Is all data about a domain name provided to a TLD registry by the registrar visible on Whois?

Question

I am trying to understand more about how the domain registration process works between the registry and the registrar. My question is when a domain name is registered by a registrar such as GoDaddy, is all the information that the registrar forwards to the TLD registry about that domain name publicly available for view on Whois or is there some information that is hidden by the registry?

When a domain name is purchased with the option of 'private registrations' so that the registrar hides confidential information like address details, is that information kept private by the registrar only or does it also get passed on to the registry but flagged as private information?

Answer 1

There may be other variants but from major top-level domains, the registry receives complete set of information about the registering party.

Should you go for a standard registration, you are the registering party and your information is sent entirely to the domain registry. That information is generally made public as-is.

Should you go private registration, a third-party often becomes the registering party. They are the ones that officially register the domain and you get an agreement saying that they act as a proxy for you. The third-party has your information but that is not sent to the registry.

GoDaddy for example uses DomainsByProxy which they actually own as a separate entity. Here is the explanation of how it works for GoDaddy.

Answer 2

yap,just like you said...when you register a domain privately,then your personal whois record would not be publicied,other wise the domain registar information would become public,ie they will hide your details ,ie email,phone,location...but the if you choose not then your registration details become visible in the whole whois record.

Answer 3

The domain registration process consists of 4 main parties.

1) ICANN: It is like a regulatory body for Domains. 2) The Registry like Verisign for .COM and .NET gTLDs. 3) The Registrar like Godaddy, Enom e.t.c (There are hundreds of them) 4) The Registrant (That will be you).

The process is initiated when a registrant wishes to register a domain name and contacts the registrar who is accredited by ICANN to sell a particular gTLD or CCTLD.

The registrant contacts the registrar and the registrar registers the domain name for the registrant.

Registrations are primarily of 2 types. -public -private

Under public registrations; the whois details or the registrant's details are public. They can be seen by anyone.

Under private registrations; a fake set of details is used to register the domain name. The whois details displays the fake information and not the actual details of the registrant.

Privacyprotect is one such organistaion that does the same.