How do you verify you're truly the registrant with WHOIS privacy?

[ryan29]

This is something that got me thinking because of an issue I just ran into. I transferred a .ca from NameSilo to another registrar today. During the transfer I picked my default contact info. After the transfer, the new registrar listed NameSilo as the registrant with my email address. After updating my contact info it still lists NameSilo as the registrant with my address. The only reason I even noticed is because they failed to apply WHOIS privacy.

So what happens if they had enabled WHOIS privacy, but provided CIRA with the wrong registrant name and info? Is there a risk of losing that domain or can a registrar fix something like that? My biggest fear would be having a domain stolen and not being able to prove prior ownership.

Does anyone have a way of and make a point of checking to ensure the registrant is correctly set for domains that are using WHOIS privacy?

 

[equity78]

This is something that got me thinking because of an issue I just ran into. I transferred a .ca from NameSilo to another registrar today. During the transfer I picked my default contact info. After the transfer, the new registrar listed NameSilo as the registrant with my email address. After updating my contact info it still lists NameSilo as the registrant with my address. The only reason I even noticed is because they failed to apply WHOIS privacy.

So what happens if they had enabled WHOIS privacy, but provided CIRA with the wrong registrant name and info? Is there a risk of losing that domain or can a registrar fix something like that? My biggest fear would be having a domain stolen and not being able to prove prior ownership.

Does anyone have a way of and make a point of checking to ensure the registrant is correctly set for domains that are using WHOIS privacy?

I believe a true error could be fixed, there are methods to prove ownership.

@namesilo Maybe @Joe Styler could say how GoDaddy would handle it?

 

[ryan29]

Having someone other than me listed as the registrant bothered me enough that I emailed CIRA to ask them if they can explain what happened. I also asked them if there's a way I can verify I'm listed as the registrant on a domain when WHOIS privacy is enabled.

If they tell me anything interesting I'll post about it here.

 

[Joe Styler]

Well there are too many variables for something like this to say how we would handle it. It is a lot easier to answer a specific instance. Generally speaking you won't have a problem with ownership if you are supposed to be the owner of the domain. You should be able to see who owns the domain - behind the privacy - from inside your account in your domain manager with us.
But there are so many variables. For .com ICANN regulates it and there is a Change of Registrant process to follow. For .ca CIRA runs that and there are other rules registrars have to follow. The registry and the registrars - gaining and losing, should all have the same info and that info is able to be audited in almost all cases so if the domain is supposed to be yours it should be easy enough to prove.