Is "Advanced Security" necessary

Advanced Security + Privacy

[fotografffic]

A family member has had a domain name for years but has never created a website. They hope to in the future.

Name.com sent a notice for purchasing something called Advanced Security + Privacy, "a product that will mask your contact data in the WhoIs database but provide a web-based form that allows the public to contact you directly to comply with ICANN's policies."

Question: do you recommend that we purchase this product? Thank you!

[engine]

Hmm, I'm not sure about that. If you search a whois you can't see details of the domain without any extra cost.
Try it and see.

[fotografffic]

Thanks for the reply, engine+.

I have checked out whois and, like you said, I can't see details of the domain. So I don't need to buy whatever name.com is trying to sell me as I'm getting this without extra cost. I'm confused about why they would want me to buy this?!

[tangor]

Third party add on that makes money for ... someone. :)

[fotografffic]

Thank you, tangor. Good point!

[lucy24]

It may not hurt to look into different registrars. You should not have to pay extra to keep your whois information private. I think with mine it was just a checkbox somewhere.

Maybe it’s the “web-based form” that they can get away with charging for, since that’s an additional service.

:: detour to look up a few sites at random, bemused to see each labeled “Registered And No Website” immediately adjacent to a clear screenshot of each site’s current front page ::

[fotografffic]

Thank you, Lucy. I checked 3-4 registrars and everything was private.

[mack]

This used to be a "thing" now, in most cases the registrant details are now private by default. Some companies however continue to offer this as an add-on service.

Mack.

[fotografffic]

Thank you, Mack. I'm not going to purchase it and see what happens. Based on what everyone here shared, I think we'll be okay.