What Is Private Domain Registration
Private domain registration is a service offered by domain registrars that hides your personal information, such as name, email, phone number, and physical address, and inputs a proxys information instead of your own. Usually, domain registrar services offer the WHOIS privacy protection to list generic versions of these details.
The most common dangers of public domain registration is that you can get sales calls, spam mail, and spam email from people whove taken your information off the WHOIS database.
Private domain registration is offered for a fee at some registrars GoDaddy charges as much as $9.95 additionally every year. At DomainNameSanity, on the other hand, we offer it for free.
So if you register your domain as private, when someone enters your domain into WHOIS lookup, theyll see information that belongs to a proxy. Dont worry, though youll still maintain full control of your domain and what you want to do with it.
One piece of information that remains public even with a private domain registration are the domain name servers. Furthermore, if its required by law, your registrar may have to disclose your personal information to the authorities.
Because Anyone Can Access Your Personal Information
ICANN requires any website owner to provide contact information
ICANN
You may already know that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers requires anyone who owns a website to provide full contact information for the domain that they are looking to purchase.
But did you know that if youve ever registered a domain, all of the contact details attached to your web hosting domain are publicly available to anyone on the Internet? This is all thanks to the WHOIS, a database that keeps a full record of who owns a domain and how to get in contact with them.
On the database, anyone can enter your registered domain name into the search bar, and retrieve your personal information. In addition to your phone number, email address, and mailing address, WHOIS will have information about who the domain registrar is, which city theyre located in, when the registration expires, and when it was last updated.
While the database was created to hold individuals accountable for their domain, hackers and spammers can misuse your data for dishonest purposes. If youve been spending the last five minutes trying to think of ways to trick your domain registrar, such that you do not have to provide authentic information and data so that you will not be left susceptible, were about to disappoint you: youre only allowed to register a domain with authentic information.
Is Bluehost Domain Privacy Protection Worth It Do You Need It
Disclosure: We receive a commission from Bluehost if you purchase through one of our links. Purchasing through one of our links adds zero cost to you and can only save you money.
Domain Privacy Protection is a Bluehost package extra offered when you are signing up with Bluehost.
In my opinion, Bluehost Domain Privacy Protection is one of the most important Bluehost package extras offered.
In this post, not only will we cover what Bluehost Domain Privacy Protection is, we will cover two common questions asked when purchasing web hosting from Bluehost. The questions are, is Bluehost Domain Privacy worth it? Do You Need Bluehost Domain Privacy Protection?
By the end of this post, you will have a clear understanding of Bluehost Domain Privacy Protection so that you can make an informed decision on whether or not it is worth having.
We are excited to provide you with an exclusive Bluehost discount that will get you up to 70% off Bluehost hosting + a free domain name.
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The Best Way For Domain Protection
If the previous 5 reasons really impressed you and you are thinking about additional domain privacy, then you can acquire it without any problems. Thus, you will significantly save your time and stress about dealing with various spam messages and scammers.
Below, weve listed the best variants for private domain registrations:
What Is Whois And What Does It Do
WHOIS is the public online listing of every registered domain name in the world. By searching WHOIS, you can find out who owns any domain.
Domain name ownership and registration is regulated by The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers . You can search WHOIS by visiting the ICANNs WHOIS Lookup.
When a new domain is registered, a new record is created in WHOIS. Each record contains all of the contact information for the company or person who registered that specific domain.
These records include details for the registrant and the registrar as well as important dates, like the creation date and expiry date of the record, and nameservers. The record also shows contact information for administrative and technical needs should that be someone different than the registrant.
Below youll see the result from searching Web.com in WHOIS. Note that our contact information is protected because we used a registrar that offers private registration.
While WHOIS may seem like a simple database, the data it houses is extremely valuable.
First off, the WHOIS database helps reinforce the stability and security of the internet by making contact information available to network operators, internet service providers and incident response teams.
This information can help safeguard against fraud and make it easier to track down malicious spam or phishing scams. It can also support law enforcement combating cyber crimes and the abusive use of information.
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Private Vs Public Domain Registration
Lets go over how a private domain registration looks different from a public one.
When you look up a domain in the WHOIS database, you get information on several fields, such as:
- Registrant information. In private domain registration, you see the name of the domain registrar along with generic information about email, phone, and physical address. In public domain registration, its your personal information.
- Registrant organization. In public domain registration, this is where your organizations name would stand. In private domain registration, you get the name of the privacy providing service, or an email to the privacy services website. For instance, if your registrar is using PrivacyGuardian to keep your domain safe, you are provided with their link. Then, the only way for someone to contact you based on your domain, if you have registered it privately, is by filling out a form on PrivacyGuardians website. That way, they can make sure its not spam.
- Registrar. The name of your registrar will stay the same in both private and public domain registration.
- Contact information. A public domain will show your own contact information. A private domain will show generic contact information. However, the contact information of the domain registrar remains public in either case.
- Dates. The date of purchase, renewal, and expiration of the domain name are public in both cases.
- Name servers. Domain name servers are public in both cases.
What Are The Benefits Of Domain Privacy Protection
You might be asking yourself and other people, is the domain privacy worth it? What will I get? Why exactly should I get it?
Well, first and foremost, if you dont want your personal data, like your address and phone number, to be available to the world, that should be the reason enough to get domain privacy protection.
When information about your business is out there in the digital space, it is always vulnerable. If it falls into the wrong hands, it can become a problem for you for instance, domainhacking.
A whole range of things can go wrong if you dont mask your personal data with domain privacy protection. And thats precisely why you should know what can happen to understand the actual value of domain privacy protection.
#1: Your personal data can be accessed by anyone.
Domain hacking can be done in different ways, usually through unauthorized access. Hackers hijack the domain to explore how vulnerable the domain name registrars system is. Another way to hack the domain name is through social engineering it can also be hacked by hacking first into the domain owners email account integrated with the domain registration.
Due to such risks, its necessary to add a layer of domain protection privacy. It adds multiple safety and security methods to preserve your businesss private and confidential information and data. Without these layers, your data, such as exclusive customer data, can be stolen by, to say, your competitors.
#4: Your personal data can be sold.
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Your Own Domain Registrar
If you own a website, youll often have a domain name to go with it. Choosing a domain registrar is beyond the scope of this piece, although you will want to investigate what type of domain privacy you can access.
Still, the best place to start is with your current registrar because it will be the path of least resistance for implementing domain privacy. Most registrars have a similar dashboard:
Here, youll find many tools to help you manage your domain regardless of your task. However, youll notice that theres no explicit Domain Privacy option for this particular registrar. Instead, you get Domain Ownership Protection .
Thats one example of where several services come as a bundle for which youll pay a premium price. Here, you get WHOIS domain privacy and further protections such as the ability to lock the domain. This feature helps users avoid common mistakes, such as transferring a domain, changing the domains personal information, or canceling domain renewal. Its an added layer of protection that could be worth the cost.
As for activating something like DOP or the equivalent, its often done at the time of purchase. Though, youll also have a dedicated dashboard to handle the process after the fact too:
These generic steps will apply to most domain registrars. However, other registrars do things differently or more straightforwardly. Lets look at a couple of the major players.
Why You Might Want To Choose Ultimate Privacy & Protection:
If you dont have any security plans for your website, a basic Malware scan is a good to have. I imagine that you have security plans, and they can include GoDaddy, but I must admit that there are more affordable providers out there. If youre not interested in doing any backend integration at all though, GoDaddy is very convenient.
I think that these extra options are largely optional. While some of them offer additional piece of mind, and require no additional setup on your part, almost all of them can be achieved by other means either for less money or free. I do stand by my opinion above about the spam filter and additional redaction on the WHOIS directory, so I will personally be keeping the Full Domain Privacy & Protection once the term on the Ultimate one I bought for this blog post runs out, but I think there are people out there who could do just fine without. At the end of the day, I hope I have given you enough information to make up your own mind about it.
Please let me know what I can do to improve this article if you have any advice. I spent many hours trying to find this information and even a couple of hours over a few conversations chatting with customer service.
I hope you found this useful, and if you did, I would love for you to share it with your communities that might find this information useful too.
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Minimize Hacking Attempts On Your Website
IBM X-Force observed that 22% of attacks in Q2 of 2021 were tied to stolen credentials. What does this have to do with domain privacy?
Without domain privacy protection, you give one part of your credentials â your email â without any effort. And with your name, physical address, and WordPress website information present at their disposal, hackers have plenty to go on to crack your password.
Whois Domain Privacy Availability For Bluehost Domain Extensions
Not all Domain Extensions offered by Bluehost are allowed to have a private WHOIS record as each of the Registry sets its own rules and regulations regarding this. Generally, most of the ccTLDs offered by Bluehost do not allow the protection of WHOIS records by making use of their Domain Privacy Protection tool. In , the NTIA stated that the personal information of all the owners of the .us Domains must be made public and hence they wont be allowed to have the option of keeping their personal data as private.
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Whats In The Whois Directory
The public WHOIS database is a public directory that maintains a record of all domain registrations online. This includes domain registrant details, verifications, expiry, renewal dates, and more.
Its very similar to how an asset you own is registered under a governing authority or register. Think about your car or your house you wouldve registered it under a governing authority that records ownership, its start date, and duration.
However, what would happen if this information became available to the rest of the world? For an average user, this can create a big problem.
The main benefits of privacy protection are providing you privacy and protecting your data. But you do get many benefits from purchasing the service, such as a lock icon on web links, complete encryption on the transfer of information, rid of spam calls and emails, and much more.
If you do not have privacy protection on your domain, the ownership of any domain on the internet can be traced using the WHOIS lookup feature.
Add To An Existing Domain
If you remove privacy protection when you register a domain, dont worry, you can always change your mind and add it at a later date. However, if you have the option to apply privacy from the get-go, do so. If you dont apply privacy upfront, your information will be available to the public. There are tools available that allow people to find previously listed domain ownership data, transfer history, and historical sales records of a domain.
If you remove the protection that Namecheap offers, and your current domain is getting spammed, you should get domain privacy. Email and phone spam will be greatly reduced if you have privacy protection in place.
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Threats On The Internet Are Real Lets Get You Fully Protected
While GoDaddy domains include free privacy protection* to guard your personal info, our Full and Ultimate Domain Protection plans go further: they not only protect against threats like domain hijackers, but they can even prevent honest mistakes like accidental transfers or expirations and shield you from unauthorized access.
If you already have a domain, add protection in My Domains.
How Can You Get Domain Privacy Protection
Image Source: Unsplash.com
Now that weve covered the reasons why you should enable privacy protection for your domain, lets talk about where you can get it and at what price.
As we mentioned at the beginning of this article, domain privacy protection is usually available to you during the process of registering a new domain name, although that doesnt mean that you cant get it down the road, if you change your mind. More often than not, domain registrars and web hosting companies offer domain protection as an extra feature, which is available for a certain fee .
However, because we value and understand the need for privacy, NameSilo offers domain privacy protection of your information completely free of charge, while still complying with ICANN requirements.
In partnership with PrivacyGuardian.org, weve made sure that instead of your data being available to everyone, all your contact information that can be found on WHOIS is replaced with our Privacy Guardian defaults, including an anonymized custom email address for your domain . And we give you control over whether you want emails sent to your custom anonymized address forwarded to your real address. That way, you can rest assured that no one will be able to take advantage of your contract information.
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What Does It Mean When A Domain Is Privacy Protected
Answer:
What does it mean when a domain is privacy protected?
When a domain is privacy protected, it means that the domain owner opted to use a privacy service offered through their current registrar. All privacy services are a third-party service that replaces domain owners personal information with their third-party information in Whois records. Domain owners may opt to use privacy protection so that they can remain anonymous.When a domain is privacy protected, you have no way to contact the domain owner directly. You may contact the privacy service provider at the email provided in the Whois record for information pertaining to further contacting the domain owner. You may also visit the privacy service providers website in order to contact the registrant.
Still need help?
Domain Privacy Protection Is Worth It
Even if youre on a tight budget, theres a good chance you can afford the cost of domain privacy protection. For what it can save you in time fielding spam calls and emails, the cost is already worth it. But add to that the risks it protects you from, and the cost of domain privacy looks a lot more reasonable.
HostGator customers can easily add domain privacy protection when registering a new domain, or to a domain they already own within just a couple of minutes. Its quick, its affordable, and it offers real benefits.
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Enabling Or Disabling Privacy Protection For Contact Information For A Domain
When you register a domain with Amazon Route 53 or transfer a domain to Route 53, we enable privacy protection by default for all the contacts for the domain. This typically hides most of your contact information from WHOIS queries and reduces the amount of spam that you receive. Your contact information is replaced either with contact information for the registrar or with the phrase REDACTED FOR PRIVACY.
If you choose to disable privacy protection, you must disable it for all contacts for a domain. If you do disable privacy protection, anyone can send a WHOIS query for the domain and, for most top-level domains , might be able to get all the contact information that you provided when you registered or transferred the domain, including name, address, phone number, and email address. The WHOIS command is widely available its included in many operating systems, and its also available as a web application on many websites.
The information that you can hide from WHOIS queries depends on two main factors:
- The registry for the top level domain
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Most TLD registries hide all contact information automatically, some allow you to choose to hide all contact information, some allow you to hide only some information, and some do not allow you to hide any information.
Note
To enable or disable privacy protection for some domains, you must open a support case and request privacy protection. For more information, see the applicable section in :