Do Anonymous Domain Registration Outfits Actually Work?

Jul 18

Do Anonymous Domain Registration Outfits Actually Work?

About anonymity …: Think you’re safe if you register your domain name “anonymously”? Apparently not:

Despite paying Domains by Proxy an additional fee to register foetry.com anonymously, they responded to a letter from a personal injury lawyer, and canceled my registration without notifying me of a complaint. Let that sink in: a personal injury lawyer’s letter is all it took for DBP to cancel my anonymity. Furthermore, the attorney’s ignorance of Internet Law didn’t even phase Domains by Proxy. (I have a copy of the attorney’s letter and I know more about Internet law than he).

Boise State University Professor Janet Holmes, simply hired the lawyer to write a letter. That’s all. There was no subpeona. No chance of a case against me. Domains by Proxy never emailed me and never telephoned. They simply canceled the anonymity and my confidential information suddenly became available. My initials, my address, and my phone number became freely available to anyone with an internet connection.

Via Metafilter.


Comments

by dz,   July 18, 2005 6:06 PM  

What am I missing?

http://whois.sc/www.foetry.com

Name, address, phone are all listed but they weren't before this incident? Was this the first time he'd used the name "Alan Cordle" publicly?


by foetry,   July 18, 2005 9:27 PM  

Correct. See this thread to see what happened and a list of media articles/radio stories that have appeared about the "outed" since then.


by Go Daddy Guy,   July 20, 2005 12:34 PM  

We wanted to let the community know that Domains By Proxy is absolutely not in the habit of releasing it's customers' information without due process.

While we are not at liberty to address the specifics of any individual situation, we can say that when our company is contacted about a domain held by one of our customers and registered with privacy, we go through the same process in every case.

Once the complaint is received and processed, we levy an administrative fee against the registrant of the domain (as is stated in our agreement) and attempt to contact that registrant so that we can work with them to resolve the issue that is at the heart of the complaint. If the situation is resolved and the registrant is found not to be at fault, the administrative fee is refunded in full.

If the registrant of the domain does not respond to our attempts to contact them and resolve the situation, we then reserve the right to remove the privacy from the domain.
This is all covered within the user agreement that all registrants have to consent to prior to purchasing the service.

Our business is built upon the confidentiality of the WHOIS information that we hold. This is something that we take very seriously.

Douglas Preston Jr. Go Daddy Guy


by foetry,   July 20, 2005 1:08 PM  

Wow. The Go Daddy guy is making the rounds. Please see the thread I've linked above for more info.


by just some guy,   April 25, 2006 4:00 PM  

Since everybody is making suggestions, heres one. Save your money and just enter false info in the contact field, just make sure to pretend youre outside US/Canada. There is no way it will ever be found out, and if a dispute arises concerning ownership the hosting company will go by payment history, i.e. whose name is on the credit card.


by the same just guy,   April 25, 2006 4:03 PM  

Or to play it safe, enter only initials as name, po box as address and skype phone as tel. number.

Better yet register offshore where those laws do not apply.


by ,   January 12, 2007 4:48 PM  

www.katzglobal.com does anonymous domain the right way. They don't ask for your data to begin with, so they cannot disclose it no matter what happens. The Godaddy service is not really a serious privacy service. It is just hiding the data while katz cannot hide data that they never asked for to begin with. They use a method that holds your domain in trust either in the USA or Singapore.


by Charles Cooke,   June 14, 2007 4:28 AM  

This one makes sence "One's first step in wisdom is to kuesstion everything - and one's last is to come to terms with everything."


by secure email,   June 30, 2007 9:58 PM  

When you are going to register a domain and want to stay anonymous, do not make the mistake by registering it in the USA!

Register it outside the USA, otherwise everybody can send the registrar subpeona. Best if your anonymous registrar speaks another language. Makes things more complicated, say more expensive.


by Mwd Web Design, Inc.,   July 7, 2007 9:12 PM  

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by Kennedy,   August 17, 2007 2:43 PM  

Where is the best place-company to register and host a domain name offshore, out of the USA with full privacy?


by anonymous email,   December 7, 2007 3:10 PM  

You might want to register your next domain offshore and not in the US. There are tons of anonymous domain sellers but the fact is that they are - mostly - operate in the US.


by Wes,   March 13, 2008 3:29 AM  

godaddy just cancelled service on ratemycop.com; a freedom of info site; I'm now doing research on how to move all my domains ; over 100 to a company worthwhile.


by Somebody,   May 19, 2008 2:55 PM  

I can add to the GoDaddy comment. Our supposedly private data was made public on the basis of a UDRP complaint, which anyone can file, even if the outcome is not going to suceed. So if you want someone's WHOIS data, file a UDRP complaint I guess.


by Got Ripped off,   June 20, 2008 1:39 AM  

Do not use (Katz Global) at http://www.katzglobal.com.

I place an order for an anonymous domain name, sent them payment via e-Bullion for $29.95 and never heard back from them. They never registered the domain name and took my money. I sent them countless of emails requesting either register the domain name or Full Refund.....NO REPLIES!!!!!!!!

DO NOT SEND ANY MONEY TO THESE PEOPLE


by Cuck,   June 21, 2008 3:46 PM  

Katzglobal is a US based company. Go Offshore, this adds more anonymity!


by Patrick,   August 13, 2008 6:33 PM  

What about Canada, do they protect domain registration information? Does anyone know?


by 911wasaninsidejob,   August 18, 2008 5:03 AM  

Im sick and tired of sellout companies that bend over soon as they get a shysters lawyer

When you go offshore the services and products are better, and your privacy and confidential information is respected. These companies that betray our information are engaging in severe crimes and dont deserve any of our business

911 was an insidejob - proof = 911 mysteries - watch for free on google video


by Andy,   October 12, 2008 2:45 AM  

At the end of the day its got to cut both ways. I have just been on the end of the boot on the other foot i.e. a website registered under privacy stealing our copy. We cant get the privacy removed to take legal action.

Somehow someone must create a clear protocol for these disputes but a general one just doesn't seem to exist.


by Andy Bush,   February 5, 2009 3:19 PM  

I hosted my anonymous domain with yohost.org and they started ti have issued with spamhouse and also getting letters from authorities. There was no talk about suspending my domain. They found a solution how to get around spamhouse IP range blacklisting and as to the letters... I think they just ignored them. My domain with copyrighted stuff is still on the air. All is good.


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