When will you disclose a private domain’s real WHOIS info?

Pair Domains reserves the right to disclose a domain name’s actual WHOIS information in any situation it sees fit. Examples where we may choose to do this include, but are not limited to:

In compliance with a lawful order of a law enforcement official of the appropriate jurisdiction.
In compliance with a subpoena from a court having jurisdiction over Pair Domains.
In response to a request from ICANN or an ICANN dispute proceeding.
Pair Domains routinely provides an encrypted escrow of actual contact information for all generic top-level domain names to ICANN on a weekly basis in compliance with ICANN’s Whois Data Escrow Policy.

Will you forward my communication to the domain owner?

If there is an email address provided in public WHOIS, it is a valid email address for the domain owner. Any email sent to that address will automatically forward to their real address. The address provided in WHOIS has a very short lifetime before it will expire, at which point a new address will appear in WHOIS. It is recommended you double-check the domain’s WHOIS information every time you attempt to send email to the domain owner. We have no way to confirm that your communication has been received, or read by the intended recipient.

If there is no email address listed in WHOIS, there will be a link that can be used to email the domain owner.

What if a domain name using WHOIS Privacy is infringing on my trademark?

Complaints of trademark infringement should be directed to the domain Registrant and web host.

You may also choose to file a Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP) complaint with ICANN. Or you may choose to pursue legal action against the domain owner in court. Pair Domains will comply with any UDRP finding or any order of a court having jurisdiction over Pair Domains.

How is Privacy different from a Proxy?

In a Privacy service, you retain ownership of your domain name. We provide alternate, reliable contact information which forwards to you. People may still contact you if they wish, but your real contact information remains hidden.

In a Proxy service, you license some other entity to become the effective owner of the domain name and operate on your behalf. All correspondences are sent to the Proxy who may then decide to send those to you or not. The proxy has the authority to approve or disapprove transferring names from one registrar to another. Pair Domains does not offer any proxy services at this time.

How do I change Privacy Settings?

We apply the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) protection to all domains, regardless of where our customers live. If you want to opt out of GDPR or otherwise change privacy settings, you can follow these steps:

  1. Log into the Domain Name Management System
  2. Select Preferences from the drop-down navigation menu
  3. Click Privacy Preferences
  4. Select the privacy options that you want
  5. Click Confirm Changes (at the bottom of the page)

 

What is WHOIS Privacy?

All customers, except owners of .us domain names, are automatically given privacy protection based on the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This hides all personal information from WHOIS. The Contact’s Name, Email Address, Phone Number, Street Address, City, and Postal Code are not displayed in WHOIS.

  • If a contact has an Organization set, that will be displayed in WHOIS
  • The State or Province will be displayed in WHOIS
  • The Country will be displayed in WHOIS

If a customer opts out of GDPR protections, the Contact’s Name and Organization will be displayed in WHOIS. The customer can opt to hide the Email Address, Phone Number, and/or Postal Address using WHOIS Privacy. The information can be hidden or shown on individual domains.

Unlike many registrars, we do not charge anything for GDPR protection for people who reside outside of the European Union, and we do not charge anything for WHOIS Privacy.

Postal Address Privacy

When Postal Address Privacy is selected, we list one of our postal address:

Your Name
Your Organization (if an organization is set)
 c/o PairDomains.com Whois Privacy
2403 Sidney Street, Suite 210
Pittsburgh, PA 15203

Please Note: Postal Address Privacy is not available on .us or .uk domains. The .us registry forbids Postal Address Privacy services. The .uk registry does not display contact information in WHOIS, so the service is not necessary.

Phone Privacy

When Phone Privacy is selected, we list one of our telephone numbers for the number:

+1.4123257437

When somebody calls that number, a message is played instructing the caller to contact the domain owner via email.

Please Note: Phone Privacy is not available on .us or .uk domains. The .us registry forbids Phone Privacy services. The .uk registry does not display contact information in WHOIS, so the service is not necessary.

Email Privacy

When Email Privacy is selected, your contact email address will be replaced by 12 random characters characters@example.com, where “example.com” is one of four rotating Pair Domains registered domains. These email addresses will change every seven days. Each random email address will still work for three days after a new email address has been posted. Email sent to the randomly generated email addresses will be forwarded to the real email address that is listed in the Domain Name Management System. You will still receive email and cut down on junk email sent to your contact email addresses.

Please Note: Email Privacy is not available for .uk domains. The .uk registry does not display contact information in WHOIS, so the service is not necessary.

.uk Privacy

The .uk registry does not display contact information in WHOIS. Because of this, Privacy is not needed for .uk domains.

.us Privacy

The .us registry does not allow WHOIS Privacy services. Because of this, the Name, Organization, Postal Address, and Phone Number are displayed in WHOIS. Our Email Privacy service can be used because the address listed in WHOIS is still a valid email address.