Can someone view my Whois search?

[cache]

the question is: can someone view my whois search and use this data to register a good name?

I have seen this question a few times, I have never believe it to be true. In one thread I even answered that it does not make any sense. But now I am rethining it, because it just happened that three of domain names I have searched registered right after I searched. I just can't believe it.

 

[weblord]

actually even before using your domain whois information they can register any of your domains while you're just thinking about it if specially you done your whois research first on the domain using networksolutions.com and/or whois.sc for they considered all whois inputted from their whois search box to be "used" information so they can sell it and they own all of it's results, another site is domainnamesoup.com (pls correct me with the spelling if wrong)

however if question of privacy is that you're concerned with i highly advise you to use a whois protection on your domain

 

[seeker]

this keeps being debated over the years, with supporters of both answers (yes and no).
the no camp says that the possibility of someone also thinking of the same name is great, and by coincidence they regged it. Especially true of domains related to something that is in the news or spotlight.
I support the yes camp. I do believe that depending on the name and the search result (i.e. domain available), it is soooooo easy to write a a script that looks through the log files per day or per hour even, and if a name is good or has good overture (again something easy to check by script) it is then compiled and sent 'somewhere' or to a few people who then reg them.
in theory, every time you search whois, the registry has a log for this, but getting the registry involved isnt as easy. Getting a site that you search through or a registrar on the other hand, should not be that difficult.
I do not believe in the 'coincidence' theory.
If you find a name, reg it right there and then, or dont search.
Thats just my opinion of course.

 

[cache]

weblord,

I used to have the same believe as you, but then a few of the names just HAPPENED to be registered by someone else RIGHT AFTER I searched. This changed my believe. I bet if this really happens to you, you would re-think what you believe.

actually even before using your domain whois information they can register any of your domains while you're just thinking about it if specially you done your whois research first on the domain using networksolutions.com and/or whois.sc for they considered all whois inputted from their whois search box to be "used" information so they can sell it and they own all of it's results, another site is domainnamesoup.com (pls correct me with the spelling if wrong)

however if question of privacy is that you're concerned with i highly advise you to use a whois protection on your domain

 

[Anthony]

It would be great if we could hear from someone in the whois business to reply to this issue. Of course, if they were doing this "bad" practice, they wouldn't be likely to blab about it.

 

[MissFlora]

Sometimes the reason you see they are registered "now" is because of the delay of whois updates as well. That domain might have been registered? Did you try checking it up with some registrar to see if they are available (to be registered) and the next minute, check it again but it is no longer available? Many times, scripts and computers are programmed to read log files and register them automatically. It is too time consuming to do that manually. Afterall, who can stand looking through thousands of whois per minute? Nonetheless, I personally encountered issues where the domain I looked up is available and after an hr, it is gone. But I know the "fellow" who registered it is a script bot so I literally knew what happened. Even if companies do keep logs of whois searching, what can we do? No matter what program we use, it will land us to the same point: whois. I am really interested in hearing more about this.

Flora.

 

[khuldun]

Apart from the whois update delay, what i personally think is that when you go to register a domain, there are thousands of domainers just like you willing to register any good domain they can get their hands on, so sometimes its pure coincidence that you loose a domain while checking if its free or not.

 

[weblord]

weblord,

I used to have the same believe as you, but then a few of the names just HAPPENED to be registered by someone else RIGHT AFTER I searched. This changed my believe. I bet if this really happens to you, you would re-think what you believe.

yes :imho: im speaking from my experiences.

 

[zendiz]

Check out http://www.namepros.com/domain-name-discussion/177152-strange.html

I believe it will do more damage then good in the long run.
I asked name.com support for an explanation and 2 weeks later still no reply from them on this matter. Which I think just says enough.

Why wouldn't they do it?
It's plain and simple. You search for a domain to see if its free.
If a lot of ppl have checked the same domain but didn't register it, well there is interest. And long term it works out for domain traffic (PPC) and increasing domain value.

So the registrar that sells the domain is profiting from both sides, as provider of a domain selling service and as of PPC.

Why wouldn't they register themselves as they don't wanna get linked to such practices so they have a 3rd party either register the name for them OR for a commission they have a 3rd party snoop on their visitor behaviour. For this you have to have access to the registrar's (or whois site) log files. There is no way with these days server security settings that they can snoop in between the site and you visiting it without site owners knowlegde of it. So my guess they have to be in it.

 

[weblord]

:imho: so the lesson to learn once you do a whois on a particular "hot" domain name in mind is make sure you make ready your plastic to register it or else someone else will have it. speaking specifically with my experience on weblord.com, and weblord.net it's just 15 minutes after I check via a public cybercafe using networksolutions.com and what do you know it was registered when I got home.

 

[zendiz]

:imho: so the lesson to learn once you do a whois on a particular "hot" domain name in mind is make sure you make ready your plastic to register it or else someone else will have it. speaking specifically with my experience on weblord.com, and weblord.net it's just 15 minutes after I check via a public cybercafe using networksolutions.com and what do you know it was registered when I got home.

So can it be said that they are misusing their connections to invade someones privacy? I dunno if there are any lawfirms reading this but IMHO there is a difference between gathering surfing behaviour for statistic purposes and actually using the data you enter over their lines for other usage.

For example a provider can count the amount of emails you send for measuring server load but it cannot use any of the emails content or the address you send from/to. That would be a grave invasion of privacy. Even when they offer you to use their email address or connection.

 

[cache]

I think the best way to punish them is not to use certain whois search engine. If someone can keep a list of whois_search engines that are questionable, fewer people would use them and less traffic to them. This way the owner of the whois would want to take some step to protect the search privacy information.