The origins of the term "who's who" - a concept that's come full circle in the digital age

Through the years, the term Who's Who has become widely-associated with reference volumes cataloging the elite, high-ranking, and personalities of note. A 19th century volume was a social register for the aristocracy, more about bloodlines and mergers-by-marriage absolutely within the confines of that set, rather than achievement beyond marrying-well. The 20th century brought an interest in the academics, inventors, scientists and industrialists based on the merits of their contributions, and volumes appeared in nearly every country.

Today, the democratization seems complete in world where bloggers, videographers and entertainers have achieved not only viral acclaim, but also lucrative personal franchises virtually overnight. However, verifying identity has become increasingly difficult, particularly when it comes to distinguishing between the heroes and the zeroes, and the scammers from the authentic pillars of the internet. In light of this current state of affairs, knowing who is who, and being able to distinguish between them, has never been of greater critical importance. For this reason, .whoswho is supporting browser-based standardization such as envisaged in the Domain Attestation Framework (DAF). DAF provides for super-fast, machine-to-machine readable queries and answers that attest to - or deny - that a website is what it purports to be, rather than a "wolf in sheep's clothing," likely one with nefarious intent.

As a prelude to future developments, .whoswho invites internet users to test drive our unified lookup across all domains at "The i.whoswho Project" where Registrant (domain "owner") information can be searched among any of the various domain extensions from .aaa to .xyz in that single location.

Another is our Beta version of Who's Who Online® Search, which is like no other domain name lookup in the world today. It also works from a single location, but its not the URL of a website we must remember, it's directly in the address bar we regularly use to take us to any website we visit. By simply appends ".whoswho" to a domain name, and then hitting "Enter," comprehensive information about who "owns" that domain name is delivered directly to our desktops. Up-and-running smootly for over a year, it's a great way to check out who's hiding behind a "privacy registration" (while trying to separate you from your hard-earned money, perhaps), and who is standing up in full daylight, proud to be burnishing their bona fide internet identity.

[ NOTE: For this Beta version, we must currently use HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol) rather than the secure version, HTTPS, which will be implemented in the production version soon. ]

A Domain Attestation Framework (DAF) is currently in development, and - since it also works from any browser window with no web address to remember - it will be an excellent companion to Who's Who Online® Search. In fact, the DAF will allow browser developers to install capabilities in browsers - very much like those little padlocks that currently steer users away from http sites, which are viewed as insecure without https enhanced security. There will come a time when companies that have gone to the one-time effort to attest to their family of domain names will be able to outwit the fraudsters and scammers trying to trick the public into visiting their sites instead, but who will find themselves increasingly failing in their criminal efforts.

Who's Who Registry hopes to have the privilege of providing these free services to you and the Internet public in the years to come.

.whoswho is a member of the Registry Stakeholders Group.