My own "WHOIS Guard"

Unknown · Jun 1, 2009

I recently began my own domain registering business as a reseller with Enom. I saw that they offer ID(whois) protection for $6 and was wondering if it was possible/legal to create my own ID(whois) protection service with my own database and charge something like $1.99 for my customers.

From my understanding, all ID/whois protection is just simply putting a valid email/phone/address that is reachable. So I would put my company's email/phone/address and if an email comes regarding that domain I just simply forward it to the email we have in our records for that domain.

Is this legal, plausible or am I just thinking too much.

DebX420 · Jun 1, 2009

As far as I know, this is the only thing that normal WhoIS protectors do - but do not quote me on that one heh.

Jaco · Jun 1, 2009

I'm actually kinda surprised that someone hasn't tried a cheaper, external whois protection service.

Of course, I'd bet the registrars would immediately compensate for such a service in their own TOS and it would be rendered useless PDQ, but might be worth a shot.

Albert · Jun 1, 2009

Safety?! With the email address of another company(Whois Guard) on my domain. They can easily fake as me and steal my domains with password recover from domain registrar.

Unknown · Jun 1, 2009

You registered the domain with the company and asked for WHOIS protection. You have to obviously trust the company to register a domain with them and then request ID protection.

Albert said:
Safety?! With the email address of another company(Whois Guard) on my domain. They can easily fake as me and steal my domains with password recover from domain registrar.

DebX420 · Jun 1, 2009

What you could do:

Have people, that email you in concern to a domain, insert the domain in question, then you can go to that specific file and email them, and they can choose to have you email back, or they can do it from their personal email.

Unknown · Jun 1, 2009

Thats the plan. A step further would be have a script create a psuedo email account (e.g. [email protected]) that forwards to the domain owner's real email.

But until we get a substantial number of domains registered, I'm just going to do it manually with a single email account.

Jacob N said:
What you could do:

Have people, that email you in concern to a domain, insert the domain in question, then you can go to that specific file and email them, and they can choose to have you email back, or they can do it from their personal email.

Smith · Jun 1, 2009

enjoy the lawsuits.

SeanPreston · Jun 1, 2009

If legal it could VERY easily be done, if you created emails that simply "Catched-all", you could even have it where as it replies automatically with a form so that they can contact you directly, however the email system could work just aswell (you mya get a lot of mail though)

You would also need to read other Whois Guard's TOS very carefully to see how they act on events such as people contacting you for the owners details.

Sean

Unknown · Jun 1, 2009

Smith said:
enjoy the lawsuits.

Thanks for being so informative. Is this something you pulled outa your hat(or another 3 letter word)? If you have any details on its legality that would be appreciated

@Sean Preston

Its very feasible, and making extra cash dosen't hurt. My only concern is the legality of it, I havn't looked at the TOS yet, but I don't see why it would be illegal.

SeanPreston said:
If legal it could VERY easily be done, if you created emails that simply "Catched-all", you could even have it where as it replies automatically with a form so that they can contact you directly, however the email system could work just aswell (you mya get a lot of mail though)

You would also need to read other Whois Guard's TOS very carefully to see how they act on events such as people contacting you for the owners details.

Sean

samuelhr · Jun 1, 2009

I'm in the process of building a similar service, with a massive variety of extra features that'll be free to all registered users. The "basic way" it works is you automatically create [email protected] and forward all emails to the real email address of the registered owner, that's the bottom line of whoisguard type services, obviously more features are a plus

abdussamad · Jun 1, 2009

directi offers free privacy protection so if enom is too expensive for you just transfer out. As far as starting your own privacy protection front goes I think the administrative and legal costs are going to be a pain. So its not as simple as running a forwarding service. I also think your going to have to get a real privacy policy so that you can assure your customers that you won't be reading their mail.

Edit: What happens when a domain you protect does something illegal like spam? You get a whole lot of crap headed your way. Just one example of the headache your going to get.

Unknown · Jun 1, 2009

If I was to transfer as a reseller to another registrar it would be for cheaper domain registration, not free whois protection. I'm with enom now because I have an $8.45 account, can't find anything cheaper with a low deposit.

I could see the spam becoming an issue with the email idea, thats where a good script that sends email directly to the underlying email comes handy.

My company is only just starting, so we have very few domains that we would need to manage emails for, so the email approach might be good for the first few domains we register.

abdussamad said:
directi offers free privacy protection so if enom is too expensive for you just transfer out. As far as starting your own privacy protection front goes I think the administrative and legal costs are going to be a pain. So its not as simple as running a forwarding service. I also think your going to have to get a real privacy policy so that you can assure your customers that you won't be reading their mail.

Edit: What happens when a domain you protect does something illegal like spam? You get a whole lot of crap headed your way. Just one example of the headache your going to get.

Dave_Z · Jun 2, 2009

Unknown said:
If you have any details on its legality that would be appreciated

Just to give an idea of what legal issue to expect:

Registrar Sued Because of Cybersquatter Using Whois Privacy Service | Domain Name News

You need not necessarily worry, though.

happyhappy · Jun 2, 2009

OTT;
This could be thrown at any registrar that offers privacy protection right? Wouldn't it of been easier to have your lawyer to write a nice written letter stating... "We believe you are protecting a domain that has been potentially stolen from our client. If this is not resolved in 72 hours we will then file a law suit" ?

Unknown: I think this would be valuable for a very low price

Dave Zan said:
Just to give an idea of what legal issue to expect:

Registrar Sued Because of Cybersquatter Using Whois Privacy Service | Domain Name News

You need not necessarily worry, though.

Dave_Z · Jun 2, 2009

happyhappy said:
This could be thrown at any registrar that offers privacy protection right?

Sure. It's been long established in the U.S. that anyone can sue anybody for anything, whether it's valid or not.

I'm just giving Unknown something to consider. Ultimately, though, Unknown will decide whether such a venture is feasible or not.

On the side, I'm still pondering whether to finally release my own to the public. Still working out the devil in the details, especially the liability issues.

happyhappy · Jun 3, 2009

Understandable

nothing has changed sue if you got the money LOL

Dave Zan said:
Sure. It's been long established in the U.S. that anyone can sue anybody for anything, whether it's valid or not.

I'm just giving Unknown something to consider. Ultimately, though, Unknown will decide whether such a venture is feasible or not.

On the side, I'm still pondering whether to finally release my own to the public. Still working out the devil in the details, especially the liability issues.

Unknown · Jul 18, 2009

This is an old thread, but I thought I would update it:

I created a WHOIS Protection Service that can be used by domain resellers via an API.

for more details visit JivenWho.com - Home

happyhappy · Jul 18, 2009

I just saw it a few min ago.. think I will test it out.. Thanks for the update

Unknown said:
This is an old thread, but I thought I would update it:

I created a WHOIS Protection Service that can be used by domain resellers via an API.

for more details visit JivenWho.com - Home

Unknown · Jul 19, 2009

If you need any help, send me a PM or post on the support forum at JivenWho.com • Index page

Theres also an API Documentation and a premade WHMCS Mod

JivenWho.com - Documentation

thewebhostingdir · Aug 21, 2009

Most registrars offers privacy protection free of cost now. name.com, resellerclub.com are one of them.

uliss · Sep 14, 2009

Unknown said:
Thanks for being so informative. Is this something you pulled outa your hat(or another 3 letter word)? If you have any details on its legality that would be appreciated

.

It's not big deal!

Whois openess is the ICANN's requirement to Registrar, you're not. Also, when registrar started providing whois protection, ICANN kept quiet. What are they supposed to deal with your case now?

My own "WHOIS Guard"

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