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Private Domain Registration

Private Domain RegistrationA private domain registration means that your personal information as owner of the domain name will not be made public.  Personal information required to obtain a domain often includes your name, home address, office address, phone numbers and email address.  ICANN, which is the governing body for domain names demand that every registrar must have a publicly accessible WHOIS directory.  Website owners are then required to divulge valuable private information.  And this information is available to the public 24/7.  This means anybody can see the information on WHOIS directory sites any time of the day.

Some individuals may not like the total transparency of personal details.  Website owners especially avoid being the target of scammers, spammers, online marketers and other shady characters.  They do not like the idea of allowing some people accessing their sensitive data. That is when a private domain registration becomes necessary.  A private domain registration can prevent this unnecessary situation from occurring.  Domain registrars often offer this option to customers. 

Domain privacy is a service offered by many domain registrars.  A client purchase this service to keep his details private.  So how does this work? Using a private domain registration, a website owner can register the domain in his or her name and then put the name of a private domain company as the name that appears as Registrant in the WHOIS public directory.

The private domain company now appears as the Registrant of the domain name.  But, in truth, the website owner or domain name owner is the real owner.  The private domain company is simply a proxy.  That means, the one who purchases the domain name still has full control over the domain. 

In a private domain registration, the real owner retains the complete benefits of owning a domain name and enjoy the rights to do the following:

  1. cancel, sell, renew or transfer the domain name
  2. set up the name servers for your domain
  3. settle disputes or issues regarding your domain

Domain name owners can exercise all these rights the same way that usual domain name registrants enjoy theirs.  Plus they get to enjoy another advantage which is to keep their owner’s information private, away from the public’s eyes. Therefore, it is not possible for unscrupulous people to access personal data of the owner.

With private domain name registation, the name of the private domain company will appear in your WHOIS directory files along with other pertinent information such as address, phone number and email.

It is important to choose your registrar wisely in a private domain registration.  Some services may not be truly anonymous as they provide private information readily to others if someone else requests them. 

Other registrars, however, though go to great lengths to maintain your privacy.  They host domain name offshore and uses money services that do not divulge the name of owner of the domain.  The registrar therefore has no knowledge whatsoever of the personal information of the owner of the domain.

ICANN though has been exploring options on how to change this disclosure policy to protect the domain name owners.  But so far the major stockholders have not reached an agreement regarding this matter.