Should you turn on domain privacy for your business domain?
Domain privacy keeps your contact details off the public registration record, and it can be a sensible choice for a business. The catch is who is listed as the owner. ICANN says a privacy service keeps you as the registered holder, with alternative contact details published, while a proxy service makes the provider the registrant of record and licenses use of the domain to you. Keep the business as the registrant, and ask which kind you are buying.
What privacy and proxy services hide
ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, says privacy and proxy providers let customers register a domain without publishing their contact information in the public registration directory, also known as WHOIS.
| Privacy service | Proxy service | |
|---|---|---|
| Registered holder | You. Your name appears in the registrant name field | The provider, as registrant of record |
| What the public sees | Your name, with the provider's alternative contact information (such as a mail-forwarding email address) in place of your own | None of your information, only alternative contact information from the provider |
| Your position | Registered holder of the domain | A customer licensed to use the domain under the provider's agreement |
The ownership catch
ICANN calls the two legally distinct, because with a proxy service the provider is the registered domain name holder, which it says attaches certain legal rights and responsibilities. It adds that the provider licenses use of the domain to the customer through its agreement with the customer.
In practice, that can make renewing, moving or recovering the domain depend on the provider. A product sold as domain privacy can work either way, so ask which. This is a plain summary, not legal advice.
What to do before you turn it on
- Before you buy it, look your domain up at lookup.icann.org, ICANN's free tool for publicly available registration data, to see what the public already sees. If your personal contact details are not shown, ask your registrar whether you need the service at all. The related answer on who should own your domain explains how to check the owner.
- Ask your registrar in writing: is this a privacy service or a proxy service, and whose name will be listed as the registrant?
- Keep the business as the registrant. If the service would list the provider instead, choose another option or skip it.
- If a forwarding email address is published for your domain, check that mail sent to it reaches someone. Also make sure the contact email in your registrar account is one more than one person reads.
- Read the provider's terms on when it reveals your details and what happens if you end the service.
Is it worth it?
Often, yes, when the lookup shows personal details, such as a home address, and you would rather keep them off a public record. The aim is to hide the details, not to change who owns the domain. Privacy also does not remove the need to check any renewal notice yourself; the related answer on fake renewal notices covers that.
Sources
- ICANN, "Information for Privacy and Proxy Service Providers, Customers and Third-Party Requesters"
- ICANN, "WHOIS and Registration Data Directory Services"
Related answers
Websites, upgraded or built
Most businesses do not need a new website. They need the one they have to load fast, say clearly what they do and ask the visitor to take one step.