Slashdot Mirror
Anonymous Domain Registration for Protecting Privacy?
morpheus 2001 asks: "I'm a recent graduate working in a corporate environment. I would to register a domain for a blog, but want to protect my privacy. I would also like keep my employer (and others in my professional circle) from realizing that I am the author by checking the WHOIS for the domain. Under the current ICANN rules, anyone who registers a domain must provide their personal contact information. There are several domain registrars who claim to allow one to register a domain anonymously. They do this by registering in their name, but 'guarantee' the I retain ownership of the domain and can transfer it at any time to another registrar. Has anyone used an anonymous registrar? Did you have any problems retaining ownership? Do you have any recommendations for a reputable registrar? Is this a really stupid idead and bound to cause trouble?"
Ignor the rules fill it with crap and enjoy your new doamin.
If all you want is to prevent them from tracing it back to you in particular (but don't care about anonymity from legal pursuits, and you aren't going to use that domain to do bad stuff) have you considered simply getting it registered under a friend's name? Anybody you can trust will do, really, and it's a lot more trustworthy than any of these companies that will "register it for you"... (imho)
Daniel
Carpe Diem
Under the icann roles you can use an Alias. It all came about when record artists where lossing their screenname alias to squaters. You can use an uncommon alias of your name. Like Mike if you go by Michall. Just something you can prove is you to get a domain back, but not something that people you know to know it is you when they do Whois lookups.
No.
I know this is probably not what you really want, but what about Freenet? Freenet might be slow right now, but that's just because you aren't on it ;o)
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I've seen plenty of WHOIS entries what have (obviously) fake contact information. As far as I know most places let you change what goes in the record anyways. I would sign up for a domain, and then edit the contact information and set it to a false name, etc.. if you wish to do so. I'm almost positive you don't need a special registrar to handle that.
. . . make sure the reverse DNS for whatever box your hosting this on doesn't come back with something like yourname.com, as well.
You could just fill in jibberish. This might give you some hassles if someone tries hijacking your domain, but if it's just a weblog just for a few strangers to look at you might not care. Depends on how important anonimity is to you, if your talking about inside dirt about some major coporation, I'd use blogspot or geocities and only post from internet cafes (freenet if you're really paranoid). If your just bitching occasionally about your boss at the video store then just use some fake whois info.
Keep in mind whoever you register your domain with still has your billing information. If you say something that's legal but still pisses off a corporation or scientologists or something, they might use the lawsuit trick, where they sue you for libel, forcing the registar to hand over your identity, then they drop the lawsuit.
Did you consider publishing to freenet? I get the feeling that Freenet (www.freenetproject.org) is exactly what you want - it's like the internet, but anonymous, encrypted, distributed, etc. etc. Oh, and it doesn't cost you any money to publish to Freenet.
Works for the goatse people. .cx is pretty well known for not requiring real contact info.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
You want to publish a blog. Blogs normally contain gumpf and crap about a person's daily struggle with work, family, pets and people who serve you in shops plus the obligatory gripes about products and companies that have pissed you off recently. Surely this information alone is enough to track most folk down? If you're so concerned about privacy and anonymity, why are you considering posting your life story to a public accessible network? And why not just use some free geocities-type host which requires nothing more than a throw away hotmail address for registration? Do you *REALLY* need your own domain name?
think about it: anonymous domain registration is a boon to all the spammers out there for the exact same reasons you want the anynomyity -- no real way to trace back to the source of their pollution. i think a different approach is warranted in this case, something like asking your mom to register the domain using her maiden name and giving you a piece of paper saying that you hold all rights to (and responsibilities for) the domain.
Why is it that every Ask Slashdot question there is some dude thinking they can be answered by querying google?
Have you at least tried to check the link you posted? Did you notice those results don't answer the original posters' request? Did you at least read the article or is this an automated reply to all "ask slashdot" articles?
If the appropriate legal contracts are in place,
this seems very much like Family or other Trusts
holding ["at arms length"] shares, et al. on
behalf of its member(s).
In Australia, there may be tax advantages for
those who use trusts.
Politicians (who might be deemed to have conflicts-
of-interest, eg when their shares' values may
change with how the vote goes on some proposed
legislation) have been known to place these
shares (or their entire portfolio) into the
hands of trust managers, to reduce their risks
in this regard...
'don't know if I am convinced that it's an
effective mechanism for the purpose...
Back on topic, I think anyone who -values-
freedom of expression should find anonymous
domain registration a worthy (if -not-
absolutely necessary) tool for enhancing it.
I wonder if a -temporary- domain name mechanism
(like 'use-once' credit card numbers) would be
of value, in this context?
Maybe something like under a -new- TLD, eg
'.tmp' that would make "time-division-
multiplexing" of domain-name usage possible:
[www.].tmp[.au]
Modern database technologies already make
liability-racing for such transient domain
names quite possible technically, as the
typical car rental agency package demonstrates.
What'cha think...?
Domains By Proxy specializes in just this. Ignore all these clowns that tell you to use false info.
It's a little less professional, but you could use one of the many DNS redirection services (dyndns.org, for example, offers free and premium services) to give you a yourname.sitename.org address. They generally require only an email address and password.
It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.
It costs about $25 to register to use a ficticious name. I think this is a great solution, because it protects you from domain hijackers while shielding you from casual snoops.
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
yeah, yeah, okay...
he wants to know how to apply for a domain while maintaining his privacy, so i posted a link to google on "fake id" (as in how to make / obtain fake identification documents). the implication being that he could make / obtain a fake id then apply for a domain.
let my post serve as a lesson for others:
never mix sleep deprivation and attempts at subtle humor
costs more. but then anyone trying to look up the domain gets pointed there.
also beware of how much info you give away to the ISP that's hosting it or by what a simple traceroute reveals.
are you knowingly going to violate the law? better get your lawyer ahead of time silly.
You can't get the benefit of directly targeted, topical
practical experience from Google.
Why is it that every time anybody asks a question, some
knee jerks and launches the 'ask google' football?
I admit that some questions are pure google fodder.
This one is not. It seeks opinions that are likely to be
difficult to the point of impracticability to find in a
google search. There are an infinitude of searches which
might be appropriate, and a large number than might be
productive, but no obvious means of constructing them.
-I like my women like I like my tea: green-
Call your local attorney and make an appointment. He or she will register the domain name and will keep your identity in strictest confidence unless ordered to divulge it by a court -- which is unlikely unless someone wants to sue and/or arrest you.
I haven't decided whether this is a new form of "first post" messages (who can get the first Google post out), or whether it is just plain old karma whoring. I suppose it could be likely that it is both; however, it does have a ring of "my Slashdot penis is bigger than yours" to it.
If you are going to set up a blog, and you are concerned about your employer finding out about it, then don't do it. You should assume that if they care, they can find out who is behind the blog.
They can, you know. They just claim that the blog has some DMCA prohibited content, get a takedown notice, go to the ISP, and find out where the wire leads. Even if you host on some East Elbownian server, they can find out who is behind it if they care badly enough.
You are concerned that your employer might find out. OK, you can do one of two things that can work:
But trying to do this anonymously and hoping your boss doesn't find out is a losing proposition.
www.eFax.com are spammers
2) come up with a pseudonym
3)
4) um... profit?
Seriously, if it's important enough to you to receive dead tree material related to your domain or otherwise establish an address for a domain, come up with some pseudonym and stick a PO box address in there.
This sig no verb.
Chances are, if you use your blog to bitch about your useless daily life, nobody is going to read it anyways.
But, if you ARE that VAIN... just register underneath one of those big blog sites that will give you a free blog.. Unless you are starting a business, I don't see how a proper domain name all for you is that necessary. I can't count how many people I know who registered "COOL" Domain names that don't use them, and collect dust.
Christ.. I'm still trying to figure out why this blog bs took off, and when will it return from whence it came.
I Did use their privacy service, It's called Domians By Proxy. You still have full control of it but it shows up with them as the contact info. They will forward messages to you and such including postal mail, but from there they do not respond to anyting for you, thats up to you, but for that just grab a hotmail account or something.
(Score:0, Interesting)
Obviously it's not really for a blog, it's for a porn site.
Please don't use "slash" and "penis" in the same sentence.
w00t.
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
Check out Entropy. It is a Freenet implementation in C, which tries to retain compatibility with the original Freenet.
Have your lawyer set up a holding company held in trust in Delaware, that owns another holding company in the Cayman islands which operates in conjunction with a limited partnership in Vanatu, where you are a silent and unlisted partner via your Cayman shell corporation. Hire a Vanatu tribesman as an employee of your Cayman outfit, and have him contract, with other islanders as 'majority' stake holders in the partnership assets, but with a binding contract on the assets allowing the Cayman outfit full administrative access rights. Pay your bills through an offshore credit card registered to a partnership account and pay revenues to your partners of a few dollars a year + your internet fees, all of which is automatically deducted from a partnership account in a Cayman islands bank. As long as your tribesman keep their revenue stream they probably won't turn you over. And even if they wanted to, they can't read, speak a bizarre language, don't know your name so won't be able to turn you over. If they give you up they will have to track down your shell company, which will only have a PO box and an answering machine which is turned off. And as a last line of defense your lawyer set up your trust and has attorney client privilidges. Also, post disclaimers for all of your postings and retract all hot button information after it has been distributed. "Oops, I just posted my company salary list, oops, it was an accident, I posted the wrong info. Sorry I thought it was a birthday list." That way even if they do catch you, you have minimal CYA implementation and reasonable doubt or better in any court proceeding. Also be sure to make a yearly trip to the Caymans, preferably by a secret boat trip, to fill up your credit card account and bank account with cash, no wire transfers or paper trail. If your partners mess with you, have them liquidated by 'auditors' purchased by your Cayman islands outfit and replaced with more pliable, illiterate Vanatu tribesmen. This can all be done on a low budget of $15,000 to $3,000,000,000 a year depending on legal fees, auditor fees and other business expenses such as hookers and guns. Or you can just misspell all of your information or use a legal alias so no one can look it up.