Home / Bunk WHOIS Info Will Fry You.

Bunk WHOIS Info Will Fry You.

September 17, 2009 By 9 Comments

The X in Duplex
Creative Commons License credit: jskrybe

Just got off the phone with Godaddy. I hate Godaddy as a company, but their support is amazing, but that’s beside the point.

I’m planning on buying up quite a few domain names in the near future, and I’ve been shopping around for the best price etc… etc… Finally I broke down and decided to buy the names through Godaddy (they seem to have the best bulk registration process and prices).

Back on point: I don’t want my personal information plastered all over the WHOIS page for the sites I’m buying, so I was planning on getting Godaddy’s FREE(***) Private Registration service (only available if you buy over 5 domain names at the same time). The catch is that the “FREE’ness” is only valid for as long as you choose to register the domain names for initially.

So say I wanted 100 domain names for 10 years. I would pay $0.00 for the Private Registration for those ten years, but at the end of the 10 year period, I would be stuck with the standard Private Registration renewal fee (which just happens to be $8.99 PER DOMAIN). That’s a quick $899.00 added to your bill at the beginning of year 11.

Now that this is understood, lets talk about how I got to this point of understanding.

I check the WHOIS information on a lot of web pages that I frequent out of routine. I noticed on one of the websites that I checked the WHOIS information for, the registrant didn’t pay the Private Registration fees. To dodge having to pay for that crap, he simply put “UNKNOWN” on all of the fields that he didn’t want to share with the world. i.e. email address, physical address, phone number, city, state, fax etc… Then he slapped his business name in the “Registrant Name” field, and called it a day.

I specifically asked the Godaddy Tech Dude if this was “illegal or something”. For real, I said “or something” after that. Anyways, he told me that there should be a “report invalid WHOIS information” link at the bottom of the page, and there is a good possibility that the domain owner would lose that domain for not providing valid information.

Now, mind you, I don’t necessarily care that this person filled in junk WHOIS information. I’m not going to report it. Heck, I’m half tempted to do it myself, but won’t. And I really wonder what the process is for whomever the mysterious agency (ICANN?) is that takes care of these online rebel bandits is anyways. What are they going to do? Subpoena Godaddy, and ask for your information so they can track you down and file a complain against you all over a $9.99 domain name? I would imagine that they really do have quick access to the information pertaining to every domain on the web, or enforcing such a rule would be damn near impossible.

MORAL: I don’t know what the Fudge Monkey to do. I don’t want to pay register 100 domain names for 10 years just to skip out on the Private Registration fee. Crap, by the time 10 years is over, there will probably be something cooler and more convenient that will nullify the importance of Dot Com names anyways. But at the same time, I don’t want to shell out the cash money for 100 domain names and only register them for 1 year either, and then have to start paying for Private Registration at the end of that one year. Suck me sideways.

Do you have any suggestions for me? Ever been through the bulk domain registration process? Have a better registrar? Been busted for having bunk WHOIS information? Lose your domain because of that? Fill me in in the comments. I’d love to hear.

Filed Under: Affiliate Marketing
  • http://www.azega.com Brakk

    I thought this was an interesting question so I did a little checking on what the big names do. Most of them just register their domain to their business name, sometimes with the CEO’s name as the registrar. Some (specifically google and yahoo) use a 3rd party “brand protection service” that their domains are registered under.

    You could do the same thing pretty easily and probably for a lot less money. Get a generic sounding business name (and domain name), a PO box and a google voice phone number and register all your domains to that “company”. That will at least put a layer between you and anyone snooping through your whois info and it will be a lot cheaper than godaddy’s “privacy” service.

    Good luck

  • http://farinspace.com Dimas

    Very good points Jeremy … I guess you have to ask yourself why you need it to be private? If you do not mind your name showing up in the who is, why not get a PO box and use that as your address line?

    Basically you can create a semi-real identity for yourself, for instance you don’t have to use your real name, use a stage name or a company name, email addresses are a dime a dozen so setup a single contact for this private identity, getting a PO Box would still allow contact with you. Basically doing the same thing godaddy does, they have their domain by proxy thing which is like a single identity that they use for all their private domains.

    Come to think about it, maybe this could turn into a simple little business, offering this service for $1 or $2 per domain per year … ah, yet another idea to write in the idea book …
    .-= Dimas´s last blog ..Hey, Ho … let’s Go! Approach to Copywriting =-.

  • Tina

    I’ve been through this same dilemma several times over the years. I’ve found .coms were more lenient with registrations. I think it really depends on what the governing registrar stipulates is a penalty for doing such a thing and whether it’s worth it (lest you be made an example of), but I agree with Brakk. (You’d think they’d at least contact you first demanding information be updated or rectified.)

    Companies just put down their company details and use titles such as The Manager or Domain Administrator or likes. If you’re not already registered as a company, that might be the way to go – especially if you own several domains and are continuing to purchase them (and possibly for better tax breaks in the long run?).

  • http://eliteeternity.com Jeremy Blake

    Wow, guys & Tina. :)

    Thanks a lot for the the tips and advice.

    Since I am planning on starting a “real” business out of my affiliate marketing stuff in the very near future, I think I will just create a PO Box, a Google voice number, and maybe a DBA (like a sub business of what will be Elite Eternity LLC) name to put as the registrar.

    It almost seems scammy that Godaddy can charge so much for the private registration service.

    It obviously doesn’t cost them much, if anything to use their private info in lieu of mine. After all, Dreamhost offers their private registration for free. Only downside is that they don’t have any deals on their domain names. They’re always a standard $9.99 or something.

  • Cody

    Namecheap offers free whoisguard with all domain registrations..

    http://namecheap.com

  • cliq

    so at what point do you get fried? because i’m interested in getting fried. let me know.

    • http://eliteeternity.com Jeremy Blake

      Not sure, dude. Try it out and let us know. :)

  • http://www.collaborahmc.com Dean

    I am a godaddy reseller. As such I am able to undercut godaddy prices. I am charging $1.95 for Whois Privacy — its the same GoDaddy product and management system.

    • http://eliteeternity.com Jeremy Blake

      Now that almost infuriates me. Interesting to know, and thanks for sharing, but wtf? Why would GoDaddy charge so much, yet let their resellers to discount it? Doesn’t make sense.

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