Domain Registration Privacy
October 4th, 2009 by ComputerBob
I’ve had Web sites since 1997, starting with simple sites that I created on free Web hosting services.
Over the years, I’ve used many different Web hosts, but I’ve stuck with NameCheap.com as my domain name registrar for many years, because I’ve been very happy with their prices and level of service.
One NameCheap service that I’ve always used — for my own domains as well as those of my clients — has been their “Whoisguard” service. I pay a couple of dollars more per year for the Whoisguard service on each of my domain names, in order to protect my privacy. Whoisguard allows me to use my personal name, address, telephone number, etc., (as required by law) when I register my domain names, but instead of displaying my personal information publicly to anyone who does a WHOIS search of my domain, Whoisguard displays only an anonymized email address @namecheap.com as my contact information. In other words, it protects my personal contact information from being exposed to spammers and other malicious individuals or organizations, while still allowing any legitimate contact with me: If someone needs to contact me, and they aren’t smart enough to simply click on the Contact Me link that appears in the left navigation column of every single page of this Web site, they can write to my domain registration’s publicly-displayed NameCheap.com anonymized email address, and NameCheap will forward their message to my real email address.
Unfortunately, spammers and other bad guys also use services like Whoisguard, which allow them to hide their identities and make it harder for anyone to prosecute them for their cybercrimes.
Here’s an interesting discussion about the pros and cons of domain registration privacy services like Whoisguard.
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http://www.computerbob.com/wp/domain-registration-privacy.php
Tags:
Consumer Info, Cybercrime, Ethics, Internet, Law, Rights, Security, Web Development