I was trying to look up the whois on a domain and I found the have their contact info masked by domainsbyproxy.com. Is domainsbyproxy.com really necessary? I think it's a waste of money. If you don't want your real info displayed when someone does a whois can't you just change that info with your registrar? It's what I do.

You can not legally change it with your registrar outright, but with domainsbyproxy it is legal, and you can still be contacted for certain items via proxy.

You can't legally change it? Why not? It's your domain. After reading what you posted I went to my registrar's site and read the TOS and other info. I couldn't find one thing about changing the info for your domain being illegal.

All registrars and ICANN require that you provide factual information in your registration.
You can choose to pay a fee and have the information hidden but it is not within the ICANN tos to have false information.

I partially used the wrong wording, it is not "illegal" in the sense that you can get arrested, fined, or anything like that, but you can lose your domain for providing false info, as outlined below.


From ICANN website:

Whois Data Reminder Policy

* At least annually, a registrar must present to the registrant the current Whois information, and remind the registrant that provision of false Whois information can be grounds for cancellation of their domain name registration. Registrants must review their Whois data, and make any corrections.

Personally I think if you own a website the contact info should be there for all to see. If you don't want that infomation available to the the world at large then don'y buy domains. Simple ..

My main reason for this opinion is that it would go some way towards keeping the whole thing honest. Whilst there would still be rip off merchants it would reduce the risk somewhat.

Doc

I also think that if a person/company enters false or misleading info then they should lose that domain. Simple and easy to understand. In Australia to own a .com.au you have to be a registered business or at the least have a registered business name.
To register a business name you have to supply ALL your personal details including a real address not just a post office box. So all .com.au are tracable which is very comforting if you plan to do business with them.

Doc

I don't have false info, but this is making me kinda nervous. For the name part I have the name of my website. For the phone, fax and email I put in my email address. For the address bit I put in my email address as well but I did put in my correct city, state, country, zip code. DO you think that falls under false info?:(

Yes, I think it does, I just put real info on mine, but some addresses I don't check much, and phone numbers I don't answer, it goes right to a machine :)

Yup, your name is not your email...

Anyways, i found it pretty funny that on the domainsbyproxy site, it said this..

You tell
us to forward, not forward, or filter messages for spam
before forwarding.


EDIT: Thats on the "How Private Registrations work"

Geez, I guess I'll look into a masking serivce too. I don't run a store or anything where I accept people's money, I'm just paranoid, lol. In the beginning I did have my real info up and I started getting calls like crazy. Some even trying to get my bank account number. I even got some postal junk mail.

It should really be hidden and filed away what possible business do they need with webmasters' personal information being plastered on the net for spammers to use.

Generally this is done by people who have something to hide. I recently (couple of months ago) made the unfortunate decision to do business with someone on scriptlance (goes by username 'upstatedesign' or 'upstateupgrades', watch out for him). I paid him $75 for a script. He sent me a zip file w/ the script which I was never able to install because the script was corrupted. He didn't respond to my emails for help then finally responded once and disappeared. I was never able to get a refund and Paypal wouldn't help me. I tried to look up his whois info (www.upstateupgrades.com) and saw this domains by proxy thing. I called the toll free number to talk to an operator but hung up after being on hold for 15 mins. I doubt it ever even gets to an operator.

Originally posted by pixel_fenix
It should really be hidden and filed away what possible business do they need with webmasters' personal information being plastered on the net for spammers to use.
I totally agree.

Generally this is done by people who have something to hide.
Yeah, but I'm not out to scam or spam. I just don't want my info out there. I'm going to contact my registrar and ask them if they provide masking service.

My domain - XOnlineGames.com is protected by Domains By Proxy, i dont believe its a waste of money, You get a email account @domainsbyproxy.com and your info is protected.

Originally posted by Tee
My domain - XOnlineGames.com is protected by Domains By Proxy, i dont believe its a waste of money, You get a email account @domainsbyproxy.com and your info is protected.

Why do you need to protect your infomation. Out in the real world companies and individuals advertising in the various media give out contact infomation I meen if they don't give the infomation then they can't do business it's as simple as that. Why should people wishing to run a business or service from the internet be able to hide there details.

If Microsoft and IBM etc can give out there details they why can't you people. very suspicious.

Doc

I thought we were talking about personal domains.

Originally posted by pixel_fenix
I thought we were talking about personal domains. I suppose it depends what you classify as personal. It seems that these days most site have some commercial content. It is very hard to find site that are TOTALLY non commercial seems everybody is out to make money.

There is a lot of subdomains where people have private site, these are usually free sites from your local ISP or homestead etc. However they don't need to purchase a domain.

If you do own a totally non commercial site (private site) then I can't see the need for privacy anyway as why would people be looking it up anyway.

Doc

Originally posted by pixel_fenix
I thought we were talking about personal domains.
Yes we are.

If you do own a totally non commercial site (private site) then I can't see the need for privacy anyway as why would people be looking it up anyway.
I stated my reasons before.

Eskimo ... can you tell me what you classify as a private site. As you don't list a homepage in your profile I can't assertain whether or not your homepage is private or not.

pixel_fenix .. The site you have listed in your signature is definately a commercial site.

Doc

Of course it is I was talking about private sites like anime communities and other discussion groups that don't sell anything. There are plenty of those too.

Originally posted by pixel_fenix
Of course it is I was talking about private sites like anime communities and other discussion groups that don't sell anything. There are plenty of those too.

I am not sure what an anime site is. What I would class as a private site, is a site made by an individual and or family, with totally personal things on it. ... i.e. www.my private sight.com with things like .. this is "me and family at the beach" .. "Aunty Betty's cat" "about me" . Group discussion sites by there very definition aren't "private" there a group. One would assume in a group there would be an admin of some kind.

Group sites like Salvation Army, local football club, art group would have the site details registered. Now that I think about it a bit a lot of private sites do have there details on the site itself. What you do find happening with private sites is that as time goes by they tend to start trying to make money, maybe not in any large way. just thinks like adding links etc. Once a site has links to other sites then it is 100% private any more.

Doc

Wow... Doc's posts are completely unneccessary. (Note it's personal, not private. As in the address would be their home address? Yeah.)

Anyway, with the numerous scams going on to get you to transfer your domain, etc. that service is beginning to seem as if it has it's benefits. It's also good if you provide anonymous reselling to your clients.

But for personal sites, it's a definite must if the fees aren't too high. I know *I'd* rather not have my home address accessible to anyone that wants to know.