This particular area of study focuses on the extent to which domain names used to conduct illegal or harmful Internet activities are registered via privacy or proxy services to obscure the perpetrators identity. ICANN is seeking to engage independent research organizations to undertake this study.
Additional:
http://gnso.icann.org/issues/whois/whois-proxy-abuse-study-propposal-18may10-en.pdf
http://gnso.icann.org/issues/whois/whois-proxy-abuse-study-18may10-en.pdf