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When talking about domain privacy, also known as private registration, I think the Wikipedia page sums it up quite well:

Domain privacy is a service offered by a number of domain name registrars. A user buys privacy from the company, who in turn replaces the user’s info in the WHOIS with the info of a forwarding service (for email and sometimes postal mail, done by a Proxy server) such as “Domains by Proxy, Inc.” or eNom’s “Whois Privacy Protection Service”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_privacy

The first place to start I imagine would be to define WHOIS. WHOIS is actually a query made against an official database that contains information about the owner of a domain name or IP address. Several domain registrars maintain their own WHOIS database wherein when you register a domain with them information such as your name, address, email, and phone number is also stored in the database. What is the problem with this you ask? Essentially, your private information is displayed in the public arena for any and all to see who happen to run this WHOIS query against your domain name. This opens the door to a whole rash of spam possibilities or private security concerns. Granted the information attached to a WHOIS query is not always accurate as it is up to the owner of the domain to supply this information and for certain TLDs is not verified by the registrar. This means you could technically provide inaccurate information, but this would also violate the terms and conditions of most registrars I have seen potentially resulting in domain suspension. What is the alternative then to remain in compliance with ICANN and your registrar? Enter domain privacy services.

Several companies provide this service as a standalone entity meaning you do not have to register your domain with them in order to have the privacy applied. Some registrars actually offer this on their own as a part of their bundle service model for a fee anywhere from $5 to $15 a year. Other registrars, such as BlueHost, will provide domain privacy for free just for hosting your domain with them. This can prove to be a nice cost saving benefit depending on how many domains you own. Other providers include Domains by Proxy, and Moniker.

But what exactly does domain privacy do for you? In the WHOIS database where your information is stored, domain privacy will actually mask your information most commonly with the information of the company itself who you acquired the protection through. Thus instead of your name, address, email, or phone number being displayed, the WHOIS will instead return the somewhat generic information of the company itself. With this, there is usually an email address assigned to the WHOIS which relays through the company and is forwarded off to the email address you provided upon registering your privacy protection. This allows for you to still receive information should someone need to contact you, without publicly providing any of your information and essentially making the company who provides your privacy protection an agent who acts as a mediator between you and the cyber world.

The downfalls? For a personal domain, there isn’t really one. For a business domain though, having privacy protection enabled could potentially discourage new customers or clients simply because if they were to run a WHOIS check to make sure you are who you claim to be, seeing generic information may give them a feeling of unease about conducting business with you. In most cases a business maintain a PO Box of some sort anyways, so really, providing that information does not prove to be much of a security concern. Ultimately, just use good judgment when you are deciding whether to add this protection to your domain or not.

If you do not yet own your own domain and are starting to feel a bit overwhelmed with all of the different options and features available, feel free to check out my previous post on Looking to buy your first domain?.

If you have any questions, or just don’t really know where to start, you are always more than welcome to contact me. I always love to hear from my readers and am here to help.