Blog Articles
Tiered Access update: A year-over-year review and updated statistics
In 2018, Tucows launched our Tiered Access Compliance and Operations (TACO) platform to manage registration data disclosure requests. From the start, we’ve tracked the requests we receive and committed to publishing this data to promote transparency around access to registrant information. In this post, we’re not only sharing our most recent TACO statistics, but taking […]
Tiered Access update: Privacy services, proxy registrants, and updated statistics
Two important questions have been gaining traction within the ICANN community in 2025: how should registrars disclose information protected by Whois Privacy services, and should third-party proxy services be regulated as a new Contracted Party? There was a lot of conversation—both scheduled and informal—around these topics at previous ICANN meetings, and it will continue at […]
Tiered Access update: Reviewing “urgent” requests and updated statistics
The lead-up to ICANN83, which will be held next week in Prague, feels much shorter than usual, as ICANN-accredited registrars and registries just held our Contracted Parties Summit in early May. This was a useful series of working sessions and discussions. Most focused around operational issues—especially addressing DNS Abuse—but another topic came up in conversations […]
Tiered Access update: RDRS participation and updated statistics
Welcome to your regularly scheduled TACO stats blog! In the lead-up to ICANN82 in Seattle, we’re thinking about ICANN’s Registration Data Request Service (RDRS). Tucows has been a participant in the RDRS pilot project since its launch at the end of 2023, and we’ve written about it in past blogs. For those unfamiliar with the […]
Tiered Access update: RDRS, security and LEA requests, and updated statistics
As usual, as we prepare for ICANN81, here are our updated statistics for our Tiered Access Compliance and Operations (TACO) portal along with some interesting factoids. Rather than going in-depth on one specific topic, we’re providing updates on a few topics discussed in prior posts. Requests from Security Researchers Requests from the security community are […]
Tiered Access update: law enforcement (foreign and local) and fresh 2024 statistics
As ever, we’re here for you in advance of ICANN80 in Kigali, Rwanda, with some updated TACO stats to get everyone in the mood. Our focus for this post is: where do Law Enforcement disclosure requests actually come from? This question was recently raised in the ICANN Registration Data Request Service Standing Committee by a […]
Tiered Access update: RDRS first experiences and updated statistics
The first Tiered Access post of the year is always interesting because we can look back at the past year as a whole and compare it to previous years. This time, we also have the earliest data about requests submitted to Tucows via ICANN’s new Registration Data Request Service (RDRS). This is the pilot project […]
Tiered Access update: “urgent” disclosure requests and updated statistics
Welcome back to our regular Tiered Access platform statistics series! If you’re here just for the numbers, you can jump right to the stats, but first, we’re going to focus on the question of “urgent” disclosure requests. The discussions in our last few TACO Stats posts focused on the Registration Data Request Service, intended to […]
ICANN77 Recap: DNS Abuse, Registration Data, new gTLDs, and more
ICANN77 brought the community to Washington DC for a four-day policy-focused meeting. While the remote participation services continue to be robust and accessible, in-person participation has a certain special something, and I was grateful for the ability to attend in my physical form. Let’s take a look at some of the policy updates coming out […]
Tiered Access update: centralized system development, and updated statistics
Our most recent Tiered Access update introduced the ICANN Community’s pilot project for a central intake point for registration data disclosure requests. Now called the Registration Data Request Service (RDRS), this pilot is intended to help gather volume data to inform the ICANN Board’s decision about building a permanent, more feature-rich centralized data request system. The project […]
