Privacy Shield

Did you know that your name, email, and phone number are made publicly available within the WhoIs database when you register any domain name? Any spammers, solicitors and other prying eyes can find your personal information online, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Without Privacy Shield, spammers can obtain your email and contact information and then use it for spamming purposes and redistribution to marketing firms. Your email address can stay on file with various spammers and marketing firms for years. Check out the difference between an unprotected and protected domain registration.

Privacy Shield FAQs

1. What is PrivacyShield?
2. Why is my personal information available when I purchase a domain name?
3. What personal information is displayed in domain name Whois, and how do people find it?
4. How does PrivacyShield help reduce spam?
5. Which TLDs allow PrivacyShield?
6. Can I add PrivacyShield to a domain name that is registered elsewhere?
7. Why can’t I use PrivacyShield with my .us name?
8. Can PrivacyShield be automatically added to all eligible registrations by default?
9. What if someone sends something to the Whois Privacy Protection Service postal address?
10. What if I need to prove ownership of a domain?
11. How do I turn off PrivacyShield if my domain has expired?
12. Does PrivacyShield stay with the domain if the domain is pushed?
13. If I’m transferring a domain, and it has privacy protection, do I need to turn the privacy protection off to transfer?
14. If I am transferring my domain away, do I need to turn off PrivacyShield in order to receive the transfer confirmation emails?

1. What is ID Protect?

International rules require that valid contact information—known as Whois—is available for every domain name. PrivacyShield cloaks your identity and provides proxy contact information in the Whois.

ID Protect also reduces spam. In your cloaked Whois information, we provide a proxy email address that changes several times a year. We forward email sent to the proxy address, but when the proxy address changes, spam sent to the old address bounces.

2. Why is my personal information available when I purchase a domain name?

International rules require that valid contact information be provided for all domain names, and that it be accessible worldwide. ID Protect provides valid contact information that satisfies the international requirements without exposing your personal contact information to worldwide scrutiny.

3. What personal information is displayed in domain name Whois, and how do people find it?

Domain name Whois displays name, address, and email address. Anyone anywhere can search the Whois database through any search engine and many other web sites.

ID Protect provides proxy information instead of your personal contact information. Parties who want to contact you use the proxy information, and we forward to you.

4. How does PrivacyShield help reduce spam?

Domain name Whois is a principal source of email addresses for spammers. If your domain name has ID Protect, we change the Whois email address several times a year. Spammers harvest and use one Whois email address, but once we change it that source of spam is cut off.

5. Which TLDs allow ID Protect?

PrivacyShield can be purchased for the following TLDs: com, net, org, biz, info, name, tv, cc, me

6. Can I add ID Protect to a domain name that is registered elsewhere?

No. The domain must be registered with us in order to use ID Protect. ID Protect cannot be used with our DNS Hosting.

7. Why can’t I use PrivacyShield with my .us name?

The .us Registry requires that .us domain names have actual identity and contact information, rather than forwarding information.

8. Can ID Protect be automatically added to all eligible registrations by default?

Yes. Log in, hover on "My Account" and click "Account Settings". Click "General Settings". In the "Domain Purchase Options" section, select the "Add ID Protect to all new registrations" check box, and then click "Save Changes".

9. What if someone sends something to the Whois Privacy Protection Service postal address?

For mail which does not appear to be unsolicited commercial mail, the Whois Privacy Protection Service may either forward the mail to you or fax a page of the communication. The Service will not forward junk mail, nor will it forward mail if it becomes apparent that you provided the Whois Privacy Protection address to third parties.

10. What if I need to prove ownership of a domain?

To prove ownership of your domain, temporarily disable PrivacyShield and then ask the verifying party to confirm whois registration details at the whois search page.

To disable ID Protect, log in and click "My Account". Click "Registered Domains". Click the domain for which you want to disable ID Protect. In the "ID Protect" row, click "manage". Select "Unprotected" and click "Save Changes".

Once the ownership verification is complete, you can turn the ID Protect service back on through your domain control panel.

11. How do I turn off PrivacyShield if my domain has expired?

Our technical support representatives can disable ID Protect on an expired domain.

12. Does PrivacyShield stay with the domain if the domain is pushed?

Yes, if you have more than one account with us, you can push domain names from one to another, and PrivacyShield moves with the domain name.

13. If I’m transferring a domain, and it has privacy protection, do I need to turn the privacy protection off to transfer?

If the privacy protection service at your other registrar does not provide email forwarding, the service must be disabled so that you can respond to transfer confirmation emails.

14. If I am transferring my domain away, do I need to turn off PrivacyShield in order to receive the transfer confirmation emails?

No, our PrivacyShield will forward to the email address associated with the domain name.