April 10, 2003
Until there's anonymous domain name registration ...

...there's Domains by Proxy, a Go Daddy affiliated registration service.

Your domain is registered in our name, which means Domains By Proxy takes ownership of it. As a result, our information, and not yours, is published in WHOIS. You still control your domain because your agreement with us gives you FULL BENEFITS of ownership.

I had been complaining about the WHOIS Accuracy recommendations because registrants have used "inaccurate" data to register under pseudonyms. Requiring accurate, complete data in WHOIS records precludes anonymous ownership of a domain name. Since a domain name is part of the virtual printing press for online speech, lack of an anonymous option is troublesome.

Although I'd still like to see explicit acceptance of anonymous or pseudonymous domain name registrations (wronged parties could use a "John Doe" suit or default judgment), I'm pleased to see that there is a market for anonymizing services.

Posted by Wendy at 07:07 PM