Kevin Murphy from DomainIncite has written an excellent article about the all the ins and outs how WHOIS might look like in May this year, which you can read here.
I do not entirely agree with Kevin if privacy services are going to be free.
In the current setup, our privacy proxy service still has added value when it comes to spam prevention.
I think it is more accurate, that if ICANN no longer requires personal data to be displayed in the WHOIS the need use a privacy service to prevent such display of personal data becomes obsolete, after all that is what a privacy service does, replacement of personal data from the registrant through the use a privacy proxy service.
Many data protection laws have a data minimization requirement, which is absent in the ICANN proposal. The Realtime Register privacy proxy service makes sure that such condition is fulfilled. Of course, there is a chance that ICANN will stop with the Thick WHOIS requirements, but for now, the ICANN community is not ready for such chance.
The ICANN model still requires that the organization/company field should always be displayed.
I do not agree, while it is true that companies are exempt from the GDPR, it is not up to ICANN to make the distinction here and would go against the recommendation of the ICANN PPSAI working group. This group recommended that there is no distinction between natural persons and companies when it comes to the usage of privacy proxy services. Why ICANN thinks they are in charge to make the distinction is beyond me.
In most cases, if not all, regional law or national law requires companies to publish their contact data on their website(s) NOT the WHOIS.
My advice to our customers, use our privacy service (or data protection compliance service) at all times. You can read more regarding this service here.
With ICANN 61 starting this week, we will soon know more how the WHOIS will look like. ICANN still seeking input, so some of it is subject to change, though I think we have a rough outline now on how it will look like.