The May 2018 implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was a win for online privacy advocates, particularly with the “right to be forgotten”—the GDPR’s declaration that European Union citizens can request to pull their data from online hosting.
But there’s one area that some attorneys say the increased privacy has made their lives harder: Internet domain hosting. Since the GDPR’s implementation, the “WHOIS” service by which the general public could search registration information—including names and contact info—has been largely in a state of flux. It’s now even tougher to find information, attorneys who work with domain registration say, which could concern intellectual property holders who want to go after infringing websites.
