SAN FRANCISCO - The group overseeing internet addresses is scrambling to balance the privacy of website owners and the right to know who is behind online pages.

The non-profit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) began a weeklong meeting Monday focused on the fate of the public "Whois" database, which shows contact information for those who own websites.

A General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) set to take effect in the European Union on May 25 could make revealing personal information about website owners in "Whois" illegal.

This week&39;s ICANN meeting in Puerto Rico is the last before the GDPR deadline.

"We will try to find a path forward," ICANN global domains division president Akram Atallah told AFP in a telephone interview.

"There is a lot of work still to be done, but we are working as fast as possible."

.@ICANN_President "How do you balance the right to privacy with a need for information for the secure Internet?" ICANN61 pic.twitter.com/71uQW3phyn — ICANN (@ICANN) March 12, 2018

While the GDPR backs the right of people to "be forgotten" online, it raises the question of whether to shield personally identifying information about website owners listed in a "Whois" directory created by ICANN for transparency.

The GDPR applies to people, not organisations with fictitious names, but comes into play if individuals are somehow identified, according to ICANN.

Problems arise, for example, if a company name or email address is the same as the person who owns it.

If ICANN were to simply discontinue the "Whois" index in Europe, that could create a haven for those from other parts of the world who want to hide which websites they own.

ICANN&39;s understanding is that "Whois" information can be published, as long as the non-profit group can justify that doing so is in the public interest.

"We propose trying to keep as much of the policy we have unchanged while being in compliance with the law," Atallah said.

Who sees Whois?

ICANN is refining a plan to divide "Whois" into two tiers - one open to the public as is currently the case and a second that could be accessed as needed by police, researchers or others with legitimate queries.

It remained to be determined whether journalists would get access, according to Atallah.

"We are asking data protection agencies in Europe for their advice on the plan and if it works," Atallah said.

Some behind websites complain that having contact information available to the public at "Whois" brings the potential for spam or even physical violence, according to ICANN.

Meanwhile, much focus has been put being able to find out who is behind websites or services to guard against cons or malicious manipulation of public opinion.

"We are trying to strike a balance," Atallah said.

ICANN contracts with registered website owners require them to provide identifying information for "Whois", but that clause would be invalid if it was made illegal.

"We hope that we can actually get the ICANN community to agree on a middle ground," Atallah said.

"This is forcing the issue."