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I have seen many people hide their personal details like address and phone number while registering a domain. Sometimes they pay for this private registration. So that their information doesn't display in a whois lookup.
What is the advantage of doing it and paying extra amount?
There are basically two reasons for choosing a private domain registration:
Several people are concerned about having their own private data disclosed publicly through WHOIS queries. This is a legitimate concern, usually raised by private people rather than companies.
The second case mostly affects the category of domainers. There are people and companies that registers high number of domains to re-sell them or reserve a very appealing domain name to sell it at a very high price. In this case, you might not want to disclose your data to discourage companies from starting legal actions or just to bother you with tons of emails. In fact, domainers often use third party services such as Sedo.com to re-sell their domains.
A lot of people are paranoid about having their home address advertised on the internet. And so if you don't want to open a PO Box, then the best option is to keep your registration info private.
However, many legitimate domain registrars, like Dreamhost, provide this service for free. So I'd advise you to avoid any registrar who wants to charge you extra for this "service". I mean, it doesn't cost them anything to keep your info private, and it's a bit like blackmailing domain owners with the threat of some crazed internet stalker coming to their home.
It also keeps your email address private to prevent spam. Spammers are known to crawl whois records to harvest email addresses.
Remember, there really isnt something as private domain registration as long as the LAW is concerned. Keep that in mind in case your venture is "out there". Registrars like Godaddy that provide private registration still are compelled to share information about the registrar in the event of a law enforecement probe.
I personally would never pay for the private registration. If you have a portfolio of domains its a lot simpler to register a mailing address at a PMB or UPS Store. This takes away the risk of having your home address show. As for email privacy concerns, i just use a domain name for all my whois contacts. [email protected]. That way nobody's name is out there. Last, you can use the same officer for all contacts, and it can be anyone you want, including Rubplestilskin.
As for people marketing you based on WHOIS information. Its prohibited by WHOIS, but rarely does happen.
