Product Overview: Porkbun WHOIS Privacy Service
Introduction
Porkbun’s WHOIS Privacy Service is a crucial feature designed to protect the personal contact information of domain registrants from public exposure. This service is integrated into Porkbun’s domain registration process and is offered free of charge, setting it apart from many other domain registrars.
What it Does
The WHOIS Privacy Service hides your personal contact information, including your email, phone number, and mailing address, from the publicly searchable WHOIS database. This is particularly important as WHOIS databases can be accessed by anyone, potentially exposing registrants to spam, fraud, and other forms of abuse.
Key Features and Functionality
Free WHOIS Privacy
- Every domain registered through Porkbun comes with free WHOIS Privacy enabled by default, a feature that many other registrars charge for.
Privacy Protection
- When WHOIS Privacy is enabled, your actual contact information is replaced with generic contact details provided by “Private by Design, LLC,” ensuring your personal data remains hidden from public view.
Secure Contact Form
- Instead of displaying your actual email address, a secure contact form link is provided in the WHOIS record. This allows legitimate inquiries to reach you while filtering out unwanted messages. Messages sent through this form are forwarded to your actual email address.
Redacted WHOIS Information
- In addition to the standard WHOIS Privacy service, Porkbun offers a “Redacted WHOIS Information” option. This setting still hides your personal contact information from public view but may share your data with the domain’s registry, and it displays the registrant’s country, state, and organization name.
Compatibility and Restrictions
- While WHOIS Privacy is available for most domain extensions, some TLDs (Top-Level Domains) such as .us, .fans, .nyc, and .am do not support this service due to registry-level restrictions. Porkbun alerts users at checkout if a chosen domain extension does not support WHOIS Privacy.
Easy Management
- Users can easily toggle WHOIS Privacy on or off through the Domain Management interface by clicking the glasses icon associated with their domain.
Additional Benefits
- Protection Against Abuse: Porkbun takes reasonable measures to prevent abuse, such as spam, through the secure contact form provided in the WHOIS record.
- Flexibility: Depending on your needs, you can choose between WHOIS Privacy and Redacted WHOIS Information, allowing you to balance privacy with the need to assert ownership or be contacted by legitimate parties.
In summary, Porkbun’s WHOIS Privacy Service is a robust and user-friendly feature that ensures the privacy and security of domain registrants’ personal information, making it an essential component of their domain registration services.