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Unfortunately ICANN (acting on the wishes of Law Enforcement) enacted exactly the opposite policy in 2013, requiring verification of certain WHOIS information*

• adventured 12y ago
  A lot of people still don't realize that not having accurate WHOIS information is a fast way to lose your domain in the case of a dispute (either with another party or the registrar).
  • larrys 12y ago
    Depends on the registrar. As a registrar I can tell you that we would bend over backwards before allowing a domain to go this route. Also there is very little practically that prevents a registrar from putting in valid whois info (event their own info) and holding the domain on ice until the registrant shows up (if they want to for some reason that is). There is nominal carry cost vs. the aggravation of doing the wrong thing. And there are cases where no whois info at all appears and ICANN is ok with that. There is a domain that I am trying to get now for someone that is at godaddy. The registrant (fearing a UDRP) told godaddy to delete the domain. Godaddy didn't do that they removed the name from whois so "no match" appears. Not kosher but they do that and ICANN doesn't seem to mind. They will wait 30 days and then sell it to us for $24 backorder fee. To me that makes more sense time wise then taking it up with ICANN (and I have high level contacts at that organization that I can tap but for $24 why bother?) Back to the issue of invalid info. Typically the process would start with someone filing the complaint form with ICANN. Then we get notified by ICANN and get time to fix the problem. De facto, we can populate the whois with whatever we want and reply back to ICANN "problem fixed". ICANN will then reply back to the person who filed the complaint "problem fixed" (to simplify things). Can't vouch for what others may do, this is what we have seen happen.
    • fapjacks 12y ago
      Cool. Thanks.
    • syntern 12y ago
      Which registrar are you? :)
      • larrys 12y ago
        Thanks for asking! But I'd rather not mix my commenting on HN with business. What I suggest that you do (if this is important to you) is whatever registrar you use, ask them (in writing) what their policy is with respect to whois and additionally what if any exceptions are typically made to that policy. The "exceptions" might only be communicated verbally for legal or practical reasons.
• 27182818284 12y ago
  Without newer techs like Namecoin, is it even remotely possible to be anonymous? Is it even possible with Namecoin? I pay for Namecheaps hidden DNS stuff so I don't get spammed with offers and whatnot, but I'm under no illusion that it means my information is private, private.
  • dublinben 12y ago
    If your privacy is worth ~$100/year, you can register an anonymous LLC through a registered agent in a state like Wyoming or Nevada. This would be your legal point of contact for your domain registrations (and any other business purposes) and comply with any ICANN requirements. Their business entirely hinges on strong privacy/anonymity, and is well established within state law.
    • ryan-c 12y ago
      Have you done this? I'd be interested in details.
      • ChuckMcM 12y ago
        I did not, I went with the generic LLC in Nevada but looked into it. It is pretty straight forward, you contact one of the registered agents (they advertise and you can find them at your search engine of choice "Nevada LLC") and you pay money and poof, you get an LLC. Your agent is a lawyer acting on your behalf. Besides state law there is attorney-client privilege to aid in keeping you secret. Not surprisingly, when you talk to these folks they will assume you are either very wealthy or doing something which will make your future LLC "disliked" by a large number of people. Because I was neither of these things, the recommendation was just file the paperwork myself, save some money.
  • 1337biz 12y ago
    There are also hosts such as mediaon.com, which offer anonymous hosting and payments via mailed-in cash. These have been around for quite some time.