[jack_arleth]

As somebody who worked for a company selling domain-names and being responsible for the registration and renewal of domain names; this sadly enough is a very familiar situation.

ICANN in my humble opinion has no blame in this, they are simply following the rules that they set out and OP agreed with when he registered the .com domain name. As stated in other comments keeping your WHOIS information is the sole responsibility you have when owning a domain name. That and timely renewing the domain of course.

In my somewhat limited experience the WHOISGUARD system is something that only causes problems. It's a pain to work with when transferring or trading a domain name and upon expiration can result to the exact situation that OP currently in. To add, I'm somewhat weary of a site that hides it's owner. The whois data can create a certain form of trust and serve as a verification to ascertain the owner of the site is who he claims to be. I'm not sure why you would want to hide this data.

A .com domain has the option to register the domain in the name of a corporation, thus removing the personal data of the owner (name and email) and only showing the name of the company, it's data and a administrative e-mail address in a minimal setup. As OP has; and I quote; "about a hundred domain names", I'm not sure why no company has been formed to solve this problem for all these domain-names.

I personally think that the WHOIS system is one of the best ways to solve the problem that domain name registration poses. It's accessible for anyone, anywhere, in plaintext and without the need for special software. It's actually pretty great.

Edit: typo's

[exodos]

We're not criticizing ICANN based whether or not they can follow the rules they imposed. We're criticizing them for creating such strict rules that seem to cause more damage than good. There are so many scenarios where this can go wrong, and some websites/domains are the most valuable things people have. There's also no way easy to protest this either.

[kordless]

> has no blame in this, they are simply following the rules that they set out

That's a nice piece of dissonance they have and which you are rebroadcasting into the aggregate. I don't agree at all, and would point out all of us should be doing anything we can to figure out how to establish a decentralized governance for the Internet...for the world's unheard.

[salesguy222]

Thank you for your insight. I mean this comment seriously, because it is the only reason i don't run more websites:

what happens when my site gets very popular and lucrative, and someone uses my whois info to rob me in my home?

[aeden]

Don't use your home address in whois, period. Use a business address. If you have a site that is lucrative then you have enough to pay for a PO box or an office space. There are plenty of companies that will provide on demand office space and take and forward mail for a couple hundred dollars per month or less.

[pjc50]

You don't have to get popular for this. All kinds of people can be the victim of targeted harassment campaigns. Such as indie game developers.

[salesguy222]

Thank you very much, I completely agree. The arguments that people should either pay up for WHOIS protection or use a publishing platform is like choosing between being extorted by the crips or the bloods!

[salesguy222]

I respect the information you have provided, but there is no reason in my mind that I should need to pay a couple hundred dollars for an address, or registration for a business etc

the reason for this is that I am a non-Serbian citizen living in Serbia right now, where most people have monthly expenses of $300!! :)

[weavie]

Does it realistically matter if you don't use a correct address?

I ask because I have a number of domains still registered to an old home address. I have never bothered to update them due to laziness and privacy concerns - but the domains keep working.

There has never been an attempt to verify the address.

[dan1234]

> what happens when my site gets very popular and lucrative, and someone uses my whois info to rob me in my home?

You form a company around it and use the business address? Or use your domain registrar’s privacy guard if you can’t/won’t form a company.

[roywiggins]

By that point it's too late? If I want to register a domain, but have no money or time, I'm not going to incorporate just to do it. If a year later it goes viral and starts making enough money to be worth incorporating, my information is already public.

If I then move it to a business address, that will prevent casual snoopers but you can buy access to historical whois records...

[dan1234]

Yeah, I see your point.

Thankfully (though not helpful in your case) the UK registry does allow “non trading individuals” to opt out of the public record. You can also change the registrant type from individual to company later.

[salesguy222]

I appreciate your response! I responded to another poster above. sure the prices arent exorbitant, but it feels like being offered a choice on how youd like to be extorted

[viraptor]

> I'm not sure why you would want to hide this data.

Imagine I find your domain now and because I don't like what you wrote, I'm going to start contacting you on your private phone and start sending you mail at home. Would you still want to keep your real data on whois? Guess when I stopped.

[guitarbill]

> A .com domain has the option to register the domain in the name of a corporation [...] I'm not sure why no company has been formed to solve this problem for all these domain-names.

Isn't paying a company to do this basically the same, and less hassle?