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MoldData Promises Access ‘in the Near Future’ to Legal Entities’ Data on ‘md’ Domain

30 September 2019
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În Moldova
Full information about the legal entities’ data with domain names managed by the state-owned enterprise MoldData will be available to the public ‘in the near future’. The institution stated this in response to a request for  information from Media-azi.md portal. Previously, data about legal entities and individuals were available via the WHOIS service, access to which was restricted with the entry into force of the General Data Protection Regulation, known as GDPR.

Some time ago, the WHOIS service offered access to a number of data about ‘.md’ domain and its holders - name, address, contact details. Such information is now missing.

Media-azi.md portal tried to find out who, when and why decided to hide such data from the general public? In a request for information, we asked Molddata under what conditions it could restore access to full data about the persons who registered a site on MD domain.

 ‘We inform you that, in the near future, MoldData will make the necessary changes so that the data of the legal persons holding domain names can be viewed via WHOIS Service’, stated MoldData in its reply.

When asked what ‘in the near future’ meant, company’s representative Irina Ionel stated that most likely this would happen after the enterprise is absorbed by the public institution Information Technology and Cyber Security Service (ITCSS). According to a Government Decision of 30 August, MoldData will merge with ITCSS, and the document states that ‘the institution shall submit to the State Chancellery, within 4 months from the entry into force of this decision, proposed amendments to the regulatory framework governing the activity of merged legal entities’.

According to MoldData, the public access to ccTLD.md WHOIS database was restricted due to the ‘European Union requirements, with the entry into force of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR 2016/679) on 25 May 2018), as well as the relevant national legislation. ‘The company had to adapt its internal procedures since holders of ‘.md’ domains are individuals both from the Republic of Moldova and from abroad, including from the European Union. Under these conditions, WHOIS Service provides public access to information on the country of origin, creation and expiry date of the domain name, its status and the Namerserver to which it is addressed’, states MoldData's response to Media-azi.md.

In a comment published by our portal, investigative journalist from RISE Moldova Dumitru Stoianov pointed out that access to data about domain holders used to be free and much simpler, as ‘there were sites of WHOIS type, where one could see the email, etc. These were restricted largely due to GDPR. Now one can see only the registration date’, commented Stoianov.


Unele date, care apăreau anterior pe WHOIS. Sursa anticoruptie.md

Note that Anticorupție.md portal also published an investigation ‘Owners of news sites and the interests they promote’, based on data provided by WHOIS service, with access to names and other contact details.
 
 
 
 
 
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