Domain privacy

[UrbanRetail]

I've just registered a domain with my usual registrar and noticed that I am able to purchase 'Domain Privacy' as an addon for £4, doing so will hide my private information such as name, address etc.

Have I got the wrong end of the stick or has this type of "addon" become unnecessary under GDPR?

I'd appreciate someone clearing this up for me.

 

[WESH.UK]

For the most part, yes, pretty much...

 

[TheWebDesignCompany]

I don't believe that anyone can get your contact details anymore anyway...
The days of looking up a domain on who.is are long gone.

 

[Paul Carmen]

It depends on how the domain is registered, under GDPR the rules are different between business and personal email details. For personal email/private domain registrations the details will be hidden from a WHOIS lookup.

If you are registering as a businesses, you can still add domain privacy to stop these details being shown. Most domain registrars have stopped offering this service for personal emails.

In certain circumstances even personal details can be looked up; e.g. you can't stop them being disclosed in criminal cases etc.

 

[nexuser]

According to the GDPR they are obligated to hide your data if you have not given your consent to publish such data. A lot of registrars offer the whois privacy absolutely free. They change your WHOIS data to registrar data.

 

[arnydnxluk]

One benefit of using a WHOIS protection service is email forwarding.

With WHOIS protection, your email address may appear like so in WHOIS:

[email protected]

This will then forward to your own address (usually with spam controls in front).

Without WHOIS protection the email address will simply be redacted, meaning nobody can contact you using your WHOIS details - could be an advantage or disadvantage.

Definitely an edge case though. Most just won't need to pay for WHOIS protection anymore.