What is WHOIS?
When a domain name is registered, ICANN requires that personal information including your full name, address, phone number and email address be provided. This information is then made visible to the public via a WHOIS lookup. In fact, its available to everyone including marketers, spammers and even identity thieves. Scary, right?
A WHOIS lookup for www.awesomelawncare.com will look something like this:
- Creosote, Demetri, hr@awesomelawncare.com
1974 Cowick Street
Arctic Bay, NU X0A 0A0
CA
+1.8675310123
However, if you use Hover’s private WHOIS service, the following information will be published::
- contactprivacy.com, awesomelawncare@contactprivacy.com
- 96 Mowat Ave
- Toronto, ON M6K 3M1
- CA
- +1.4165385457
By protecting your information displayed on WHOIS you can ensure the safety of your information.
Here are some reason why WHOIS privacy is important:
1. Protecting Your Identity
Our moms always told us never to talk to strangers… let alone give them our home address. With unmasked WHOIS your private information is available publicly. This includes your full name and phone number as well. The fact is, anyone with an Internet connection can access this personal information. It’s easy to find with a quick online search. Don’t let that information get into the wrong hands.
2. Block Spam
Having your email address/phone number available publicly makes you an easy target for spam, junkmail, telemarketers and the like. Having a WHOIS protected domain can save your inbox from an influx of unsolicited mail and a voicemail box that’s full to bursting.
3. Avoid Unwanted Offers
Having your information available online can make it easy for anyone to contact you to make offers to buy your domain/website. This can obviously be seen as a pro or a con, but we think that you should be able to choose whether you make this information available. Instead, having a ‘Contact’ section on your website ensures you can direct inquiries to where you want them to go.
Enable WHOIS Privacy for the low cost of $0!
We at Hover think privacy should be free. It still shocks us that some registrars will charge you to protect your information online. That’s why we never have and never will charge for WHOIS privacy. We even go above and beyond that to make the process quick and easy.. The Hover Help Center has a great article on how to activate WHOIS privacy.
You’d never put your full address on Twitter or Facebook. So make sure you have the control when it comes to what information of yours is available online!
