Escrow Agent and Registry Operator of that failure; and (b) ICANN has not, within seven (7) calendar days after such notice, received the notification from Escrow Agent; or

6.3.         ICANN has received notification as described in Part B, Sections 7.1 and 7.2 of this Appendix from Escrow Agent of failed verification of the latest escrow deposit for a specific date or a notification of a missing deposit, and the notification is for a deposit that should have been made on Sunday (i.e., a Full Deposit); (a) ICANN gave notice to Registry Operator of that receipt; and (b) ICANN has not, within seven (7) calendar days after such notice, received notification as described in Part B, Sections 7.1 and 7.2 of this Appendix from Escrow Agent of verification of a remediated version of such Full Deposit; or

6.4.         ICANN has received five notifications from Escrow Agent within the last thirty (30) calendar days notifying ICANN of either missing or failed escrow deposits that should have been made Monday through Saturday (i.e., a Differential Deposit), and (x) ICANN provided notice to Registry Operator of the receipt of such notifications; and (y) ICANN has not, within seven (7) calendar days after delivery of such notice to Registry Operator, received notification from Escrow Agent of verification of a remediated version of such Differential Deposit; or

6.5.         Registry Operator has:  (i) ceased to conduct its business in the ordinary course; or (ii) filed for bankruptcy, become insolvent or anything analogous to any of the foregoing under the laws of any jurisdiction anywhere in the world; or

6.6.         Registry Operator has experienced a failure of critical registry functions and ICANN has asserted its rights pursuant to Section 2.13 of the Agreement; or

6.7.         a competent court, arbitral, legislative, or government agency mandates the release of the Deposits to ICANN; or

6.8.         pursuant to Contractual and Operational Compliance Audits as specified under Section 2.11 of the Agreement.

Unless Escrow Agent has previously released the Registry Operator’s Deposits to ICANN or its designee, Escrow Agent will deliver all Deposits to ICANN upon expiration or termination of the Registry Agreement or the Escrow Agreement.

7.              Verification of Deposits.

7.1.         Within twenty-four (24) hours after receiving each Deposit or corrected Deposit, Escrow Agent must verify the format and completeness of each Deposit and deliver to ICANN a notification generated for each Deposit.  Reports will be delivered electronically using the API described in draft-lozano-icann-registry-interfaces, see Part A, Section 9, reference 5 of this Appendix.

7.2.         If Escrow Agent discovers that any Deposit fails the verification procedures or if Escrow Agent does not receive any scheduled Deposit, Escrow Agent must notify Registry Operator either by email, fax or phone and ICANN (using the API described in draft-lozano-icann-registry-interfaces, see Part A, Section 9, reference 5 of this Appendix) of such nonconformity or non-receipt within twenty-four (24) hours after receiving the non-conformant Deposit or the deadline for such Deposit, as applicable.  Upon notification of such verification or delivery failure, Registry Operator must begin developing modifications, updates, corrections, and other fixes of the Deposit necessary for the Deposit to be delivered and pass the verification procedures and deliver such fixes to Escrow Agent as promptly as possible.

8.              Amendments.  Escrow Agent and Registry Operator shall amend the terms of the Escrow Agreement to conform to this Appendix 1 within ten (10) calendar days of any amendment or modification to this Appendix 1.  In the event of a conflict between this Appendix 1 and the Escrow Agreement, this Appendix 1 shall control.

9.              Indemnity.  Escrow Agent shall indemnify and hold harmless Registry Operator and ICANN, and each of their respective directors, officers, agents, employees, members, and stockholders (“Indemnitees”) absolutely and forever from and against any and all claims, actions, damages, suits, liabilities, obligations, costs, fees, charges, and any other expenses whatsoever, including reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs, that may be asserted by a third party against any Indemnitee in connection with the misrepresentation, negligence or misconduct of Escrow Agent, its directors, officers, agents, employees and contractors.