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Ask HN: Any domain registrars with strong privacy protections?
I'm looking to find the best registrars that have the best privacy protections.
Before you ask: no, I'm not "up to no good in my neighborhood" - just that given the toxicity of the world out there, I simply want to use the best tools to protect my privacy as much as possible (ie. plan ahead).
I know many registrars have the usual 'privacy shield' options (sometimes for free) that will provide an anonymized whois listing (with custom registrar-provided email address for forwarding, etc.), but I'm wondering what other, better tools others might provide (for example, I've seen one that offers full snail mail and fax forwarding as well).
I'm also looking for something that, ideally, has a track record of providing strong protections, either through security, and/or through their processes. For example, I wouldn't want to use a registrar where an employee could easily be bought out to expose private information, or one that would do so without any proper vetting or pushback (if, say, a troll decided to be a nuisance and put in unwarranted requests for that info).
Of course, I fully realize that most, if not all, registrars will ultimately require valid identity, and would have to comply with valid and warranted requests, should these ever occur.
What registrar(s) do you use or would recommend, and what tools and features do they have to enhance privacy?
- ev1 6y agosome questions: - do you lean toward liberal or conservative? - what is your threat model? twitter users or do you plan on pissing off a nation state? also, what country are you in? - do you have the knowledge to acquire or use cryptocurrency? - how much would you trust a registrar? - are you trying to buy one domain for a blog where you will potentially offend someone, or are you looking for an all in "form offshore limited company and have the domain and hosting purchased by that"? - can you afford paying 3-8x what a normal domain would cost to pick a "better" registrar?
- dyingkneepad 6y agoThis. Depending on the threat model the best alternative may be to just register your domain in Elbonia or a similar place, where your threats have no power.
- johnny_b_g 6y ago> - do you lean toward liberal or conservative? While I don't plan on explicitly "exposing" that, but I'm sure it could probably be determined indirectly - or else it could simply be assumed to be whatever someone (ie. trolls) wants it to be; so I'll not answer specifically, for the benefit of anyone else having the same questions as I and that would appreciate more general answers. > - what is your threat model? twitter users or do you plan on pissing off a nation state? Again, not trying to be "up to no good in my neighborhood", so nothing specific; but yeah, as an example, some Twitter (or any other platform) users might decide they're annoyed with me and decide to be a nuisance (again, trying to think of 'bad case scenarios', but not necessarily 'worst case'). > what country are you in? North America, though I would probably pick a non-specific TLD anyways. > do you have the knowledge to acquire or use cryptocurrency Open to that, if that offers better privacy protections (and is possible via registrars - ie. offer actual extra benefits). But otherwise don't really think it would be necessary to that level (but again, others might benefit from those answers). > how much would you trust a registrar That's kind of open-ended; obviously there's gonna have to be some level of trust, short of becoming a registrar myself. Looking to find out the ones that have shown best protections. > are you trying to buy one domain for a blog where you will potentially offend someone, or are you looking for an all in "form offshore limited company and have the domain and hosting purchased by that"? In my case, more the former (without specific intentions re: offending others), and just thinking how best to protect myself in 'bad case scenarios' (and again, others might benefit from wide variety of answers) > can you afford paying 3-8x what a normal domain would cost to pick a "better" registrar Not off the table, if it offers actual benefits. Thanks for the extra questions - some I hadn't considered.
- ev1 6y agoFWIW, the first question unlocks certain things, like how welcome you would be at certain domain registrars known for privacy (like ultra-far-right US ones that generally only like you if you align with the Gab/Parler crowd) vs how welcome you would be at certain "ultra-liberal copyleft-supporting" registrars. I was not meaning to ask that for the sake of asking, as there are a few privacy-minded registrars that simultaneously also do the whole "we do not support hate speech" in PR, which changes the customer base or what you would want to host there. A very common concept in these is picking the other side instead; like if you were posting negative sentiments against Russia/etc, the US would probably be happy to host your "free speech", while same for the opposite. > North America, though I would probably pick a non-specific TLD anyways. Be very careful on this, because ccTLDs do not have any/all the protections some gTLDs do. For your curiosity, my reason for asking the country is that some will allow trolls to do things like file false DMCAs, for example, while this concept would not exist in others.
- bitxbitxbitcoin 6y agoLook into a Handshake domain name.
- fireeyed 6y agoIf I register a “commercial” TLD can my customers on the regular internet access the handshake TLD ? Based on the documentation it looks like the person accessing these need to change the device DNS settings.
- johnny_b_g 6y agoThis reminds me somewhat of the old 'Youcann' movement (an alternative DNS system, though that was still centralized) I'm definitively looking for something that's accessible to the general public, so I don't think it's an option in my case (I'd probably also use the domain for my own email, etc.) Still, appreciate the suggestion - thanks.
- lmarcos 6y agoI use gandi.net. So far so good regarding whois privacy.
- johnny_b_g 6y agoDo they offer anything else beyond just the private whois listing? I couldn't find anything.
- pikrzyszto 6y agoLook into https://njal.la/ https://njal.la/ - a company lead by Peter Sunde who has a long history of providing resilient internet services to people. Already discussed in [1]. From [2] it looks like they already cooperate with bunch of websites which some powers would like shut down. In [3] Gottfrid Svartholm (co-founder of thepiratebay together with Peter Sunde and Fredrik Neij) claims he's hosting all kinds of naughty contents. In [4] Peter describes some loopholes he's using to achieve his goals, for example registering a religion to use existing privacy laws in his favor. [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26326795 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26326795 [2]: https://njal.la/blog/we-dont-have-enemies/ https://njal.la/blog/we-dont-have-enemies/ [3]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJiWuw7Qk5E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJiWuw7Qk5E [4]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZe348s4AKU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZe348s4AKU
- Anunayj 6y agocloudflare does good enough for me, They have privacy protection on by default and the their CDN services prevents the exposure of IP address. Cloudflare is not gonna be a good choice if you plan to host anything risky though. Another reason not to trust cloudflare might be because it is based in the US. Though from what i have read i have liked cloudflare's stance against free speech. Piracy is another matter though. That is if they get a court order they will likely boot you off, Though pirate bay has had success running on cloudflare for a long while. If you plan to host something risky, cloudflare is probably not your bet, though if you were just being cautious cloudflare is good enough