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  1. #1

    Domain Registrar with good Whois Privacy Protection?

    Are there any domain registrars in the US that actually provide good Whois Privacy Protection?

    After reading up on various sites, it seems like a lot of registrars give up the whois contact info without even legal subpoena or legal action. What's the point of Privacy Protection if there's really no protection?

    So the question is which registrars actually protect their customers in a fair way?

  2. #2
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    Namecheap does, but do note that if they get legal subpoena's and legal action they are required to give it up.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
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    Privacy protection services substitute your contact info for theirs as the owner (registrant) in the WHOIS. Whoever is listed as the registrant in the WHOIS is considered the legal owner - and is liable for any misdeeds. Registrars will not take that liability - you aren't paying them enough - so they revert ownership back to you at (varying degrees) signs of trouble.

  4. #4
    When I read online that GoDaddy will just hand over the info to someone who gives them a call with no real legal reason/authority, that sounds questionable.

    So Namecheap adheres to legal subpoena/action before disclosing the info? Any other registrars that offer that same level of protection or better?

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by dvnet View Post
    When I read online that GoDaddy will just hand over the info to someone who gives them a call with no real legal reason/authority, that sounds questionable.

    So Namecheap adheres to legal subpoena/action before disclosing the info? Any other registrars that offer that same level of protection or better?
    That was an isolated incident with GoDaddy. If someone threatens with legal action, they aren't going to cover you, they are going to expose your info. If your doing something shotty then you deserve to have your info out. I am sure if you really cared you would spent the $30 every 6 months for a P.O. Box or something.

  6. #6
    I use enom and they are pretty good. the legal thing, im pretty sure it applies to every registrar. if the law says they have to provide your details, they will.

    Also, the point of a private registration is to avoid spams and unsolicited contacts, not to hide your identity to do something illegal

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
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    DomainsByProxy says on its website that it will only reveal your identity with a valid US subpoena, without this you are not even allowed to apply for disclosure.

  8. #8
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    As someone else mentioned, the reason to use whois privacy is to protect against spam, and not to hide for illegal purposes.

    All US based registrars will give up your info with a subpoena, because the consequences of ignoring one can include jail time for them. So if you're looking to hide out, then look to non-US based registrars.
    Sue

    A generation which ignores history has no past — and no future. --Lazarus Long

  9. #9
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    A good non US-based domain registrar is Katzglobal. I have been using them for almost three years now... They register your domain under a Singapore address... and second , they never ask for your persoanl data.... so they can't hand over something they don't even have...

  10. #10
    Name.com do have free privacy protection.

  11. #11
    Whois privacy is a double edged sword. On one side, it does provide a measure of protection against spam, as well as, identity obfuscation for those who seek to do so. On the other side, is the increased risk of losing one's domain(s) if the underlying registrar goes belly-up - remember RegistryFly?

    Even with the ICANN data escrow requirements for registrars, if the underlying registrar escrows the proxy information and not your information, there is the latent risk of losing domains. ICANN already knows this and may soon require registrars (and therefore resellers) to post in your face warnings to all end users at registration, that the use of proxy or private registration services means one's true registrant data is not being escrowed.

    The reality is that using private registration should be done selectively. Like anything in life, doing one thing all the time, only increases the chances of catastrophic failure. For domains, which may hold longer term value, consider a standard registration, since the benefits likely outweigh the negatives. If you don't know if a domain is going to hold longer term value, then use a private registration for a year and then revaluate at renewal.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by BristolSue View Post
    As someone else mentioned, the reason to use whois privacy is to protect against spam, and not to hide for illegal purposes.

    All US based registrars will give up your info with a subpoena, because the consequences of ignoring one can include jail time for them. So if you're looking to hide out, then look to non-US based registrars.
    Thats the main reason why OP want to have a domain registrar who DO NOT give up the details!

    @OP,

    It seems you have to look for some non-US based registrars...
    IndoUS Hosting Quality IT Services since 2004
    Shared Hosting • Reseller Hosting • Dedicated Servers • Domain Names
    Custom Web Development • Mobile Application Development • SEO
    Custom E-Commerce Solutions, Sports Portals, Health Care - Health Tourism Portals

  13. #13
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    Katzglobal is indeed good in protecting you but as far as I understand, if they go out of business, then your domain is also gone. This is one very important consequence to consider before going with them.

    DomainsByProxy are infact supposed to adhere to what they claim, but there are cases which shows that they do not do so.

    I would like to point out here that its not always for illegal purposes, there are middle ground cases. So assuming that anyone who is looking for some privacy service that truely adheres to what they claim does not mean that one is seeking such a protection for illegal purposes (in all cases).
    Last edited by wakh; 01-06-2010 at 10:27 AM.

  14. #14
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    Shinjiru have private domain registration which is true whois privacy. It's a bit more expensive than the usual registration fee, but it's worth it. I'm paying $15.90/yr for a .com that is with Shinjiru.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by CH-Shaun View Post
    Shinjiru have private domain registration which is true whois privacy. It's a bit more expensive than the usual registration fee, but it's worth it. I'm paying $15.90/yr for a .com that is with Shinjiru.
    What do you mean by true privacy service? How do they provide it?

  16. #16
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    Anonymous domain registration

  17. #17
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    What about the domain control in case the company goes out of business? Who retains the ownership of the domain?

  18. #18
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    Why was this three month old thread resuscitated?

    What are you doing on the Internet that requires "super" privacy protection?
    if ($link == "me")
    {
    echo "
    http://oliviaheart.com";
    }

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Techno View Post
    Privacy protection services substitute your contact info for theirs as the owner (registrant) in the WHOIS. Whoever is listed as the registrant in the WHOIS is considered the legal owner - and is liable for any misdeeds. Registrars will not take that liability - you aren't paying them enough - so they revert ownership back to you at (varying degrees) signs of trouble.
    Exactaly.

    Dynadot only changes mail and address, to keep privacy and block spam, but leave your name there, so that they are not set as legal owners. Doing so they demand that they don't need to provide your info, anybody just use theirs to contact you and they forward it.

    http://www.dynadot.com/domain/privacy.html

  20. #20
    Hello,

    The best DNS registrar is Enom and Godaddy. They have the best control panel from where we have our desired results. At bit costlier, but worth money.

    You have any queries on this, then you can contact us.

    Thank you.

  21. #21
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    Jun 2005
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    5,929
    Name.com has the best privacy. And it's free.
    Signature Under Construction.

  22. #22
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    Jan 2002
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    Colombia, South America
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    Thumbs up HEXONET - Thank you! I was contemplating private WHOIS

    Quote Originally Posted by HEXONET View Post
    Whois privacy is a double edged sword. On one side, it does provide a measure of protection against spam, as well as, identity obfuscation for those who seek to do so. On the other side, is the increased risk of losing one's domain(s) if the underlying registrar goes belly-up - remember RegistryFly?

    Even with the ICANN data escrow requirements for registrars, if the underlying registrar escrows the proxy information and not your information, there is the latent risk of losing domains. ICANN already knows this and may soon require registrars (and therefore resellers) to post in your face warnings to all end users at registration, that the use of proxy or private registration services means one's true registrant data is not being escrowed.

    The reality is that using private registration should be done selectively. Like anything in life, doing one thing all the time, only increases the chances of catastrophic failure. For domains, which may hold longer term value, consider a standard registration, since the benefits likely outweigh the negatives. If you don't know if a domain is going to hold longer term value, then use a private registration for a year and then revaluate at renewal.
    This well written post really got my attention. I am going to register a new domain name and was contemplating WHOIS privacy for it. To eliminate the remote possibility of losing the domain name, I will not get WHOIS privacy for it. Thank you HEXONET!

  23. #23
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    Feb 2008
    Posts
    237
    I've never seen a domain being lost due do private whois, but I've seen domains being stolen while they had read whois info.

    Let's not spoof ourselves. Based on actual domain registration structure, the one who has most power over domains is the registrar. ICANN only controls the root nameservers (with exception to .com and .net, that it controls the registry too), the registries are on the hands of private commercial companies, and only link each domain to its registrar.

    Most domains control is on registrars hands. They own whois info, they own the list of authority nameservers that control each domain DNS data. And they have the power to change any of these, it's on their control panel that we go to change it, we don't have direct access to registry or ICANN.


    It's illegal, but I've seen (recently, here in the forum, with HostGator) a case of a brand registered domain being stolen from its registrant due to hosting divergences, the registrar even changed whois info (that was not in private mode) and blocked registrant access to control panel.

    It's illegal, but I've seen (sex.com case) registrar push a domain to another person without the registrant authorization. It's illegal, but I've seen (familyalbum.com, something like that, done by Godaddy) a registrar sell a registered domain to somebody that pointed it had outdated whois info, which was not in private mode too.

    Registrars have the power to move domains to whoever they want, and change whois info to whatever they want. And after it's done, it's very hard to get it back, even more if the thief moves the domain to another registrar just after stoling it.

    What to do in those cases? Sue the registrar when possible and try to get it back contacting the registry and ICANN, but again ICANN rarely take any attitude on those cases, and internationally sueing somebody is damn expensive.

    If a registrar changes your domain's whois info prior to stealing it, what will you be able to do? Legally its ownership was moved and it's the new owner, gg

    Also, when a domain expires, it's not released so that anybody can FCFS get it. Registrars move expired domains to their related parking or backorder company, without giving any chance of other registrars try to get it.

    This is other fact we must be careful. We are not properly buying domains, we are actually renting domains. If we forget to renew registration and it expires, we badly lose our domains and registrars get control over them.



    What stops registrars of stealing our domains? The fact that credibility and confidence are the most important value a registrar may have. And it's more profitable for them to charge us for registration and leave those domains in our control than stealing them and setting them under parking. They are not able at all to develop thousands of domains, and also doing so would "break" the internet, and of course major legal actions would be taken if many ppl were stolen, since they have the power but don't have the right to do it.

    We shouldn't lay our domains on registrars that we don't trust in the first place. If a registrar is untrustful, it doesn't matter if whois info is proxied or not, the risk of losing it exists. And if we trust our registrar, having whois info proxied or not doesn't change much either, we trust our domains are safe. It ends up with private whois not mattering so much.

    The only situation when private whois itself is prejudicial is the pointed one, when the registrar goes down at once and has no chance to change whois info. If the registrar is totally inactive and inaccessible, and we must go to registry or ICANN to get our domain back, having private whois info will make it harder. But still, if we have billing data comproving we registered the domain, and nobody else is demanding to be its owner, I believe it may still be recovered.

  24. #24
    I use Namecheap for free whois in the first year.

  25. #25
    Join Date
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    Location
    Barcelona
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    namecheap

    I use namecheap because it include FREE whois privacy. The com costs me just under $10 and the privacy is free. If i purchase the domain for 10 years I still get 10 years of privacy for free. I do not know of any other provider with this service.

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