Privacy option is a waste of money

[donaldpsmith]

I purchased 6 domains recently and also added the domain privacy option. Almost immediately, I have been receiving spam calls regarding the domains every hour. I can't make it stop - why sell privacy if my contact information is going to be accessible all over the globe? Save your money!

[Zulfiqar · Accepted solution]

Hello donaldpsmith, I hope you are doing well. We all know that domain privacy is the ability to mask the information you used to register your domain name. When you purchase a domain from a registrar like GoDaddy (or any other registrar for that matter), they are required to report specific bits of information about the consumer for public record. That public database is called WHOIS.

You don’t have to use domain privacy. In fact, a number of larger businesses with corporate addresses and already-public information often don’t feel the need. But if you’re a small business owner, a blogger or owner of a personal website, you might feel differently.

Here are just a few bits of information that get reported to WHOIS when you register a domain:

• First name
• Last name
• Address
• Email
• Phone number

And more. So if you’re not willing to share this personal information, look into domain privacy.

GoDaddy never leaks your personal details. Because, if they are offering privacy services then why they will not protect you from spammers/hackers. I think spammers/hackers can get all the details from your website.

[TLH · Accepted solution]

Hi @donaldpsmith,

Welcome to the Community!

As the previous reply noted, we are required to report your registration information to the Registry. They will then publish it for the whois directories around the world to use in their whois systems. If privacy was purchased, this information will not be displayed online, protecting your personal information. However if even one of your domains does not have privacy, or the privacy was added after registration, that data is available to the online robots that gather information to use for marketing (spam). Please check your domain purchases to be sure all domains are covered. Some CCTLDs (country-code domains) do not allow for the use of privacy - and some (like .CA) provide their own.