How To Hide Your Information From Whois Lookups
Online privacy is incredibly important and some people do not want their contact details publicly available on the internet. For anyone who does not want to sell their domain or be contacted by those browsing the Whois directory, we highly recommend purchasing Advanced Security for all of your domains, which includes Whois Privacy, Domain Lock Plus, and a free SSL certificate. It masks your contact information and prevents spammers and telemarketers from using your information for no good.
Choose Your Whois Lookup Tool
Theres a bunch of different WHOIS lookup options online to check who owns a domain.
These tools help you quickly search the WHOIS database. They provide such information as:
- Contact details of the domain owner
- The domain name registration.
The Interner Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers provides a simple summary of the WHOIS records. You see:
- The expiry date.
- The owner of the domain.
- The registration date.
- Where the domain points to.
It is available in a number of languages. It also provides useful information about registration policies and other topics.
Contact The Domain Name Owner
If one of the steps above leads you to the website owner, its time to reach out! Craft an email letting them know that youre interested in purchasing the domain.
To avoid looking like spam, make sure your email conveys seriousness and professionalism. If you have a professional email address at a domain name you own, that will look more legitimate than one from a yahoo or aol account. If not, consider at least setting up a gmail address, which looks a bit more respectable.
Make sure your email includes:
- Your contact information both email and phone, so its easy for them to choose the method they prefer.
- Language that makes it clear youre willing to pay you may not want to include a specific offer yet , but theyre more likely to respond if they know this is a genuine business offer
- Something that shows your legitimacy how can you show youre a real person with serious intent? Maybe thats a link to a website you already run or a LinkedIn profile.
People get a lot of spam emails, so you want to clarify that youre a real person with real interest. If you can pull that off, the chances of getting a response are much higher.
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Website Being Held Hostage From Your Control
This happens every day so first you should know you are not alone!Business owners and nonprofit organizations are losing control of their websites because they are too trusting and not asking the right questions.Hiring a web development partner is an important decision. You should make sure that before you allow someone to handle your online presence they are open and honest and care about your business.
Reasons you may have lost access to your website include:
- You had a partner but had a falling out and they have all the credentials
- Your relationship ended and your significant other will not give you access
- A web developer has gone missing in action
- A disagreement over payment is keeping a designer/developer from releasing the website
While there are ways you may be able to get your website back under your ownership as we have outlined below sometimes getting it back is just not an option.Below we are outlining some important things to know before hiring a web developer and some real issues others have been through and how you can solve them .
Make Sure The Domain Is Registered
You wont know for sure if the domain youre interested in is registered until you check for yourself. The easiest way to check is to search for the domain name at a registrar like Name.com. That way, if the domain is available, or being resold as Premium Domain, you can easily purchase it directly from the registrar. If the domain is listed as unavailable, it is likely already registered and youll need to turn elsewhere for more details.
But before you resort to trying to buy a domain that is already registered , its worth looking into alternative options for domain names. You might find that by using a different or new domain extension, you can get the SLD you want for a fraction of the price.
Also Check: How Much Does It Cost To Register A Domain Name
Come Up With New Ideas For Your Domain Name
If your negotiations dont bode well and you cant secure ownership for the domain name, youll have to brainstorm some new ideas. Try these tips to help you choose a domain name without having to completely start from scratch:
- Opt for a different top-level domain . Many websites use a .com TLD, but you can also see if your domain name is available at a .co, .org, .shop, .biz, or other TLD.
- Add a word to your domain name. Words like shop and buy make excellent additions to your domain name. If shoes.com isnt available, for example, you could do shopshoes.com or buyshoes.com.
- Get help from a domain name generator. Get ideas from Shopifys free domain name generator. Plug in your ideas and keywords and youll get popular and alternative domain names to use for your business.
Find your perfect domain name
Search for domain name ideas and instantly check domain availability.
Why Is Determining A Domain Name Registrant Important
Determining a domain name registrant is important for many reasons:
- The lookup can verify that the registrant details of your personal domains are properly entered. If they are not, you may miss renewal notices, purchase offers, partnership requests and the like.
- If you are interested in making an offer on an already registered domain name, you can easily lookup contact information, such as the owners name, mailing address, email address and telephone number.
- If you are tying to protect your personal information, a lookup can tell you if the privacy controls youve put in place are actually in effect.
Also Check: How Much Does It Cost For A Domain Name
Looking Up Who Owns A Domain Name
The first thing you need to know is that WHOIS is not an acronym. Its a rare internet find where the word just makes sense.
Who is the owner of this domain and how can I find them?
A WHOIS lookup is a simple method to gain contact information and find out who owns a site.
Heres an example of how WHOIS lookup works with ICANN WHOIS Lookup:
Ever wondered who is behind a certain website?
If youre looking for a way to check who owns a domain name, youre in the right place.
In this article, we discuss how you can find out a domain owners information easily by using a WHOIS lookup tool.
Domain Ownership Is Serious Business
Domain names have many strict rules to ensure a domains security. Think about it from our point of view: How do we know you are who you say you are? And, more importantly, how do we know that the current domain owner agrees to transfer ownership of the domain?
Think about it like this:
Customer: Hi, this is Patricia from Google. I need to log in and change our DNS settings but cant get the login info. Can you send it to me?
Hover: Sure, here you go!
Doesnt seem right, does it?
To make sure that your domain is in the right hands, be sure to get things right the first time, so you dont have to scramble at the last minute or even worse, be out of luck.
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Contacting The Domain Owner
Since the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation came into force on 15th May 2018, the personal contact details of domain owners in the EU can no longer be published. You can only find out who owns a domain by contacting the domain provider, who then forwards the request to the domain owner. Reasons for contacting the domain owner may include general and technical inquiries, domain sale inquiries, as well as information in the event of possible misuse of the domain or domain name.
With .uk domains, Nominet will ordinarily not release your personal data without your consent. The exception to this is in the case of a legitimate request from, for instance, a law enforcement agency or a trademark holder wishing to enforce their intellectual property rights.
How Is The Gdpr Applicable To Webnamesca
Under Recital 23 of the GDPR, Webnames.ca claims no nexus with the EU, EEA nor the citizens of either, and therefore claims non-applicability of the GDPR to any and all aspects of its business.
Despite this, many of the domain Registries that Webnames is partnered with to provide domain extensions must comply fully with the GDPR. The changes to policies and procedures required of these partners will affect what information is collected, shared and displayed, and may result in changes to agreements and terms.
Notwithstanding, many domain Registries with whom Webnames.ca contracts must fully comply with the GDPR, and therefore these Registries may implement policies or procedures relating to WHOIS data which result in changes. These changes may include, but are not limited to,?variations in what WHOIS data is included and how it is displayed via the Webnames’s WHOIS lookup page.
Therefore, in regards to WHOIS output:
Where the domain Registry is the sole source of Registrant WHOIS data for the queried domain, the WHOIS data will be displayed by Webnames in whatever form it is received from the Registry, without alteration of any kind. This may result in some fields, particularly those containing Personally Identifiable Information being absent, blank or redacted.
Also Check: Cost To Buy A Domain Name
If A Domain Is Registered For A Partner
If you start a business, club, or organization with other people, similar principles apply. Things happen, businesses fail, and relationships can go south rather quickly. Its like a divorce, but with your business at stake.
If things get ugly and legal, assets can get frozen. And if we get conflicting information about an account or domain, we may be forced to block it until the issue is sorted out. That means no one can access the account or domain to take a website down or put it back up, to pay for a renewal, or any other function.
Sometimes we even find that people forget about domains once businesses fail, and their partners never receive expiry notifications because they were never on the account. There are all kinds of legal considerations, especially if a business is successful. So please, ensure that the domain and related accounts are not just in one persons name with singular access. Ensure that the account shows proof of more than one principle, or is focused on the organization, rather than one founders name, payment, and contact details.
How To Find Out Who Owns A Website Or Domain
You can also find out when it’s going to expire
Wouldnt it be nice to know who owned a certain website? Previously, I wrote about how you can find out who is hosting a website, but that only tells you where the server is located. If you want to verify the owner of a domain name or see when one expires , performing a WHOIS lookup is the way to go.
If you perform a search in Google for WHOIS, youll get a bunch of results, but normally the first one is whois.net. By visiting www.whois.net, you can not only find out who owns a certain domain name, but also when it was purchased and more importantly, when it is due to expire.
Looking up a domain name on www.whois.net is very simple. All you have to do is enter in the web address you want to look up and presto all the information you wanted will appear. For example, if you look up the website address for the WHOIS site, you will find out some important information. In the screen shot below, we can tell that the domain name was purchased in 1997 and they have paid for it through 2018 .
While WHOIS is a great reference for when you want to find information about someone elses website, but it can be a problem when its the other way around. When purchasing a domain or even afterwards, most companies provide a private registration benefit that will remove any personal information about the owner.
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Why Transfer To Domaincom
Domain.com is one of the leading registrars in the industry for a reason. We offer the ability to easily manage your domains from a single, user-friendly platform. We also offer a comprehensive set of features for all of your needs under a straightforward pricing structure, with fantastic customer service to boot.
Tips When Making Your Ca Purchase
Always register the domain name yourself
Never let third parties, such as a marketing agency, complete a registration on your behalf. This can become a problem if you part ways and no longer have access to the account managing your domain name.
Register common variations of your name
If your company or product is commonly misspelled, register the alternate domain names and forward them to your primary website. This helps protect your brand identity and ensures no one else can register these domain names.
Provide accurate contact information
CIRA and your registrar will use the contact information provided during the registration process to communicate important information about your domain name.
Register a .CA with French-accented characters
The .CA domain registry supports French accented characters within domain names: é, ë, ê, è, â, à, æ, ô, , ù, û, ü, ç, î, ï, ÿ. When a .CA domain name is registered, all variations with accented characters are reserved for the original registrant exclusively.
Choose a registration term length that works for you
You can register a domain name from one to 10 years at a time. A longer registration period, combined with setting up auto-renewal with your registrar, can help you ensure your .CA domain name remains registered and active.
Protect your domain
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When Is It Ok For A Developer To Keep Website Control
The only situation we can think of is if a client does not pay for the website in full.We have a contract in place that states we do not release the website until the final payment is received it is a clear line item in our contract. If a web agency has a similar statement, then they have every right to keep control of the website UNTIL you pay them for the balance they are owed.If you are with-holding payment for a reason then please be clear with the agency or developer as to why you are not sending that payment so they can rectify the situation.Communication is KEY to ensuring you are happy as a client and the developer is happy as a service provider.If no contract is in place then you may have been too trusting and there is no obligation for the agency or developer to release it and you are hoping they will do the right thing. Not sure that is a chance you want to take with your business!