Protecting Your Whois Information

If you run a company and have your domain registered under the name of that company, having your Whois information public might actually do your business some good. If something ever goes wrong with your website, Internet-savvy customers will still know how to contact you.

But if you are an individual or someone running a controversial website, having your name out there for everyone to see, might make you uncomfortable. Unfortunately, Internet rules govern that the contact information on your domain be current (i.e. your present address, reachable phone number, etc.).

There are some companies, including many registrars that offer domain privacy for an additional fee. It is, however, unclear how much privacy they actually provide. Some of these companies have been known to hand over contact information of registrants with little persuasion from law enforcement or other government entities in various countries. If you absolutely need privacy and have no other options, the best thing you can do is not use your home address, phone number, or your primary email address.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Hide your identity with WHOIS privacy protection

When you register a domain, you are required to supply your registrar with accurate contact details. These are used not only for clerical purposes and to prevent fraud, but also, per ICANN rules, must be added to the official WHOIS database.

WHOIS is essentially a giant phonebook for the web. Enter any domain, and it will report the name of its owner as well his/her address, telephone number, and email. This publicly available data makes it easy to contact a website owner, but also opens the door for unwanted solicitation.

In my case, I receive at least two pieces of junk mail per week in my mailbox related to one of my domain names. I’ve also received phone calls from advertisers asking if I would like to buy their products for my business, using a domain as my company name.

To avoid this hassle, nearly all registrars offer WHOIS privacy protection for a nominal fee. This useful service hides your name and phone number, but includes a special email address where people can contact you if they need to. For me, the added cost to my yearly domain registration fee is worth the peace of mind privacy protection provides.

Photo | melodi2

Should falsifying domain contact information be illegal?

Few Americans know that it is in fact illegal to to falsify personal details when registering a domain. With the enacting of the Truth in Domain Names Act in 2003, it became a crime to “knowingly and with the intent to defraud” provide false contact information to a domain registrar. Offenders are punishable by up to 5 years in prison and/or fines.

The law was enacted with the goal of protecting Internet users and to fight child pornography online. To help support their case, the bill’s sponsors gave the example of John Zuccarini, a notorious typosquatter who faced several lawsuits for his cyber crime. However, those behind the lawsuits were unsure if the name– obtained from the WHOIS database– was even accurate.

A number of organizations, including the ACLU, have criticized the law for being over ambiguous and violating civil liberties, most notably the right to privacy. While I think it is important to keep the Internet honest, I don’t see how this law is doing much good. It does nothing to impose regulation at the registrar level and is designed to be enforced after the fact. As in the case of Zuccarini, even if false contact data is provided, how can the authorities track down the real registrant?

According to one estimate, 10% of all domain registrations are under false names. That seems like an awfully high number. My guess is most of these people do not know about WHOIS privacy services and are simply trying to protect their identities. Perhaps this situation would be better handled by registrars. A much more effective deterrent would be to force registrars to verify domain contact data and then purge registrations if the details do not match up. But of course, nothing will ever be that easy.

Sources | JCIL & iBLIS