Do keep your info private when purchasing a Domain Name?

I don't think it is so important to hide your details. So don't spend that extra bucks for that!

Regards
~ Fazle Rahman

I paid the extra on my very first site through GoDaddy and continue to pay it through the years. But as I purchase more and more domains I don't bother. The reason being is it doesn't matter if someone knows I'm the owner. Why wouldn't I want them to know, especially if the domain is one I'm using for marketing something. For instance, if I have a landing page on a domain and someone wants to know if I'm legit, they go and check it out. If they see that the information is private it might make them suspicious and won't opt-in or purchase from me. If they see that I'm a real person, then it makes them feel more at ease.

I believe privacy protection on domains is actively wrong when you are doing business on them.

When I got my business licence, I was required by law to put my name and address and phone number on it. In addition, whenever I've had a physical office, I've been required by law to post that where visitors to the office could see it. When I did not have a physical office, I was required by law to produce it on demand for any client who wished to see it. Today, you can look up my business licence online, and I am required by law to keep the information in it up to date.

All the other stuff remains true, as well: I have to have a licence, I have to post it in my office, and if I don't have an office I have to show it to any client that asks for it.

And if I register a domain, I am required by ICANN to put accurate and up-to-date contact information on my domain for exactly the same reasons. They have the "whois" database so anyone can look up the information.

The case has been made that a domain name is no longer necessarily a business operation, and no longer necessarily needs to provide contact information. So you can get privacy protection on your domains, which is probably a good thing when it's your family photos and you don't want some pedophile coming round to your place because you have pretty kids.

But if you are trying to run a business, and you are going to have clients and customers, it ought to be illegal to set privacy protection on your domains.

I was told by a domains attorney that it makes it more difficult to prove ownership (should the issue ever arise). I have a few names I've privatized in the past (my registrar offers it for free) but for the most part, I don't.

Yeah always, I can see some people don't :/

Why not just buy from Namecheap instead and get the first year's privacy protection free?

The only domains I ever buy from GoDaddy are .info ones, because they're about $1 each. And like all GoDaddy domain purchases, they also give you the first year's privacy protection free of charge if you buy 5+ at a time.

Whether you want privacy protection at all is something you can only decide for yourself. I'm not willing to put my address and telephone number on the internet, myself, and I prefer to use pen-names for my niche sites anyway, so for me it's automatic.

Almost always.

A domain is not a brick and mortar store, nor is it my person.
Nor are domain registrars agents of the labor or tax boards.

It's the equivalent to getting an unlisted number.

no at all unless I am planning to blackmail someone

Never use it ... I sell websites and domains and want people to be able to get in touch with me if they want to buy a website.

I always do..but no problem if you dont want to spend that extra dollar

I always do because I found that when I didn't (and was on GoDaddy) I was getting harassing solicitation phone calls -- which I HATE.

So now I use Namecheap and get it free for the first year. After that you can get it for about $1 a domain if you buy them in bulk and / or use a coupon.

I've done it both ways. I was paranoid for a while about the possibility of stalkers, but actually I have sites that get 1000's of visitors a day and I never have had a problem. I do recommend that you use a PO box address or office address, not your home. Occasionally, someone will email and ask if I am the Diane Watkins that lives near them, but so far the answer has always been no. If I am proud of my work, I want my name on it. I use a pen name on some sites when it makes sense to do it for other reasons. (Like the sites that promote my main sites and when I sensed that my employer might not be happy about a site-nothing naughty, don't let your imagination run wild.)

It's definitely a personal preference thing. I shell out the extra few bucks for fear that someone will try to track me down someday.

I have a few that do not have privacy on them, but for the most part, I am more than interested in privacy. I just dislike when I look at my "CyStats" statistics and see people looking up my information!

I always make a protection about domain names.If you work with movies/tvshows and these things is more good to get protection =)

It's a personal preference. I've had people get my phone number from whois and call me on sites that I really don't want phone calls from, but I've simplified that by getting a Google Voice account and using that phone number. I don't forward it to my personal phone - I just have it email me when I have a voicemail.

A P.O. Box is useful for protecting your privacy too. It's unusual to get a stalker, but not completely unheard of.

I just purchased my first domain ever a few weeks back. I did not sign up for the security package, but was thinking about it. The very next day godaddy contacted me asking if I wanted it and that it was important. I found it somewhat rude to call me a day after I sign up and purchase something, but I went along with it. I think sometimes I am too much of a people pleaser and got it just to make him happy and get off my case, later realizing they called TWICE earlier.

So now, yes currently I do :S.

Yes, I do. Every time. With namecheap the first year is free so it's no problem and I you can get most domains cheaper there, except for .infos which I think must be still 99 cents with godaddy.

The pen name thing is a good point. If you use pen names, might having a name listed that is different than the pen name for your product/site be just as damaging if not more so than hiding the info altogether?

That's funny, I get alot of legitimate emails and business people emailing me from my registered email for my best domain, so it may be more of a money tactic on some of these domain registrars. I did it a few times but possibly not worth the money. The only people that will find that info is people that know a lot about investigating a domain with whois e.t.c. so doesn't really matter to me.

It depends. I don't have privacy protection on the domains of mine that I have adsense on.

On all my other domains, I have some sort of privacy protection on to help minimize people, or search engines, being able to ascertain the sites I own from any one site. With adsense on a site, it is easy enough to connect the network, so i don't bother with the privacy protectionl

Tom

I never paid extra for privacy protection. I get free contact privacy on my domain registration. I use to register domains from www.WhoisXY.com at low cost.

Yeah always, I can see some people don't

and if you want hide your private information you can change your information something fake name and fake email id which is not directly related to your name

i think this is better idea