BleepingComputer.com: How Domain Privacy service of webhosting provider works?

Hi,

I was trying to register a domain name for the first time. And in the process I found an offer for Domain Privacy service for FREE. On calling the webhosting provider, they told me that if someone does a WHOIS on my domain name, they wouldn't find my email, telephone and home/office address but theirs.

I wanted to know if:
1. Is it easy to transfer the domain name to another web host provider once I sign up for this privacy service from the first host?
2. Would it interfere in my ownership of the domain name, as all my personal info would be replaced by the web host (who is also registrar)'s info.

Yes I asked the webhosting provider about the above. They said this service can be disabled anytime from the cPanel.

On googling I found, that this domain registrars enlist themselves as the owner of the domain, to give privacy. This made me worried about the whole thing. How can one change the domain registration entries from cPanel?

You experienced guys who own many domain names, please enlighten me.

Thank you.

When you rent a domain name, the service from which you bought the domain becomes the issuing authority. So if someone does a whois, there are a few things that happen, namely that it looks to the registrars to see who 'rented' the domain name. If you sign up with the privacy option, then no matter what, whoever does a whois will get the registrars information.

When you get a hosting provider, you do not 'transfer' the domain to them. What they do is take your domain name, and register it with the domain name servers so that the domain name servers point to your website, which they are hosting. IT in no way interferes with your ownership. Although you should keep in mind that you do not 'own' the domain; you just rent it.

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Not really. They simply serve as a proxy.

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I have no idea what the cPanel is, but my guess is that it is the administration panel from your registrar? I guess you can disable the privacy option if you so desire? That is just a guess.

I have several domains, some of which are publically registered, some of which are private. I rent my domains from godaddy. If you go here and type in www.groovicus.com, all you will get is the proxy information. I handle the domain name servers myself through afraid.org, and I host my own websites.

Does that clear it up for you?

Thank you groovicus for clearing many things out. I had no idea about that we rent domain and not own it

I did not know that Whois is redirected like that. I thought it connects to a battery of main servers containing all data.

I was thinking of registering through Bluehost, now I think Godaddy is better.

Thank you

groovicus, on Apr 18 2009, 11:37 AM, said:

although i don't know how to change the registration entries from cPanel, i do know what it is, it is, exactly as groovicus guessed, an administration panel. It allows you to perform tasks from a web based GUI.

Here are some demo's on cPanel's website that will give you a look at how cPanel is: link

For help with cPanel, visit here http://www.cpanel.net/support.html