Domain Name Registration: Protecting Your Privacy

Posted on January 29th, 2010
A blog post by DN (5 Comments)

The internet is teeming with thousands of hackers that are constantly searching for any weaknesses that they can exploit. Aside from monetary motivation, these hackers may also want to defame your website, just for fun! Any online business owner should be aware of the practices of these hackers, especially if they engage in ecommerce practices directly through their website. Protecting the privacy of your customers is of the utmost importance and most webmasters realize this and take the necessary precautions to do so. However, many webmasters and online business owners don’t realize that protecting the privacy of their business is just as important. The information found in this article could save you form a lot of financial and personal distress ion the future.

Protecting More than Your Assets

I am sure by now you are aware of the financial risks that are so common on the internet. However many people overlook the villains that are not seeking your money, but are driven by a darker motivation. These people are called online predators, and they seek to exploit and take advantage of any private information they can. Many of them socialize in chat rooms, looking for vulnerable and gullible people that they can take advantage of. In fact there are many crimes each year committed by people that met and seduced their victims online. The problem is, these predators can find you and your family a lot easier than you think ,and they don’t have to do it in a chat room!

Should This Information Be Public?

If you have never heard  of the WHOIS database, then now is the time to become familiar with it. When you register your domain, all of the information about your domain such as the name of the domain owner, and the address, are recorded in the WHOIS database. This information can be researched for free by anyone whom so desires. That means that anyone can find your address whether it be business or home, which obviously presents a real threat, especially if you have known enemies. Even if you don’t have enemies now, it is all to easy to find them online. If you run an online business, it would not be unrealistic for a dissatisfied customer to look up your information to slander or harass you, as this has occurred in the past. Some advertising agencies will use information to place annoying marketing calls to your registered number. Do you really want this kind of information to be public?

Protecting Yourself With Private Domain Registration

If you have come to the conclusion that you would lie all of this information to be hidden form the public, then you may want to register your domain as a private domain. Private domains will still receive all of the publicity and popularity of a regular domain, except the only difference is that your information is not put in the WHOIS database. Once you have made the decision to do so, registering a private domain is actually quite simple, simply check the option at checkout when you;re buying your domain name. If you’re having trouble locating this option, then you may want to contact customer service for assistance.