Whois - Public Information

I have noticed that GoDaddy has an option for extra $$$ where you can make the info private.

Nick, you can always put false information if you don't want your real one to be there. The only thing that you need to keep real is your email address.

Quote: Originally posted by zollet
Nick, you can always put false information if you don't want your real one to be there. The only thing that you need to keep real is your email address.

You can lie if you wish but you can lose your domain name if found out.

Quote: You should know that the information listed on your domain name has to be made publicly available per our Registrar’s agreement with ICANN, the international governing body of domain names. Using false information will violate the registration agreement and lead to the termination of your domain registration. That is also by agreement with ICANN.

Don't look at me, I'm not using false info, just trying to help

Zollet, all I challenged was your bit of advice to give out false info. Usually just give out the minimum amount of info that you can.

Interesting too, I looked into GoDaddy's private domain. It turns out that they keep it private because the domain is registered and owned by them not you.

On the one hand it does make it easier if you are trying to track owners of domains down as before on the UK ones it gave no useful information at all but I agree that it is a bit disconcerting to have all your information displayed!

If you give fake information, then i wouldn't get the domain register certificate from nominet.

Wow, I didn't know that before and most of my domains do use false information. Never had a problem with it before. oh, wait, one of them has correct information, but most of the time I put 5's in the phone number field, at least and I ususally leave my apartment number out of it too. I don't need more spam... or stalkers! But then again, it would be easy for someone to find that out anyway if they really wanted to...

Well, Megan, the good news is that they really don't go to any lengths to verify that the information is correct. I have one site at work that had an email address listed for it that never even existed. I setup the email address and immediately started getting spam galore. Stuff like rape videos and all kinds of garbage. Since the email address never even existed and was only listed on the whois database, that was where it came from. I put a filter on it that blocks all email which I can remove if I need to change the whois info.

The bad news is that ICANN has recently informed all registrars that they are going to start cracking down on false registration information.

They have in fact set up a special form on the Internic website for filing complaints.

If a complaint is filed against your domain, and the registrar is officially notified, you have 15 days in which to correct the data or your domain is DELETEd and dropped.

If your registrar is unable to contact you to update your information, you seriously run the risk of losing your domain. The penalty for a registrar not complying with the ICANN regulations is loss of their accreditation. Verisign has been threatened over some long standing complaints. They are complying.

You would be wise to use correct information for any domain you value.

-t

Personally, I value my personal privacy and was becoming VERY annoyed by marketers getting my home phone from my WHOIS and calling me at all times of the day trying to entice me into joining their "offshore casino program" or something of the like. The worst part is they would continue to call and check up with me and I finally got rid of them, but it was a huge nuisance.

Just last month, I got a PO Box for Internet-related things and I just use 000-000-0000 for my phone number because I don't want to be called by any more marketer ladies from Jamaica trying to get me to join their crappy affiliate program. Ugh!

Just read this about Nominet UK's plans for opt out:

Nominet UK has reconsidered its plans to expand the information returned by the WHOIS domain name look-up at http://www.nominet.org.uk. In light of particular concerns about the display of personal addresses, Nominet will be introducing an opt-out mechanism for non-trading individuals.

From 1 October 2002, the first phase of the expanded WHOIS will be implemented to include the registrant name, the address details for registrants that have been classified as businesses, the date on which the domain name is due for renewal and the name and web address of the registration agent. This first phase will not include the address details for non-trading individuals.

From 1 December 2002, the second phase of the WHOIS will be implemented. This will include the address fields for all domain names as they are registered or renewed, except where the registrant is a non-trading individual and has positively opted not to have their address details displayed. In other words, the address details for existing domain name holders will not be displayed until the month in which their domain name is renewed, providing that they have not opted out.

Non-trading individuals will be able to opt-out of the WHOIS by contacting their registration agent or ISP, who in turn will modify the domain name record held by Nominet so that the address details are not displayed. In these cases, the WHOIS will return the registrant's name, but the address field will state: "This individual has chosen to opt-out of the WHOIS. Contact via Agent."

Non-trading individuals who are eligible to opt-out comprise those who are not using or intending to use their domain name in the course of a business, trade or profession. In line with UK and European legislation, there will be no opt-out for domain name that are classified as businesses.

Taken from nic.uk