WHOIS information

Not sure about my abilities

[Numberman]

In the past, when I've taken control of domain names, I was relatively new to the field of webmastering, so I didn't make it any more complicated that necessary.

Now, a couple of my sites have reached a popular level, and I've noticed that my WHOIS information is correct. Previously I didn't care, but now I'd like to keep my real identity hidden.

I've got a few questions;
1) Should I contact my hosting company, or is there another organisation that manages the data?
2) What are my rights over it? I know that many people use false data, but from what I've seen most have at least something that's real, such as a seemingly correct ZIP-code. At what point does falsifying become illegal?

Thanks for all your help,
Numberman

[pmkpmk]

In my country, the national association which controls the domain names requires the data to be correct. In order to avoid both spammers (who use the WHOIS records as an address source) and legal problems for myself (if in doubt, the one listed in the WHOIS record is hold responsible for any problems with a domain) I did the following:

- The company's owner is now listed as the responsible person
- There's a special email account set up for the whois record

Benefits:

The company's owner is - in fact - the one ultimativly responsible for everything happening in his company. Also he's in fact the one who owns the domain - not me.
And if the special email address is compromised for too much spam, it gets deleted and replaced with a new contact address (usually every six months).

Hope that helps.

Oh, yes, your ISP is the person to contact.

[Leosghost]

pmkpmk ..ones ISP is the company who connect your computer ..the one where you are ..to the internet..

Think you mean ..the registrar?

[pmkpmk]

Well, my definition of ISP seems to be a bit broader than yours. Actully MY ISP handles ALL of this stuff. If I need a new domain (or a domain changed) I contact my ISP - and he handles it.

This has a lot to do with the fact that in my country you are not allowed to deal directly with the NIC. They have a list of members, and you can only work with one of the members to get domain-issues done.

My ISP is in fact a member of the national NIC, so he can handle domain issues himself. Smaller ISP's aren't members themselves, and there's even companies who aren't ISP's themselves but members of the NIC.

However, I still think that in most cases the ISP is the first to be contacted on domain issues. And if he doesn't handle these himself, he should be able to point you to the person or company who does.

[rogerd]

I guess this is a location-based issue. In the US, one's ISP is the firm that provides connectivity to the user. The site could be self-hosted at the user's site, but is probably located elsewhere, at a web host. Web hosts often handle domain registration issues, but usually they just resell someone else's service and tack on a fee. That someone else is a registar. I'd suggest dealing directly with the registrar if that's an option.