There are several reasons you should not want your personal information to be viewed by the public. You are probably one many who have changed the privacy settings of their Facebook account before while also ensuring the security settings on all of your various other online profiles. Most informed internet users know how to protect their personal information. Managing your online identity requires total control on how your personal information is shared. The confidentiality of WHOIS is part of these techniques which ensures the security of your contact information on each and every domain you own.
What is Anonymous WHOIS?
When you register a domain (new or expired), you are asked to provide personal information such as your name, address and phone number. This public information is stored in the registries database and can be seen by anyone who does a WHOIS lookup on the domain. If your whois information is public, there is a high probability it will be discovered and used by spammers, marketers or even identity thieves. Nobody likes to receive unwanted solicitations! That is where Anonymous WHOIS (also known as whois privacy) comes into play.
WhoIs Privacy guarantees your anonymity and protects you from numerous attempts to solicit you. It will also protect you against spammers and possible phishing attacks. Thanks to anonymous whois, you will:
Can I still be reached?
One great feature about whois privacy is that most will still forward emails to you. GoDaddy for example, will display a unique email address in the whois when privacy is enabled. If someone (such as a potential domain buyer) sends and email to that address then it will still be forwarded to you. This means although your personal information will all be hidden, potential domain buyers can still reach you to complete a sale.
How to Enable WhoIs Privacy
Hiding your identity with whois privacy can be done through any domain registrar. Some registrars like DynaDot offer free whois privacy while others like GoDaddy charge a yearly fee. DynaDot in particular, enables whois privacy automatically on new .COM registrations. That’s great because this is something users can forget to do when trying to rush new domains in a hurry.
How To Enable WhoIs Privacy at GoDaddy
Once you’ve found a domain you want at GoDaddy, you should have the option to add domain privacy before checking out. If you wish to add it afterwards, follow the steps below.
1. Login to your GoDaddy Domain Control Center.
2. Check the box next to the domain(s) you wish to add Private Registration to. If you wish to add private registration to all domains, click the check mark icon and Select All.
3. Select Ownership then Protect Domains.
4. Click Add to Selected Domains next to Privacy.
5. Select Buy and then complete the checkout process.
Note: It can take between 24-48 hours for your updated contact information to display in the WhoIs database.
