whois privacy for UK residents with .com domains?

US registrars make whois privacy (a.k.a. private domain registration) a
prominent feature of their packages, either providing it free or
charging extra for it.

However UK registrars of .com domains say nothing about whois privacy.

A good example is 1&1, whose US site places Private Domain Registration
at the top of their domain features list, while the UK site makes no
mention of it. Alas the services of the US site are only available to
residents of the US and Canada.

Does anybody have advice for UK residents with .com domains wanting
whois privacy?


Unix Guru

In article <45f2de69$0$8714$(E-Mail Removed)>,
(E-Mail Removed) says...
> US registrars make whois privacy (a.k.a. private domain registration) a
> prominent feature of their packages, either providing it free or
> charging extra for it.
>
> However UK registrars of .com domains say nothing about whois privacy.
>
> A good example is 1&1, whose US site places Private Domain Registration
> at the top of their domain features list, while the UK site makes no
> mention of it. Alas the services of the US site are only available to
> residents of the US and Canada.
>
> Does anybody have advice for UK residents with .com domains wanting
> whois privacy?
>
move it to a US registrar that offers the service. You are not tied to
the registrar you bought it off.

"Unix Guru" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:45f2de69$0$8714$(E-Mail Removed)...
> US registrars make whois privacy (a.k.a. private domain registration) a
> prominent feature of their packages, either providing it free or charging
> extra for it.
>
> However UK registrars of .com domains say nothing about whois privacy.
>


There is no such thing as whois privacy.
What you are doing is renting the use of a domain from another company that
owns it.
This is a legal minefield and under English law if we offered this service
we would be liable for any illegal activities undertaken by the registrants.
On civil issues we would get all the legal notices served on us.
Thats why we don't offer it.

Another by product of this is that you cant transfer a domain very easily
from a registrar that provides "privacy" because you will not be the owner
or admin contact.
This is one reason why they push it as a free "service"!

You need to consider what you are using the domain name for and why you
believe you are going to be tracked down by a hired killer.
I have had a personal domain name since 1996 and never had anyone contact me
via the whois details.

My advice is not to do anything on the internet you would not do face to
face.
That way no harm will come to you.


--


Gordon Hudson || Hostroute.com Ltd
e-mail:ghudson [at] hostroute.net
http://www.hostroute.co.uk/resellers Host 5 web sites for £9 per month
http://www.nameroute.co.uk/ Domain Names with free hosting and email
http://www.myqth.co.uk/ 3000MB of web space for £29 per year

In message <45f2e4f7$0$756$(E-Mail Removed)>, Gordon Hudson
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes

>I have had a personal domain name since 1996 and never had anyone contact me
>via the whois details.

Not even the Domain Registry Of America lot?
--
Martin Jay
Phone/SMS: +44 7740 191877

"Unix Guru" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:45f2de69$0$8714$(E-Mail Removed)...
> US registrars make whois privacy (a.k.a. private domain registration) a
> prominent feature of their packages, either providing it free or charging
> extra for it.
>
> However UK registrars of .com domains say nothing about whois privacy.
>
> A good example is 1&1, whose US site places Private Domain Registration at
> the top of their domain features list, while the UK site makes no mention
> of it. Alas the services of the US site are only available to residents of
> the US and Canada.
>
> Does anybody have advice for UK residents with .com domains wanting whois
> privacy?

http://www.domainsbyproxy.com which is provided by http://www.godaddy.com

"Martin Jay" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> In message <45f2e4f7$0$756$(E-Mail Removed)>, Gordon Hudson
> <(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>
>>I have had a personal domain name since 1996 and never had anyone contact
>>me
>>via the whois details.
>
> Not even the Domain Registry Of America lot?

OK I will let you off with that one, but I actually find that useful as it
lets me keep track of what they are doing (which mainly seems to be faxing
me these days).


--


Gordon Hudson || Hostroute.com Ltd
e-mail:ghudson [at] hostroute.net
http://www.hostroute.co.uk/resellers Host 5 web sites for £9 per month
http://www.nameroute.co.uk/ Domain Names with free hosting and email
http://www.myqth.co.uk/ 3000MB of web space for £29 per year

In article <45f2e4f7$0$756$(E-Mail Removed)>,
Gordon Hudson <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I have had a personal domain name since 1996 and never had anyone contact me
>via the whois details.

I beat you by a year, and I've had all sorts of weird stuff turn up in
the post addressed to me (or my domain!) (Apart from the usual domain
registry of america, or that Swansea bloke, or some other outfit in
cambridge recently)

Not had much recently though. Maybe it just costs them too much. I love
it when US companies (the SEO sellers!) phone me on my mobile though -
I bet they think it's costing me to take the call, so I keep them hanging
on as long as I can...

>My advice is not to do anything on the internet you would not do face to
>face.
>That way no harm will come to you.

Don't you belive it ... I've been bullied by lawyers in the past for
things not even on my own doing )-:

Gordon Henderson

In article <45f2e4f7$0$756$(E-Mail Removed)>, Gordon Hudson
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>There is no such thing as whois privacy.
>What you are doing is renting the use of a domain from another company that
>owns it.
>This is a legal minefield and under English law if we offered this service
>we would be liable for any illegal activities undertaken by the registrants.
>On civil issues we would get all the legal notices served on us.
>Thats why we don't offer it.
>

Is that true in all cases? I use the privacy add-on offered by Network
Solutions but I certainly own my domain name. All that happens is that
they change the owner, admin & tech contact addresses to be something
like this:-

Registrant:
Bloggs, Joe
ATTN: MYDOMAIN.COM
c/o Network Solutions
P.O. Box 447
Herndon, VA. 20172-0447

Domain Name: MYDOMAIN.COM

Administrative Contact:
Bloggs, Joe (E-Mail Removed)
ATTN: MYDOMAIN.COM
c/o Network Solutions
P.O. Box 447
Herndon, VA 20172-0447
570-708-8780

Technical Contact:
The Hudson Consultancy (E-Mail Removed)
ATTN: MYDOMAIN.COM
c/o Network Solutions
P.O. Box 447
Herndon, VA 20172-0447
570-708-8780