punch_card_don has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Magnified Monks,

A client wants to use an anonymous domain name registration service. For example,

http://www.proxyone.com/anondom/index.php

It all sounds very cloak and dagger to me. Has anyone ever used one, or had reliable feedback on one?

Thanks.

Forget that fear of gravity,
Get a little savagery in your life.

2006-01-25 jdporter retitled OT.
Roy Johnson considered: Mark OT or delete.
Tally: Keep: 5, Edit: 14, Reap: 8

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: (OT) Anonymous Domain Registration?
by japhy (Canon) on Jan 25, 2006 at 14:13 UTC
    As a person who works for a company that has to investigate people behind domains that do evil things (such as sell pharmaceuticals illegally), I hate domain registrars that don't provide any actual content about the registrant. I'm sure there are perfectly reasonable uses for such registrars, but when our database is full of useless WHOIS reports, I get angry.
    Jeff japhy Pinyan, P.L., P.M., P.O.D, X.S.: Perl, regex, and perl hacker
    How can we ever be the sold short or the cheated, we who for every service have long ago been overpaid? ~~ Meister Eckhart
[reply]
      Like a 13 year old wants to set up a web site and the parents don't want the kid's home address known to the world of slimeballs out there?

      Like a women's shelter wants to have an informational website without advertising to the world's whackos where to send the letter bombs?

      Like a Chinese or Iranian citizen wants to set up a pro-democracy, pro-capitalist website without giving the goon squads directions to their house?

      You mean reasons like that?

      Question was poorly expressed, apparently. NOT, "do you like their politics?". I'm asking, are they reliable; are there known problems using one; any to avoid; any recommendations.

      Thanks.




      Forget that fear of gravity,
      Get a little savagery in your life.
[reply]
        Clearly, those are perfectly reasonable situations for using anonymous domain registration. My company deals with internet criminals.

        I apologize for my political rant. I have no personal experience using an anonymous registrar (or any registrar, since I don't own any domains).

        Jeff japhy Pinyan, P.L., P.M., P.O.D, X.S.: Perl, regex, and perl hacker
        How can we ever be the sold short or the cheated, we who for every service have long ago been overpaid? ~~ Meister Eckhart
[reply]
Re: (OT) Anonymous Domain Registration?
by contradev (Monk) on Jan 26, 2006 at 09:33 UTC
    Be wary that contrary to their declaration that you will have full rights to your domain, you actually will not. This is quite a common problem when domain reseller companies disappear - you will have no (or limited, depending on the registrar) rights to claim your domain name back.

    Also be aware that it is against most registries t&c's to provide incorrect information when registering a domain - most people are tempted to use fake personal details understandably when the registry in question does not provide an option to hide these details from the publicly available whois info. To be fair, in the case of the company you mention, they are breaking no rules - they are registering the domain for themselves, not you.

    If you are adamant you wish to hide your personal details, use a PO BOX or a work address, or choose a registry which doesn't make these details available to everyone. Also note that many registries let you register a domain directly with them (cut out the middle man), although occasionally this can me slightly more expensive.

    I spent a few years of my early career writing realtime domain registration scripts for most (if not all) applicable tld and cc-tld registries which involved quite a lot of research (Zzz)

    c.
[reply]
Re: (OT) Anonymous Domain Registration?
by spiritway (Vicar) on Jan 26, 2006 at 05:35 UTC

    You might want to search Google Groups to see whether anyone has commented on this registrar. You might find, for example, that it's being recommended for phishing or whatever; or that it's a decent service, etc.

[reply]

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