Domain Privacy???

[Kate]

I am with Globat, and have been too lazy toswitch over. I just upgraded for a year and they are saying I should have this thing called Domain Privacy for $10 a year. They say

"If you allow your domain privacy service to expire, your name, phone number, email address and mailing address will be published online in the publicly available "whois" database, exposing you to identity theft, fraud, stalkers, spam and telemarketing. Harvesting "whois" information is an easy way for scammers to get your contact information, or worse -- it allows online criminals to impersonate you. "

Should I be concerned? It is just $10 a year but I don't really trust them they try to sell me all kinds of add-ons I don't necessarily need.

I promise myself every year I'll switch, it just kind of sneaks up on me.

Kate

[clay]

FUD

Domain privacy protects you from the casual snoopers. But, for me, it's not really worth it. You can change your contact info (phone, street address) by a few digits to ward off any of the sleazy junk mail ("Domain Registry of America" ). Other than that, I just don't worry about it.

[Acer]

I have privacy on one domain, where I planned to have a blog with a political bent. I don't have it on the other half-dozen I own. To date, I can't say for certain I have ever gotten contacted by spammers at my mailing address or phone number that appears on the whois for my un-private domains. Maybe I'm lucky or my potatoes are too small, but there you have it. My theory is postal mail and phone calls are too expensive for the typical internet spammer when email is free.

[Chakravartin]

clay wrote:
You can change your contact info (phone, street address) by a few digits to ward off any of the sleazy junk mail ("Domain Registry of America" ). Other than that, I just don't worry about it.

Falsifying your contact info is a violation of the ICANN TOS and is grounds for canceling your license agreement.

[haikuman]

Chakravartin wrote:
[quote=clay]
You can change your contact info (phone, street address) by a few digits to ward off any of the sleazy junk mail ("Domain Registry of America" ). Other than that, I just don't worry about it.

Falsifying your contact info is a violation of the ICANN TOS and is grounds for canceling your license agreement.
So is scanning ones email and giving out private info....... The TOS is not Gawd , protecting ones privacy
is an individual option and consideration.... duh ~~ *(:>*

Furdder more if you are the TOS police ....I got something for you gumby :villagers:

[pinion]

1and1.com has free domain privacy and their prices are very competitive. That's one reason I'm switching to them from GoDaddy. Many other reasons obviously

[lemmingboy]

haikuman wrote:
[quote=Chakravartin]
[quote=clay]
You can change your contact info (phone, street address) by a few digits to ward off any of the sleazy junk mail ("Domain Registry of America" ). Other than that, I just don't worry about it.

Falsifying your contact info is a violation of the ICANN TOS and is grounds for canceling your license agreement.
So is scanning ones email and giving out private info....... The TOS is not Gawd , protecting ones privacy
is an individual option and consideration.... duh ~~ *(:>*

Furdder more if you are the TOS police ....I got something for you gumby :villagers:
In terms of having the wrong address on the contact info, isn't that a way people used to get screwed out of their domains?

Unscrupulous people would research valuable domains and if they found any with bad contact info they would report them to the ICANN, get the domain removed from the original owner and then buy it themselves.