Has anyone tried a "domain privacy service"?

[SoylentGreen]

Hi All,

Has anyone tried a "domain privacy service"?

Here's one for example (I'm not associated with this business):
http://www.whoisprivacyservices.com.au/

If such a service is used, your contact info will appear something like this:
http://www.whoisprivacyservices.com.au/contact.htm

The site owner may be contacted through a service that can forward messages, but the owner of the site still remains anonymous.
It is the choice of the site owner whether or not to reply:
http://www.fabulous.com/whois/

There's some more information here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_privacy

S.G.

[MrNiceGuy]

That is not going to protect you if one of the trolls hits your site. They will simply subpoena your information.

[SoylentGreen]

I don't think that it's that simple.
Also, it depends what country you're in... it's not so easy in some places.
Remember, the idea is also to make it as difficult as possible for trolls to harass you, (often over content that the trolls don't even own).
They give up pretty quick if the case is made very difficult.

Corbis, for example never caught up with Ultravertex, because all Corbis had was an email address, and the company (shrewdly) never responded to the lawsuit sent by email.
So, the concept of "they get you no matter what" is an urban legend.

Referring to the linked wiki article in my original post:

"Others, however, treat privacy more seriously, and host domain names offshore, even using e-gold or money orders in transactions so that the registrar has no knowledge of the personal information about the domain name owner in the first place (which would otherwise be transmitted along with credit card transactions)."

They'll never get the information.  The FBI doesn't give a shit about a couple of $50 images, either, so let's not go there.

Anyone else care to offer further input?

S.G.

[Matthew Chan]

I am with SG here.  Domain privacy is relatively inexpensive.  Anyone in business knows that there is no such thing as absolute safety.  However, putting up obstacles, barriers, or staying under the radar makes it harder for others to come after you.

Any burglar or robber knows that any house can be broken into given enough time and resources.  But which one will they go after?  The ones with bars, deadbolts, and a steel door?  Or the one that has an open window to jump through?

Matthew

[havenotreceivedaletter]

It is strongly recommended to have a privacy guard.  Never mind trolls.  This guard protects you from identity theft and spam.  Identity theft being the most important.  It's widespread and even I have encountered this.  So purely for safety measures it's something I recommend.  You never know what someone may do with your identity.

[Oscar Michelen]

I agree -it can't hurt, is inexpensive and represent another hurdle Getty will have to go through

[annalise]

I've heard (and read) that changing your domain name to private or from private to public can affect your google rankings. I know google looks at how long your registration is good for, but this is something to consider before going private.

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

Public or private will not affect your rankings, what Google looks at is for how long the domain has been registered, as longevity comes into play in search results.

[Matthew Chan]

Where in the world did you hear that?  ELI just went through a major overhaul less than 2 months ago.  I outright discarded and deleted the high ranking pages ELI had. It has been minimal effect.  It is all about search-friendly content and generating credibility so people come visit and link to you, not because of how you register your domain.

I've heard (and read) that changing your domain name to private or from private to public can affect your google rankings. I know google looks at how long your registration is good for, but this is something to consider before going private.

[lucia]

I've read google looks at domain registration information but I don't know that it's true.   There's lots of SEO advice on the web and it isn't all true.  If it does affect ranking in any way I suspect  it is a very minor factor and even then possibly only with sites that obviously are selling things. (It's likely very easy for the google bot to determine if you have a shopping cart, list prices and so on.)