This morning I received an email from WinHost talking about a new verification of Whois data being required:

We are writing to you today to let you know about some important changes to domain name registration procedures that could potentially affect every one of us. This applies to all gTLD domains (that is any domain whose extension is NOT a country code, such as .cc or .uk), and affects you whether you registered the domain through us or another registrar (though some details may be different elsewhere – check with your registrar to be sure).

On January 8, 2014, the domain registry authority ICANN introduced a new policy requiring that domain owners validate the WHOIS information after registering, transferring or modifying information for a domain.

FAILURE TO COMPLETE THE VALIDATION PROCESS WILL LEAD TO THE SUSPENSION OF YOUR DOMAIN NAME. So it’s important that you complete the validation process as soon as you receive the email notice.

When I searched the for any other information there was only one other hosting company that had this information posted as well. At the bottom of the email there was a “read more about the ICANN validation requirement” link. When I went to the ICANN site I didn’t see anything about suspending the domain. Not sure if this is just an interpretation that is unique to a few hosting/registrars or the wave of things to come.