What about my privacy?

A

abubolt

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So I am currently in the process of developing a website as a hobby.
I have already registered my domain name.
The problem is I just realized that all my personal details are available for viewing if someone does a "whois" (not sure what they call it) including my home address, email and contact numbers.

Is there any way to protect my privacy?
 
I think it's atrocious that you need to pay to protect your personal information.

Why is it any different to a phone directory?

Yes, you are listed by default - but you have the option to delist. Free.
 
I got my webhost to use their details. This works fine under the assumption that you won't have the issue of fighting with them as to the ownership of your domain.
 
I recently registered a domain with http://www.namecheap.com/ and on checkout the privacy option was free - dont know if it was just a special or not.
For .co.za's you can [pretty] safely leave most things blank or false if you know someone that does their own registration - which I recommend because then you dont have to worry about a company stealing your domain.
 
@roguemat namecheap offer a 1 year free whois protection. I'm not sure if after that first year they just cancel it or if you have to start paying extra for it.

@Mikroz Well the internet is different from anything else. The whois helps you contact people if you feel they are going against your copyrights. An example of this is if you make music and I buy your music then upload it on my site for users to download for free. Without the whois information you would not really be able to contact me directly or find any information to help you stop me.

I honestly don't mind having my information attached to my web sites.
 
EthanEllis said:
I honestly don't mind having my information attached to my web sites.
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That's actually a good point - OP, if you don't want anyone knowing who you are, maybe you should rather be thinking about why you need be private with what you are doing..
 
roguemat said:
That's actually a good point - OP, if you don't want anyone knowing who you are, maybe you should rather be thinking about why you need be private with what you are doing..
Click to expand...

I wouldn't mind someone knocking on my door to complement me on my site ;)
 
Yeah: Sadly this is one of those. The person registering the domain needs to take on the responsibility of maintaining the domain. Sure, you can have a 'private' registration, but all that basically means is that somebody else is managing that responsibility for you.

It's 'your' domain, and you 'want' to know if anything happens with regards to that domain.

Worst case, create a secondary gmail address and use it just for domain maintenance.
 
What actually stops you from entering false or erronous information in a domain update? Does the robot do some sort of GIS verification of the address you've provided?
 
Fudzy said:
What actually stops you from entering false or erronous information in a domain update? Does the robot do some sort of GIS verification of the address you've provided?
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No. Chances are there will never be any checks - but it is a criminal offense to own a .com(and probably many others) with false information, and the domain can be taken away no questions asked.
 
Mikroz said:
I think it's atrocious that you need to pay to protect your personal information.

Why is it any different to a phone directory?

Yes, you are listed by default - but you have the option to delist. Free.
Click to expand...

Everything (and I mean everything) boils down to greed.

So if you're EVER faced with a question like that, go "Greed?" and if you can FOR SURE say it's NOT that, then go to the next obvious one "Power?" and then "Sex?"

If you can disprove beyond a shadow of a doubt all 3 of that then you can be 100% sure that "Moron?" is in effect.

Straight out of the "AcidRaZor's bible to everything" Chapter 1 verse 1
 
roguemat said:
No. Chances are there will never be any checks - but it is a criminal offense to own a .com(and probably many others) with false information, and the domain can be taken away no questions asked.
Click to expand...

Yes but you have to be doing something pretty dodgy to be able to have them question your ****...
 
I thought that the purpose of a website was to make your product service known like in the "contact us details".
Plus if you are just the site creator and I like what I see..then I might contact you??
 
AcidRaZor said:
Yes but you have to be doing something pretty dodgy to be able to have them question your ****...
Click to expand...

On the flipside you could have some dodgy stalker finding your name in your coza details and then sending you dirty pictures on Facebook :( :(
 
AcidRaZor said:
Everything (and I mean everything) boils down to greed.

So if you're EVER faced with a question like that, go "Greed?" and if you can FOR SURE say it's NOT that, then go to the next obvious one "Power?" and then "Sex?"

If you can disprove beyond a shadow of a doubt all 3 of that then you can be 100% sure that "Moron?" is in effect.

Straight out of the "AcidRaZor's bible to everything" Chapter 1 verse 1
Click to expand...

nope. for me, it's fear, then greed, then laziness.
the 3 tenets of self-preservation.
 
Leostar said:
I thought that the purpose of a website was to make your product service known like in the "contact us details".
Plus if you are just the site creator and I like what I see..then I might contact you??
Click to expand...

That's a bit different. Take a big blogging site like Lifehacker or wwtdd, I'm pretty sure the people who run those would want people to contact the site rather than the owners personally?
 
Fudzy said:
That's a bit different. Take a big blogging site like Lifehacker or wwtdd, I'm pretty sure the people who run those would want people to contact the site rather than the owners personally?
Click to expand...

The contact details of the domain should always be for the owner of the domain, not some obfuscated info. Big sites will use their corporate info, small sites should get a separate PO Box and dedicated number.
 
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