From Godaddy:
Whois Masking - What Is Changing
We’re making improvements to protect you from spam.
Starting January 25, your WHOIS contact details will be masked from automated access points.
This service will block some of your contact details through automated access points.
We’re always looking for ways to protect your information online. To help slow the flood of spam that can occur when you register a domain without privacy services, WHOIS masking of certain personal data will be turned on for all domains on January 25.
This service will limit a potential spammer’s ability to access your first name, last name, email and phone number through automated means (also known as Port 43 access). We’ll continue to publish full WHOIS details to users of our CAPTCHA-protected, web-based WHOIS system, as required.
Here’s how to opt out:
If you still want your information to be available via automated sources of public WHOIS data, you can opt out anytime using one of these options:
- Call us at +1 (480) 505-8877.
- Send your request to [email protected]. We may ask for additional information for verification purposes.
Domain Privacy still matters.
While we hope this service will help cut down on spam calls and emails, because registration information is still made available publicly, Domain Privacy is still the best way to maintain anonymity online. WHOIS masking will only restrict spammers through automated bulk access sources.
To learn more,
check out this help article.
https://www.godaddy.com/help/masking-contact-information-shared-via-whois-automated-access-points-27...
Important to note – If you are concerned about potential buyers of your domain not being able to find your information they can still see it after filling out a captcha. This change only impacts automated requests to cut back on spammers which gather the information in bulk.