[Cialug] ICANN Has Cheezburger

[David Champion]

You can also do a private domain registration (a premium fee from most
registrars), so the public can't see your info. I assume the registrar
still shares your info with ICANN.

-dc

On Mon, Sep 8, 2014 at 9:16 AM, Matthew Nuzum <newz at bearfruit.org> wrote:

> It has been standard policy since the beginning of Internet Time to
> publicly show contact information for all domain owners. I get an email
> like this once per year for every domain I own, asking me to confirm my
> contact info is correct. It looks like they've just taken things to the
> next level by doing some validation and cleanup on it.
>
> This could be ICANN giving domain registrars a little help selling their
> domain privacy packages.
>
> Frankly, having my contact info on the whois records generates very very
> little spam. Once in a while (maybe twice a year) I get people asking me to
> buy my domain or to sell me a related domain name. It's usually not an
> automated email. I'd say you're probably more likely to get spam by sending
> an email to this mailing list than through the contact info on your domain
> registration.
>
> As a benefit, two or maybe three times in 15 years I've found out about a
> security problem on one of my servers because someone was kind enough to
> contact me through whois info to tell me about it. I also did sell an
> unused domain for a nice profit the same way.
>
> Google has stated that using SSL (really TLS) on your site will positively
> affect your search engine ranking soon. Since SSL/TLS certificates contain
> verified contact information you'll probably soon be pondering this same
> situation again. Unlike whois, which is easy to fake contact info, the cost
> (and value) of the SSL/TLS cert is 100% tied to the ability to verify your
> identity and contact information. Goodbye anonymity!
>
>
> On Thu, Sep 4, 2014 at 10:04 AM, Todd Walton <tdwalton at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I registered a new domain name a month ago, and today I got this:
> >
> > ==============================
> > As of January 1, 2014, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
> > Numbers (ICANN) has mandated that all ICANN accredited registrars begin
> > verifying the WHOIS contact information for all new domain registrations
> > and Registrant contact modifications.
> >
> > The following change has been made to the Registrant contact information
> > for one or more of your domains and requires verification:
> >
> >   Name Todd Walton
> >   Address 1 <my address>
> >   Address 2
> >   City DES MOINES
> >   State Province IA
> >   Postal Code 50314
> >   Country US
> >   Email Address <my email>
> >
> > Please click the link below to verify the Registrant email address.  You
> > have 5 days remaining to verify the Registrant contact information to
> avoid
> > the domain(s) from being suspended.
> > ==============================
> >
> > And apparently it's for real:
> >
> >
> https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/approved-with-specs-2013-09-17-en#whois-accuracy
> >
> > I'm not sure I see the value (except to spammers) of publicly displaying
> > the contact info of a registrant, but I guess I'm not a supreme Internet
> > overlordulous wizardly type.
> >
> > --
> > Todd
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Cialug at cialug.org
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> >
>
>
>
> --
> Matthew Nuzum
> newz2000 on freenode, skype, linkedin and twitter
>
> ♫ You're never fully dressed without a smile! ♫
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