Share with Digg Share with Del.icio.us Share with StumbleUpon Share with Facebook Printer Friendly Version

Private Domain Name Registration

Registering your domain name is like registering your car: you pay a fee every year and the owner information is kept on file. If the domain name is stolen, the original owner can be located.

However, unlike your car registration information, the information that you're required to provide by the Internet Coalition for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is available for public scrutiny in the WHOIS directories.

That means that scammers, stalkers, spammers and con artists have access to your personal mailing address, e-mail and telephone numbers. They also know the date you registered your domain and when it's due to expire, as well as the host name and IP address of the server on which the site is located. Clearly, this invasion of privacy can be dangerous for both you and your business.

For an additional fee, you can protect your private information with private domain name registration or proxy registration. The proxy service replaces your information with its own name, address, phone number and e-mail. In return for your fee, the service can filter your mail. Based on agreed criteria, the service forwards you legitimate mail and e-mail while discarding spam e-mails and/or shred the junk mail.

Be warned, though, that domain names that have extensions such as .us, .ca or .uk (country names) cannot be protected in this way. Although the .us extension was formerly available to public agencies such as libraries or schools, it's now in use by private citizens. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration decreed in 2005 that owner information be kept public for .us domains.

Read the fine print when you buy proxy services. While some agree to maintain your privacy completely, others may divulge your information to third parties, according to their policies. Check to determine whether your privacy option is renewed automatically when you renew your domain name.

Contact Us Today