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Ask HN: Protecting your identity with domain registration?
I am considering starting a controversial (but legal) website that might annoy some powerful people.
I would like to register a domain name and keep my identity private. I would also like a registrar who will protect my identity and domain in case they receive a threatening but baseless take-down notice. (Hence, not GoDaddy.)
Does anyone have any recommendations?
Declan McCullagh on CNet recommends gandi and directnic (http://bit.ly/qCoDX). Gandi, however, reveals your full name for .com registrations.
DirectNic looks good. They say they will only reveal your information in the case of a court order. Except, a) people have complained about their domain sniping (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=150592) and b) DirectNic writes "(Contact records are modified to directPRIVACY within an hour after successful registration)". Doesn't that mean there is an hour where my full name is available on DNS? In that case, can't people determine my name using historical DNS records?
Do people have other recommendations for registrars that are good at protecting your privacy?
- icey 17y agoI am not in a position to offer advice on what is safe for you specifically. However, Wikileaks uses GoDaddy as their registrar, and they're still around.
- chris11 17y agoI also am not in a position to offer much advice. But in regards to GoDaddy, they have been accused of censorship. So I would suggest reading up on them to see if you trust them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godaddy#Controversies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godaddy#Controversies Another thing, GoDaddy has canceled domains for having false whois information. And they have been accused of canceling domains with little to no warning. While hosting wikileaks is a plus, I'm not quite sure that Wikileaks actually uses GoDaddy. I got the idea that Wikileaks uses domain sponsors to register domains. http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Interview_with_WikiLeaks.de_domain_sponsor_Theodor_Reppe http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Interview_with_WikiLeaks.de_domain... So it may not have been a decision made by the organization or board.
- felixmar 17y agoYou can use fake whois data for a few days. It doesn't matter. Some time ago i reported a domain to ICANN that did not have a single valid looking whois field. The registrar (Melboure IT) did nothing and after a year or so the same data was still present.
- brk 17y agoNot sure how much effort it is worth, but you might be able to start a shell corp (potentially even offshore) and register through that, and then privatize the whois data as well. When/if there was ever a breach of the whois data, the shell corp registration could provide an extra layer of useful obfuscation and warning.
- bravura 17y agoTrue, but the technical and admin contacts must be humans.
- chris11 17y agoThat is what I was thinking too. This book seems like it might have some good info on hiding your assets. http://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Invisible-Essential-Protecting/dp/0312319061/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236088936&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Invisible-Essential-Protecting/... .Also, the author of that book seems to sell ghost addresses at http://canaryislandspress.com/index.cfm/page/Address/index.htm http://canaryislandspress.com/index.cfm/page/Address/index.h... Tim Ferriss wrote an article that had to do with privacy that got a lot of discussion on HN. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=504151 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=504151
- soundsop 17y agoYou may want to consider http://nearlyfreespeech.net http://nearlyfreespeech.net. Their domain privacy product is called RespectMyPrivacy: https://www.nearlyfreespeech.net/services/respect.php https://www.nearlyfreespeech.net/services/respect.php
- xsc 17y agoAny news regarding NFS revealing details?
- mdasen 17y agoWe will cooperate with all investigations conducted by law enforcement authorities of the United States of America when legally required to do so. Cooperation with law enforcement authorities from other countries and cooperation when it is not legally required are at our sole discretion. Our discretion looks favorably on freedom and justice, and unfavorably on oppression and violence. Unless legally prohibited, we will inform you of any cooperation we provide to any law enforcement authorities. NFS is probably your best choice, but it really depends on how "legal" your service is. If you're going to get a judge serving a search warrant against you, you won't be protected by any registrar. If you're being sued for libel and the judge thinks there's a good chance you'll lose, I'm guessing that anonymity will be gone. And there are some things that people like to say are legal which are of questionable legality. Sure, we can have a long debate about whether the Pirate Bay is legal or not under different interpretations of the law, but I think it's reasonable to say that such a site is of questionable legality if for no other reason than it being a somewhat new phenomenon that, until the recent case, really hadn't seen a lot of law spelling out exactly what was and wasn't ok. NFS hasn't been at the center of any big controversy and they're more motivated by ideals than by profits. At the same time, they can be legally required to do things or face contempt of court charges. As a curiosity, what do you hope anonymity to accomplish? It can help you keep your private life private should people not like what you're doing, but you're perfectly entitled to do it. However, if you're doing something like the Pirate Bay, you're likely to be named, even if found innocent. Might be unfortunate, but it's kinda the price one pays for living on that edge (vs. doing something like porn where there's no questionable legality involved, but you still might not want anyone to know). NearlyFreeSpeech has a good reputation and they believe in what they're doing, but there's no magic bullet. No registrar's officers will go to jail for you, no registrar is going to be able to shield you from the NSA, etc. If you're just looking to remain anonymous and not operating at a murky legal boundary, NFS is a good choice. If you're plotting to overthrow the government, no registrar will be able to help you. /sorry for saying "you" all the time. I realised half-way through that the person I'm responding to isn't the "you" I'm referring to.
- motoko 17y agoI've had success with NearyFreeSpeech.net, but I've had GoDaddy lock domains due to dubious legal complaints. I recommend trying NearlyFreeSpeech.net and reporting in the registration that you chose them from recommendations at Hacker News. If you do ever have a problem with a registrar, report the story here at news.ycombinator so that it can be archived. Note: do NOT respond to legal threats. They are like spam ---you respond, now it's known that you respond to threats, and now will be sued. Never assume good faith. If somebody sends you a letter about their trademark, for example, and you call their office to ask about it in good faith, that other company can claim that you said anything over the phone, and you will have to defend yourself in court otherwise. Winning a lawsuit is very expensive for a small business. You do not want to win.