I have a .us domain that I am using for my site and I can't get domain privacy protection for it since it is a .us domain. What should I do?
I have it set to my parent's old house that they no longer live in, but they still own and they rent it out.
One thing to be careful of is having false whois data and the possibility of the domain being deleted/revoked/cancelled/etc. because of this. It doesn't happen that often but if you were reported of if the registrar or ICANN got an itch and asked for proof of the information you have in whois then you might wind up with a headache. Accurate whois information is in the ICANN and registrars policies. Again, it doesn't happen as often as you might be led to believe but it can. You can always get a business license and put the domain whois information for the business. Maybe a P.O. Box. Heck, you could even rent a cheap P.O. Box and use it with your name if you would prefer. Again, I am not saying this will happen but that it can so I just want to make sure that you know since you already made the statement about the whois info you are using.
I am not saying that it is false, just that you have to be careful. What ICANN considers accurate whois information and what others think is can sometimes be different. Do you have some kind of legal ID that has that address listed as your address? Maybe a drivers license or something? You can check ICANN to see what their currently acceptable forms of proof for whois data are. If you have to prove that is your address then if you have no form of proff that ICANN and your registrar will accept then you can have problems. Just to be clear, as I stated above this doesn't happen as often as some would lead you to believe but it can and does happen. I just want to make sure that you don't lose a domain simply because of an ICANN loophole. Be careful and make sure you are protecting against possible issues.
Most registrars and registries require you to be of legal age (usually 18) to register a domain mainly because you are supposed to be of legal age because you are entering into a legal agreement with the registrar when you register and pay for a domain. You might want to check with whoever you registered it through to make sure there won't be issues that could arise. More than likely you will not have a problem but I am just trying to help you understand what can happen, even though it might not. I always like to be safe myself because with my kind of luck my site would go viral, make tons of money, then they would find a way to take everything from me because of some dumb loophole. Like I said before, there is rarely any problems like these but they can happen and I am just trying to inform you so that you can protect yourself from losing something that you built and created.
Usually it will say that you must be of "Legal Age" and it won't give an age. They probably do that because legal age is different in some countries/places. However I took the time to find it in the agreement with your registrar. In the legal section that you can find in the footer of your registrars home page, click on it and it will take you to their "Registrar-Registrant agreement". In the section labeled "1. REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES" go to the first line that is labeled a "(4)" you will see that it says this: "you are of legal age to enter into this Agreement". They always put these things in their because they are trying to cover themselves in a legal situation if t arises. They want their customers to be of legal age so that they can be responsible for any issues and not the registrar themselves. Since you are not of legal age then you can not legally enter into a contract without parent or guardians signing off and accepting the responsibility for you should any issues arise. I am just bringing these things ups for your knowledge only, not to be negative. I just want you to know the facts so you can protect yourself and your domain/site should you choose to do so. As I said before, rarely do these issues come up but at least by knowing you can be prepared.
The .US domain registry does not allow Whois privacy, so no registrar will be able to offer it to you. This is something to be aware of when registering a domain as most allow privacy, but some don't. Your registrar should have information available on which ones allow it and which ones don't. As mentioned, it is important that your Whois information is accurate per ICANN. Getting a P.O. Box was recommended by ulterios and we agree that this could be an easy option to ensure your information is correct, while keeping your actual address private.