Domain Privacy Service - Yes or No?

Each domain name you own should have your contact information, and that of your technical and administrative contacts, associated with it. This information is public and included in public registries or "WHOIS" directories. Domain privacy services exist so site owners can hide their contact information from the public registry.

Sales pitches used by domain privacy services include:

1. Keep your contact information off the public registry. However, you (or your company) probably have a website in a bid to get attention from the public and the contact information associated with the domain ownership is typically available on the website itself. What, exactly, would you be attempting to hide?

2. Reduce spam, including deceptive domain renewal notices. However, good spam filters are available and many email providers already include spam filtering. An alternative is to have a separate email for use only for certain activities: online ordering, subscriptions, etc. Ultimately, you should know the name and renewal date of your domain registry so false domain renewal notices would not fool you.

3. Protect your domain registration. Domain privacy services do add another layer of security to your domain registry. However, your domain registry is already protected by your user name and password. Adding another layer can make it extraordinarily cumbersome to make a legitimate change. Recently a well-known domain privacy service used sales scare tactics; told an existing client they could not quote the cost of their service, and; when pressed to help discontinue the service, they repeatedly sent verification emails at 8pm EST with a four-hour acceptance window. Hours of effort were required to free the client from the privacy service.

Unless you have a legitimate reason to keep your domain registry information off the public registry, a domain privacy service is unnecessary and may complicate making a legitimate change in hosting providers.

In addition, having your contact information available in the WHOIS directory allows potential clients to verify your identity and legitimize your business.

Just say no to domain privacy services.

Nancy Harrison
EverythingJustSo.com
Web Development and Content Management

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