{"id":4527,"date":"2013-01-22T09:23:37","date_gmt":"2013-01-22T14:23:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hostgator.com\/blog\/?p=4527"},"modified":"2013-01-22T09:23:37","modified_gmt":"2013-01-22T14:23:37","slug":"whois-privacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hostgator.com\/blog\/whois-privacy\/","title":{"rendered":"WHOIS Privacy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What is WHOIS?\u00a0 WHOIS, in a literal sense, is a protocol used to query databases that store registration information relative to Internet resources.\u00a0 Sounds complicated, but for our purposes at this time, WHOIS is simply a means of finding out who owns a given domain name.\u00a0 There are countless websites that allow you to run a WHOIS search; any domain registrar, for starters.\u00a0 You can essentially choose at random from a quick Google search for WHOIS.<\/p>\n<p>When you do perform a WHOIS search on a domain, you find all sorts of information about the registrant of the given domain.\u00a0 In a nutshell, you&#8217;ll see all of the publicly available information relative to the given domain.\u00a0 Here&#8217;s the truncated results from a WHOIS search for HostGator.com, which is a perfect example:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4773\" title=\"whois_detective\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hostgator.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/whois_detective.png\" width=\"610\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hostgator.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/whois_detective.png 610w, https:\/\/www.hostgator.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/whois_detective-300x122.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 610px) 100vw, 610px\" \/>We see when the domain was created and when the current registration period expires.\u00a0 We also see the nameservers to which the domain is pointed.\u00a0 The most important piece though is the name, address and phone number of the registrant.\u00a0 The information shown here for HostGator.com is essentially all publicly available information already, so it&#8217;s really a no harm and no foul situation.<\/p>\n<p>However, when any given citizen registers a domain name they are putting their full name, address and phone number out there and attaching it to the various domain names they may have registered.\u00a0 If you are unaware of this circumstance and have currently registered domains, you might want to WHOIS your domains and see what you see.\u00a0 Do you necessarily want your personal contact information out there, attached to your domains and viewable by anyone?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4748\" title=\"whois_privacy\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hostgator.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/whois_privacy.png\" width=\"610\" height=\"671\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hostgator.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/whois_privacy.png 610w, https:\/\/www.hostgator.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/whois_privacy-272x300.png 272w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 610px) 100vw, 610px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It may occur to you to use false or otherwise incomplete information when registering a domain in order to maintain your privacy, however the WHOIS information legally and contractually determines who has control of the domain.\u00a0 For more information regarding this, please see <a title=\"this helpful link\" href=\"https:\/\/support.hostgator.com\/articles\/hosting-guide\/lets-get-started\/domain-names-buy-sell-manage\/private-whois-registration-id-protect\" target=\"_blank\">this helpful link<\/a> from our KnowledgeBase.<\/p>\n<p>So, here is the situation most of us find ourselves in: we must use valid information on our domain registrations, but we don&#8217;t want that information freely available to the public?\u00a0 This is where domain privacy, or WHOIS protection comes in.<\/p>\n<p>HostGator offers WHOIS protection on any domain we register.\u00a0 Domains registered via eNom utilize a service called ID Protect, while LaunchPad registered domains use Privacy Protection.\u00a0 The functionality for both is the same; protecting your personal information from being displayed publically within WHOIS searches.<\/p>\n<p>Any time you register a domain via HostGator, you have the option of enabling WHOIS privacy.\u00a0 Conversely, if you have purchased domains in the past, you can contact us at any time to have this service added to your domains.\u00a0 Privacy is serious business in today&#8217;s world and we are happy to be able to offer this service.\u00a0 HostGator recommends WHOIS privacy for all of your domains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is WHOIS?\u00a0 WHOIS, in a literal sense, is a protocol used to query databases that store registration information relative&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tips-and-tricks","category-web-and-hosting-tips"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.2 (Yoast SEO v23.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>WHOIS Privacy - HostGator<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hostgator.com\/blog\/whois-privacy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WHOIS Privacy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What is WHOIS?\u00a0 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