If you use the godaddy or enom private domain name registration, can godaddy or enom still see who really owns the domain name? or does it show as anonymous and the credit card details are anonymous too? or can any employee from these companies see the real owner of the domain?
Of course the registrar providing the WHOIS privacy service can still see the actual domain name details. It's the end user or third party who's browsing in via their WHOIS database who won't see it readily.
It's private to a certain degree. Normal people won't be able to see it, but if you're doing something illegal, they can definitely find out who you are.
It is private But it is not private for those who are providing you with this services. Plus with some issue rising up your private details will be provided to the authorities. You can read about it in the policy of the private registration providing company.
so can someone like godaddy employees look at who owns a domain name whenever they want or only if they get a complaint?
I am sure they can see on which account the domain is and who owns the account. So I would say they can see, but others can't when they do a whois on your domain.
A GoDaddy employee can find out who owns the domains even if it's reg'd privately through their Domains By Proxy service.
There is no true privacy on the Internet, a court order would allow all the information to be released. Moral of the story is if you are doing something that cant be shouted out at the top of your voice on top of your roof top, it is better not to do it.
If you want to register a domain privately and be anonymous do it like this - 1. Register a gmail account under a false name, setup a forward to your regular email account. test to be sure it is working. 2. Obtain a paypal account under a false name, this can be done 3. Send money to your new paypal account from your own paypal account. If you are really paranoid offer to pay someone a few bucks to send the money to your account. say I'll send you 100.00 then you send 75.00 to this paypal address. Find some one from another country but one that can use paypal. 4. Register a new godaddy account under a false name. when you register a domain use false info except for your new gmail account you just registered under a false name. You can buy and pay for your domains with the money from your new paypal account that you setup under a false name. You can find hosting companies who accept paypal and pay for hosting with your false paypal account. Yes after doing all this you could possibly be traced down but only with the cooperation of paypal and gmail. If you ever tried to contact paypal or google/gmail you will agree your pretty darn safe as they usually just ignore all contact attempts. I still would not use this for anything illegal but if you want to go after some one or some company who may try and come back after you then your pretty safe. You could still be found if they where to sue and get a court order for the records of paypal and gmail but who ever went after you would have to be pretty serious. No regular person will ever be able to trace down who you are or will most businesses or companies unless they are pretty damn serious. I use these methods to register domains that the stupid domain register companies want to try and charge for me anonymous registrations. Dumb asses, I will never pay for so called private registrations when I can just register the domain under a false name and use my gmail account setup just for this also under a false name. All the domain registrars care about is your email address. If they can contact you via email they will never be any problem with worries about losing your domain etc. ###
"Register a gmail account under a false name, setup a forward to your regular email account. test to be sure it is working." I wouldn't do the forward though.. chances are that you hit reply oneday without thinking and then they got your real email address
I'm currently looking to register a domain with as small a chance as possible of my true identity being found. All this sounds good advice (bearing in mind I'm pretty new to websites and associated issues) - I would just add that I'm not going to use Paypal to pay. Instead I'll be buying a virtual credit card: these can be purchased with cash at many retailers (in the Western world at least - probably everywhere else as well). If one cannot use the card through a suitable proxy then public internet terminals will be used. Maybe this sounds over the top however I really do not want to be traced. Also Gmail can be accessed through proxies including TOR: this will make it extremely difficult I am hoping.
depends also if you have another site on the server thats not private i have found a lot of people i have been after this way and that method above believe me its not fool proof
Well yeah, I would have thought that is a no no about having multiple sites, some being setup with non-private means. And yeah, no doubt it isn't absolutley, definitively safe - the more I learn about trying to hide oneself the more I find that needs to be done. However, i believe it's about barriers... like with your house: anybody can break in potentially if they are determined enough - but that still shouldn't stop you doing as much as you can to prevent it and so stop the rest right? .