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Many Domains Registered With False Data
bakotaco writes "According to research carried out by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) many domain owners are hiding their true identity. The findings could mean that many websites are fronts for spammers, phishing gangs and other net criminals. The report also found that measures to improve information about domain owners were not proving effective." From the article: "The GAO took 300 random domain names from each of the .com, .org and .net registries and looked up the centrally held information about their owners. Any user can look up this data via one of the many whois sites on the net. The report found that owner data for 5.14% of the domains it looked at was clearly fake as it used phone numbers such as (999) 999-9999; listed nonsense addresses such as 'asdasdasd' or used invalid zip codes such as 'XXXXX'. In a further 3.65% of domain owner records data was missing or incomplete in one or more fields."
God forbid that anyone would do that to simply protect their private information.
It does not allways have to be with criminal intent.. can also be simply not wanting the assocaiated spam.
Hmmm, maybe because they know anyone on the internet can look them up??
Perhaps these domain owners are just concerned with their privacy. One of my domains is an absolute ghost town, with zero visitors besides me, and absolutely no chance of someone linking to it. However, I receive regular spam, simply because I provided an accurate email address that can be fetched by any number of WHOIS lookups on the Web. Next time, I'm putting up fake data.
body massage!
When you KNOW spammers "harvest" mailing addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses from WHOIS databases, would you give your information out if the registrar says they will share this information with anyone?
I will never use registrars who do not implement some form of anti-spam measures..
Just my $0.02...
Karma: Bad (but who really cares anyway?)
Maybe, just maybe, domain owners are sick of being spammed at their listed contact info. I know I am. It comes in all forms, too - email, snail-mail, telemarketers.
Pardon my English, but that sucks rocks.
Fortunately, some registrars offer privacy proxy services allowing you to list the registrar as the contact in the whois info. Unfortunately, not all registrars offer this service.
It may also be the case that people using obviously fake whois info do so for the legitimate purpose of free speech to avoid repressive governments or private institutions. The implication that all anonymous speech is fraudulent is unwarranted.
-Isaac
I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. For Entertainment Purposes Only.
"The findings could mean that many websites are fronts for spammers, phishing gangs and other net criminals."
or they could mean that many people - who dont run comercial businesses - do not want all of their personal contact information available to anyone on the internet. Just because you have a domain does not mean that you want everyone around the world to have your personal address and phone number.
You'd be a fool to put that much info in the public domain.
I'll just use my special getting high powers one more time...
I have been threatened and harassed from people who do a "whois" on my web site address and then come find me. When you've got a family and children you become a little touchy about that kind of stuff. Not that finding me is really that difficult but I see no reason to make it any easier. So my domain registration info is garbage.
"I have never won a debate with an ignorant person." -Ali ibn Abi Talib
"many domain owners are hiding their true identity [and could be] fronts for spammers, phishing gangs and other net criminals."
I hide my mailing address and use a rarely-checked email address to reduce the SPAM and physical junk mail I have to deal with. The scammers/SPAMmers don't want me to know who they are...I want to limit the information they have about me. Go figure.
Why is the GAO - Government Accountability Office, scanning the Internet for invalid phone numbers on domain names? Did they get too much money one year? We'll need a GAO Accountability Office to find out...
I frequently use fake contact information for domains that are for personal use. If I don't wish my name, address, and phone number to be publicly available why should I have to? The registrar knows who I am (I had to pay with a valid credit card), so it's not like Uncle Sam couldn't get the info on me if they need it, I just don't see the reason to put it out in the world and encourage unwanted solicitors and/or spam.
"The crows seemed to be calling his name, thought Caw."
Comment removed based on user account deletion
yet more proof that most criminals are dumb, because if they weren't they wouldn't be criminals
This is why the GAO is doing what it's doing. This has no (0) benefits for consumers.
sulli
RTFJ.
Rent the office where they used to be. Get registration-changing info sent to you in the [snail] mail.
Piece of cake.
Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
If you're in the U.S., register the domain(s) with a P.O. box for the address and a cellular phone number. I've been doing that for years, and have had exactly zero problems with people harassing me in any way. Of course, it means that you have to periodically go to the P.O. box to pick up any domain-related mail, but I already was having a fair bit of mail delivered to the box anyway.
Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
I completely agree.... and the simple fact is that if we lose our anonymity and our ability to HAVE free speech, then the terrorists win.
The only way to win the war on terror is to defeat it without giving up any of the rights that make this a great nation anyway.
Now excuse me, I have to go wave the flag a bit more, do an hour of saluting and play "God Bless America" on my electric guitar until the apple pies are done baking.
"they all told me that I will have to wait until the name expires"
And what is wrong with that?
Someone obviously paid to reserve the domain and there isn't a legal requirement that anyone actively uses the domain...I know I have worked with one business that has failed and the owners are waiting for a time to restart again...all the while folks are *DEMANDING* that they sell the domain name to them because they liked the name and started a business elsewhere with the same name.
So why your want of something should overrule someone elses ownership of that same thing?
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
In my case, I take advantage of the registrar's confidentiality for my personal domain because I had started getting snail mail, email, and phone calls that resulted from the info presented in the domain registration record. I get enough of that crap without handing my info to those scum on a silver platter.
I find it more likely that these are people trying to AVOID the spammers (both internet, and other) that strip e-mail address, phone numbers, addresses, etc from whois and send them all kinds of crap.
- AMW
I agree that the ISP should have correct contact information on file. It makes good business sense as long as they don't abuse it. I just don't think it needs to be published in the whois directory. Buying a private domain listing is exactly like buying an unlisted landline from the phone company. People have been using the names of their pets for decades to avoid paying the fee to be unlisted.
If you must moderate, please moderate as irrelevent, not something bad, because I'm sure someone will find this interest
My site has photos of where in my back yard I hid the gold. Maybe if I didn't want to be a target I shouldn't have told the world that I had a pot of gold.
Maybe you shouldn't have registered "wow.lookatmyexpensiveart.thatikeepathome.arentyou jealous.com"
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