Is Private Registration necessary?

Hello,
I register all my domains at godaddy and was wondering if anyone purchases the "private registration" option the blocks your personal information in a whois lookup. What are the benefits besides blocking your email so you wont get spam?

 

Just a matter of preference I guess. If you don't want people to know your personal address then you may want the privacy option.

I only purchase it for certain sites such as my political views blog, etc. Anything that may be controversial.

 

It's not necessary, but people take advantage of it to be on the safe side; some people feel uncomfortable having their address, etc. being exposed.

 

Agreed with slickworld.

I got free offers from a reputable company without having any knowledge to the e-mail address,I had just created with my domain and used only to register a domain yesterday.

Why ?
These are the main problems for me.

 

Even though it's costly with godaddy I get the whois protection to prevent getting too much spam mail and calls. I have quite a number of domain names now and growing, and when I don't activate whois protection I keep getting these annoying phone calls from hosting companies, especially Aplus and others, asking me to host with them. I also get all these spam letters. I started asking where they got my info from and the guy who called me told me from whois. So now I add private reg whenever I can afford to. I prefer namecheap coz their whois protection is cheaper.

I need to find another option though since my portfolio is really growing and it's getting expensive for the private reg.

 

thanks for the tips! I really want to start blocking my whois, but when I think that it costs almost as much (godaddy) as the domain itself, I change my mind. Transferring all my doamins to another registrar would be a pain in the ass, so that is not an option.

I did see a little blurb on godaddy the other day for free private registration if you register 5 domains at once, but I'm guessing that is only for the first year.

 

Yes and no,only for 1st year.
But there are some loop holes.
Lets say,I am registering 5 domains at a time,but one/two/3....are going to be registered for 4/8/12… years,then I may get the privacy protection for 4/8/12 years for free for the longer registrations(domains) only before any further renewal,but have to pay for others for each renewal.
So many positive/negative points are applied here.

 

I'd say it's not worth it. Just get a PO box for privacy protection. If you're a real business don't even do that.

 

try registering at 1&1 they offer free privacy, then there is no questions...

 

I disagree. I still think if you're running a legitimate business you do not want private registration. In my opinion if a domain is registered privately and their selling goods it raises a level of suspicion. I check whois a lot if I'm ordering from a lesser known website. If it looks fishy e.g. you can tell someone that doesn't know how US addresses work then I would think twice about ordering from that site.

 

Except if they get a court order or a Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy notice
(UDRP) requesting the actual information. That's included in your registrar's or
reseller's agreement.

WHOIS privacy is intended to give users an option to hide their details at the
price stated or so for whatever reason. But it's not meant to hide you from,
say, being held liable for something.

 

Shame they suck big time though.

http://www.affiliates4u.com/forums/web-hosting-security/35759-1-1-suck-big-time.html

I will stick to paying $4 per privacy whois at enom.com.

How much is Godadday privacy?

I use privacy whois on some domains where I simply dont want anyone to investigate who owns the domain.

Often we do it for the clients who want to remain anonymous.

Whois is kind of like its own little swiss banking system, secure and anonymous, well until a court order is served that - like dave zan said.

 

Yep,
Then shy peoples need some other options to run N open online business ! lol

 

But using a private registration, such as whois protection from GoDaddy or Namecheap is not the same as using a fake address that would look fishy because it wasn't formatted correctly. I think it's a legitimate concern that causes webmasters to register their domains privately. Of course if it's a commercial site then it makes sense to not have private registration. I won't buy goods from a website that does not list its physical address on the website itself, let alone on whois.

 

try registering at 1&1 they offer free privacy, then there is no questions...

But also this is about your job, it is not necessary except spam.

 

"GoDaddy - Get FREE Private Registration ($8.99/yr value) when you register or transfer five or more domains,"

Also remember privacy is not available with domains with .us extensions

 

I prefer using NameCheap as they are good, ahve an easy-to-navigate interface and offer free WhoisGuard (privacy Protection)
1 & 1 has loads of issues so that's a strict no-no for me.

 

Namecheap is my choice when I register a domain that needs whois protection.

Its free for the first year and renewals are $2.88. Their whois protect can be used on any domain, regardless of which domain the protect was initially registered for.

 

I use name.com free pvt whois!!! I really like them and there control panel .... some times slow however always clean and ad free unlike godaddy!

 

privacy is good for adult or political domains, but can be problematic. For example i got a wipo only because it was the only way the knew to reach me (ok they were morons)