WHOIS privacy
When you buy a domain, you provide information about you as a domain owner: your name, email, phone, and address. By default, that information is public and stored in the database that is called WHOIS. Spam marketers often crawl it for email addresses.
Ecwid prioritizes keeping your information private, so when you buy a domain within Ecwid, it includes the WHOIS privacy service that hides your sensitive data from the public.
The WHOIS privacy costs 3 USD and can’t be opt-out.
What is WHOIS
WHOIS is an internet database that lists information about each domain owner. That’s how it got its name: WHOIS is not an acronym. Instead, it is short for the question, "Who is responsible for this domain name?"
The information in the database is regulated by the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). ICANN is a non-profit organization that ensures that all domains can be uniquely identified and accessed worldwide. Basically, it keeps domains organized and legitimate.
The information in a WHOIS record includes:
- Your name
- Your address
- Your phone number
- Your email
- Registration date
- Domain expiration date
- DNS records
- Registrar organization
Initially, the information is decided to be public because it is important for everyone’s safety. That way, a real owner of any website can be located in case they do illegal things like scamming or faking data. Unfortunately, transparency also exposes website owner’s data to possible threats. This is where domain name privacy protection comes in.
WHOIS privacy secures your personal information by keeping it out of the hands of ill-intentioned scammers.
Domain owner privacy in Ecwid
When you buy a domain in Ecwid, it includes the WHOIS privacy service by default. This service costs 3 USD and can’t be opt-out. When you renew a domain, the WHOIS privacy will also be included.
With the privacy service on, your data in the WHOIS database will look slightly different than public-available data. Instead of your personal information there will be the REDACTED FOR PRIVACY note. That way, you are protected from spam, identity theft, and fraud.