Website Ownership = All personal info public?
 

I run a goofy website for fun. I came across alexa.com and decided to look my own site up and holy crap! My address and phone number, floating out there for all to see! How do I get this info removed?

Could it be that you supplied that info when registering your domain?
Every domain has a contact address. This is usually publicly viewable by anyone.
(This can be used to settle domainname disputes, report abuse, etc)

Try this link.
It looks up all administrative information about any domain. This can only be changed by requesting such a change at the company you registered the domain with.

(Note: ofcourse when any information is already publicly accessible, there is no way to guarantee that no copy of it exists, consider for example the Google page database)

Yeah I supplied contact info when I registered, which was required. I just called 1and1, my host, and they told me that making my data private isn't an option on my level (I get free hosting) and that phone support wasn't provided at my level either . . .

So I need to either change my address or upgrade to whatever level they want. I'm guessing putting my contact address as 123 fake street isn't a good idea? P.O. box, perhaps? Although I changed my phone number and that change isn't showing up on the searches, at least not immediately.

Having a fake address is just fine. There are no laws or regulations, at least in the US, that require such data. Technically, they should not REQUIRE such data either. I would update it with false info. *shrug* Or change registrars...

What is the problem with giving your real information?
If your going to run a website, I'm all for required public data showing the liable party.

I run two sites off of 1and1 and have my personal data for both registered domains.
I use my office address and telephone numbers, and my real name.

To be a little harsh, do you really think that besides an uptick in junk main, anyone cares enought about you to want this information? :confused:

when i publish, i ussually want people to know its my work, because its my work! i want to beable to have the credit... but if i were to operate a forum, i most likely wouldn't want my info out, incase if i were to ban someone, they could hunt someone down... theres crazy people like that



and i tried a friends website and got this:


soo u can prevent yourself, the owner of the site that i got this from, said he just did it two days ago, and its a free service that he got from his domain name provider



... and be fowarned, don't say anything on the internet that you wouldn't say in person to someone face to face in public.... if you would be afraid to go onto a stage infront of thousands of people and say something, you shouldn't say that something online ;)

mine reads:
Registrant Contact:
Domains by Proxy, Inc.

paid extra for that service....

Look up the information for your registrar. I own 20 domains with GoDaddy.com, and in their FAQ ( http://help.godaddy.com/article.php?...19&topic_id=&& ) , they specifically state that domains registered through them must contain valid data, or face termination.

Personally I wouldn't register with a registrar that didn't.

If you must, registrars will usually sell a privacy service that will curtail the casual stalker. Mind you most law abiding companies and countries will comply with law enforcement if need be to release the real contact information for the domain in question.

I use my dad's PO Box (I asked him first, of course) in my domain names. For yotta.org I use GoDaddy's Domains by proxy service to make it much harder for people to find out my real name. Phone number i use is the dialpool at work. Email address is a sneakemail.com address, and can easily be changed if i get too much spam.

You can of course just enter something fake (like a real address, but one where you don't live), and it's highly unlikely to make any difference. Nobody's sending out mail to verify WHOIS info.

I don't think he's concerned with doing anything illegal, he was just uncomfortable with the fact that his data is out and about!