What is Domain Privacy and Why should you need it?
When you register a new domain name at any domain registrar, you need to provide them your real information in order to contact to. The domain name registrar will send you an email to the email address you provided to confirm that you’re an owner of that new domain. This is a part of the process adding information to ICANN Whois directory
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1. What is Domain Privacy?
Your information will be seen by many people on the internet. They’re including good guys and bad guys. If you’re developing a website and it breaks the law then you’re tracked down. Every domain name owner has to provide their information to the registrar when buying domains from them. It’s required but it’s also not strictly required that the information you provided is easily accessible on the internet. That’s the reason you use a Whois privacy service to hide your real contact information from Whois directory.
When you use the Domain Privacy service, your real information is hidden from the internet. People searching your domain name will still see that you’re listed as the owner but the email address or the phone number is not your actual email address/phone number. They’re a 3rd-party information proxy service you buy.
2. Why using Domain Privacy is important?
The contact information of end users is a real goldmine that many strangers want to have. Especially scammers and spammer, they always find many ways to seize it. Certainly, your information is not out of their aim. So that, protecting your real information is the best way to be safe from strangers on the internet.
Furthermore, if you have your own website, you can show your contact information to customers via the domain name’s Whois information. And in case you don’t fear spammers, you can choose not to buy the domain privacy.
3. Why is Domain Privacy worth to use?
You need to pay a small fee yearly to have the domain Whois privacy protection. It’s usually from $2 – $15 depending on each registrar you buy from. If you think that your information is not important to protect then you don’t need to buy the privacy. This will save you a small buck yearly.
But if you consider that it’s important and you want to hide then the domain privacy is a must. There are some benefits when you have a domain privacy belong to each of your domain names.
3.1. Prevent or reduce spammers
Spammers are everywhere in your life. You might receive many spam emails or phone calls from strange numbers everyday. They come from unknown sources and you don’t know who they are. You receive a ton of shilling products you’d never buy. So that, you need to prevent or reduce these spammers. Buying the domain privacy for your domain name is a good way in these case.
3.2. Prevent or avoid scammers
Like spammers, scammers are being everywhere around you. If they find your contact information, they will try to cheat you and steal your money. Scammers are worse than spammers
An example is that they pose as your domain name registrar and ask you to renew your domain name if they find that they’re about to expire. They will send you a fake URL and try to get you to pay them instead of your actual registrar.
Many scammers also try to cheat you with a fake offer from customers. Sometimes you will receive an email said that they have a customer and want to buy your domain name with a very high price. But they also said that your domain name needs to be verified. And then they continue to send you a fake URL to get you to buy the fake certificate from them.
Hiding your real information can reduce the risk you get from these scammers
3.3. Hide your real personal information
You just need to do a very simple process to protect your personal identity online. Buying a domain Whois privacy from a domain registrar and turn it on. Your personal information is always useful with many strangers, who always try to get it. You will face the risk of identity theft if you don’t hide it. So that, protect yourself by using domain privacy is a good way to do and make it harder to find.
4. Where to buy domain privacy?
If you really want to protect your contact information online, you can buy it when registering your new domain name. Or you can buy it later as an add-on service. Most of domain name registrars provide this service for a small fee or even free for the 1st year.
I list out for you guys some domain name registrars offering free and cheap domain privacy when you buy with domain below:
1. Godaddy Privacy domain: Just for $7.99/yr per domain and you will get
- Protects against identity theft
- Prevents domain-related spam
- Deters hijackers
2. NameSilo Privacy domain: Free for life. Whenever you buy a domain name at NameSilo, you will receive the free Whois privacy protection for free
3. NameCheap Privacy domain: Free for life. Then $2.88/yr
Good luck to you,
I highly recommend to have the domain privacy, even if your website is new. The privacy is gold, and it is not really expensive to protect your info from other users. You pay yearly, it’s not a big deal, and you will save your identity to the whole world.
Thanks for the article though.