services Whois privacy will be free soon for most domains

News · Mar 5, 2018

ICANN has proposed a new Whois model that would anonymize the majority of domain name registrants’ personal data by default, only giving access to the data to certain certified entities such as the police.

Technical data such as the registrar (and their abuse contact), registration and expiry dates, status code, name servers and DNSSEC information would still be displayed.

Depending on how registrars implement the model in practice (they have the option to apply it to all domains everywhere) this means that the majority of the world’s 188 million gTLD domains will probably be affected...

Terrains · Mar 5, 2018

interesting news

Cruncher · Mar 5, 2018

I'm guessing they will have to make the money they lose out with domain privacy another way then?

platey · Mar 5, 2018

Registrars will probably set up a department that will handle all domain name negotiations with potential buyers and sellers where a potential buyer would simply make an offer to gd for example and quote the domain name they wish to purchase and gd simply passes that offer on to the current owner of that domain giving the owner a time frame to reply etc or for the owner to set limits on their names eg it's a no if the offer isn't above a certain price etc

And using this example etc gd in this case would simply be a broker for every domain in their registrar etc

So owner of domain would never need to communicate with buyer etc

korganian · Mar 5, 2018

platey said:
Registrars will probably set up a department that will handle all domain name negotiations with potential buyers and sellers where a potential buyer would simply make an offer to gd for example and quote the domain name they wish to purchase and gd simply passes that offer on to the current owner of that domain giving the owner a time frame to reply etc or for the owner to set limits on their names eg it's a no if the offer isn't above a certain price etc

And using this example etc gd in this case would simply be a broker for every domain in their registrar etc

So owner of domain would never need to communicate with buyer etc

What you described is Godaddy's "domain buy service" which they have had for a long time. I like it because the buyer pays the commission. It cost the buyer $69.95 just to make an offer though, so it would not work for small sales.

platey · Mar 6, 2018

korganian said:
What you described is Godaddy's "domain buy service" which they have had for a long time. I like it because the buyer pays the commission. It cost the buyer $69.95 just to make an offer though, so it would not work for small sales.

They may have to introduce a fee then instead of privacy fee when purchasing a domain name eg hand reg etc and still charge that fee but it be used for small sales etc instead as privacy would be automatic unless requested for it not to be

offthehandle · Mar 6, 2018

Verisigns .com contract is up soon, I am sure privacy will be built into the price increase.

Acroplex · Mar 6, 2018

offthehandle said:
Verisigns .com contract is up soon, I am sure privacy will be built into the price increase.

It expires in 2024, not in 2018.

DnEbook · Mar 6, 2018

Just redirect your domains to the sales pages of your choice, most registrars offer a forwarding option.

namerav · Mar 6, 2018

Good news for developed domains.

DomainVP · Mar 6, 2018

Or keep it the same and use any of the dozens of registrars who provide free privacy.

With ICANN just follow the money and you will find out why.

carob · Mar 6, 2018

This may be in response to the coming GDPRE:

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/03/02/icann_gdpr_whois/

You may no longer be able to see the name, email or house address for whoever owns a specific domain name under new rules proposed by DNS overseer ICANN.

Such details will be removed from the Whois service that covers hundreds of millions of domain names across the world in order to comply with new European privacy legislation that comes into force this May.

Instead, if you wish to contact a domain name owner you will be given an anonymized email address that will then forward to that owner's real email.

BrandCougar · Mar 6, 2018

One topic not discussed in the article is transfers.

When transferring a domain from one registrar to another, most receiving registrars ask you to Unlock the domain and remove Whois Privacy so they can communicate directly with the Registrant's Email Contact during the transfer process.

Should a prior Whois Privacy email (from the original registrar) be transferred to the new registar as the Registrant Contact Email, the problem becomes the original registrar cancels the forwarding. Oops! Dead end email in Registrant Contact Email could lead to a domain registration being canceled down the road should they be unable to reach you for verification purposes.

So.... how will this play out for domain transfers when implemented?

My gut... it will be a confusing mess the 1st 90 days after implementation and we (as domainers) might find it difficult to transfer domains to a new owner (buyer).

offthehandle · Mar 6, 2018

Acroplex said:
It expires in 2024, not in 2018.

Thanks, btw Did you publish anything on your site about their extension? I was traveling then in October 2016 and don’t recall even seeing anything written about this extension in 2017 or anyone mentioning it here. Good to know price/cost is maintained too.

https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/agreement-2012-12-05-en
2012:
Section 4.1 Term. The initial term of this Agreement shall expire on November 30, 2018. The Expiration Date shall be November 30, 2018, as extended by any renewal terms.

Oct 2016 Amendment:
https://www.icann.org/sites/default/files/tlds/com/com-amend-1-pdf-20oct16-en.pdf

“(i) from the Effective Date through November 30, 2024, US $7.85;”

Michael M · Mar 6, 2018

BrandCougar said:
One topic not discussed in the article is transfers.

When transferring a domain from one registrar to another, most receiving registrars ask you to Unlock the domain and remove Whois Privacy so they can communicate directly with the Registrant's Email Contact during the transfer process.

Should a prior Whois Privacy email (from the original registrar) be transferred to the new registar as the Registrant Contact Email, the problem becomes the original registrar cancels the forwarding. Oops! Dead end email in Registrant Contact Email could lead to a domain registration being canceled down the road should they be unable to reach you for verification purposes.

So.... how will this play out for domain transfers when implemented?

My gut... it will be a confusing mess the 1st 90 days after implementation and we (as domainers) might find it difficult to transfer domains to a new owner (buyer).

I'd imagine that registars (in addition to the authorities) will still be able to access the detailed whois information - so transfers would not be affected.

siravi · Mar 7, 2018

Thanks for sharing this updated news.

carob · Mar 7, 2018

Any idea how this will apply to extensions that did not previously allow privacy? Like .us, .in for example.

Kate · Mar 7, 2018

I don't think that GDPR would (or should) apply to .us

Acroplex · Mar 7, 2018

It's all about two distinct systems about privacy and data safety. After the Equifax incident, we've lost it in the US.

Niraj Kumar · Mar 7, 2018

I won't get spam emails at least.

BrandCougar · Mar 7, 2018

What will we do without all those late night calls spewing "We have website design skill for you. You need?" ?

Oh yea... SLEEP !!!

OmarVG · Mar 7, 2018

This news are Magnific!! now Trump wont know my address when he realizes Iam the owner of certain Trump domains! LOL

FolioTeam · Mar 10, 2018

Good development

Dan Beck · Mar 14, 2018

https://www.wired.com/story/weighing-privacy-vs-security-for-the-internets-address-book

carob · Mar 14, 2018

Will this destroy the business model of DomainTools.com ?

services Whois privacy will be free soon for most domains

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