What Is WHOIS Domain Privacy And Why You Should Use It?
WHOIS is a giant database website that is run by ICANN for the registration of domain names to the owners. There is a significant amount of information that is required for this registrar. This includes:
- First and Last Name
- Business Name
- Address
- Phone
Upon reaching the site by entering the domain name that you are searching for, a considerable list of data appears including:
- Nameserver
- Creation date
- Updated date
- Domain status
Having this amount of data open to the public puts your personal data at risk as scammers and telemarketers are able to take advantage of this vulnerability.
Domain Protection Against Privacy Threats:
The one downside to the WHOIS Domain is that you have your contact data publicly available on the web. This means that you may receive unwanted spam and third party offers, which can wreak havoc on your spam inbox. The one special feature of WHOIS Domain Privacy is that there are companies that use masked WHOIS Domain Privacy. You still provide the same amount of information, but this is greatly masked to the public.
Solicitation is a considerable issue when you choose not to invest in privacy protection when registering your domain registry information. This oftentimes leads to scams that try to use your personal information to target your domain when the domain expires. Scammers use this as a tool to try to get you to “renew” the domain through their domain services, which can be both costly and dangerous when you consider the amount of time and money that you have invested in your site.
How Can You Protect Your Site?
The answer is simple: pay the extra required to protect your personal data. Many companies offer this service for a minimum price or at a group rate, meaning that you can easily apply privacy protection for one to many domain registrars. What Privacy registrar offer is an alternative address, email and company phone and title so that scammers and telemarketers are unable to find you.
The one major issue to consider when purchasing masked domain registrar companies is the foolproof method of concealing your registrar data. There is no failsafe way to be sure that less ethical companies will not use and redistribute your personal data to the scammers that you were protecting against in the first place.
Another point to consider when deciding upon Domain privacy is the credibility of your site. This is the biggest downside to privacy precautions that are available on the market. After making an investment in your website, the last thing you want to worry about is the credibility that you could lose from a masked domain registrar.
Without a guarantee your data is 100% private, the best precaution is to consider the integrity and review of the company and making smart decisions when renewing your site registry.