# My new domain name and my privacy **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 4, 2000, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-domain-name-and-my-privacy/6833 "2000-02-04T17:38:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![A\_V\_Club](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f475e1/32.png) [@A\_V\_Club](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_V_Club)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-domain-name-and-my-privacy/6833/1 "2000-02-04T17:38:00Z")
Any thoughts on how I can retain a little of my privacy when registering a domain name for my latest wacky start-up idea? I’m not worried about my ISP/Presence Provider having my personal billing information. It’s the registrar who makes my information available to the rest of the world at the click of a button. If you do a WHOIS search on a domain name, you get the following information: [ul][li]Registrant: Company name and address[/li][li]Administrative Contact: Name, address, email address, and phone number[/li][li]Technical Contact, Zone Contact: ditto[/li][li]Billing Contact: ditto[/ul][/li] Take a look at: [straightdope.com registration](http://www.networksolutions.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois?STRING=straightdope.com&STRING2=search) I suppose I can keep my home address and phone number hidden behind a company address, and phone number. I just wondered if anyone else had dealt with this situation. For the record, I don’t really have anything to hide. I just don’t want to advertise my name, home address and phone number. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-domain-name-and-my-privacy/6833/2 "2000-02-04T17:40:00Z")
Make up something. They don’t check or anything. ---
**Author:** ![Jett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@Jett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jett)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-domain-name-and-my-privacy/6833/3 "2000-02-04T17:44:00Z")
-but don’t fake the email address or you will have REAL problems down the road if you ever want to change any of the contact information or the company name that you use. Network Solutions will try to contact you via email for acknowledgement of any changes. Invoices are sent via email as well. * * * Some mornings, it’s just not worth chewing through the leather straps. – Emo Phillips ---
**Author:** ![Keeves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f05b48/32.png) [@Keeves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeves)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-domain-name-and-my-privacy/6833/4 "2000-02-04T17:47:00Z")
boy is thast ever scary! i looked up a coupla sites, and sheesh! i can’t believe anyone can get all that info! ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-domain-name-and-my-privacy/6833/5 "2000-02-04T17:55:00Z")
So, is Cecil really Dan Kaplan? \ rocks\ ---
**Author:** ![Squee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@Squee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squee)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2000, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-domain-name-and-my-privacy/6833/6 "2000-02-05T06:07:00Z")
RM… I noticed that too! All my beliefs have been shattered. Don’t let this info be known… there might be rioting in the streets! 🙂 * * * The most rewarding part was when I got my money! -Dr. Nick Riviera ---
**Author:** ![torq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@torq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/torq)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-domain-name-and-my-privacy/6833/7 "2000-02-04T19:47:00Z")
You think as important a personage as Cecil reads his OWN e-mail, at such an easily identifiable address? Mr. Kaplan is probably the e-mail equivalent of a radio call screener, and Cecil’s REAL username is probably something like “klytpzym”. ---
**Author:** ![Nickrz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbce88/32.png) [@Nickrz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nickrz)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-domain-name-and-my-privacy/6833/8 "2000-02-04T20:18:00Z")
As per usual when speculating about Cecil’s identity, you jamokes are way off base. Dan Kaplan works for _The Chicago Reader_ and at one time was in charge of server-techno-geek things. Dan was the guy who got tired of us yelling at him every time the server farted or the Teeming Millions discovered yet another way to fuck with the UBB code. Without going into a lot of detail, _The Reader_ uses its server(s) for things other than The Straight Dope, and the “cecil@” address is used to direct mail into a category according to the domain involved. Btw… any of you who are intelligent enough to be posting to this board should be intelligent enough to know “the internet” and “privacy” do not mix. Just yesterday it was revealed in the _Chicago Sun Times_ (among other sources) that the 6 or 7 biggest health care websites have been secretly collecting personal information on their visitors (some of them in direct contradiction to their publicly stated privacy policy) and selling it to unknown entities. Was that a big surprise? Hell no. The internet is all about collecting information, and if you think you’ll avoid having your personal information readily available to those who know where and how to look, don’t look now - it’s too late. Have a nice day, and maybe try not to keep your stock portfolio in one of those Aol thingies. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-domain-name-and-my-privacy/6833/9 "2000-02-04T20:38:00Z")
Try Opalcat, she knows a bit about hiding this stuff as she did herself. ---
**Author:** ![PrivyQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/85e7bf/32.png) [@PrivyQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrivyQueen)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-domain-name-and-my-privacy/6833/10 "2000-02-04T21:34:00Z")
Sheesh, thanks for starting this thread A/V, I just went and checked WhoIs for my domain name, and there it is, all my info. Well, I’ll be fixing _that_! Thanks again! * * * In dog years, I’m dead. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2000, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-domain-name-and-my-privacy/6833/11 "2000-02-05T20:11:00Z")
How do you fix it? I signed up for a domain name when I was a newbie, and didn’t know that my name and address would be there for the world to see. I’d like to change it - at least to a PO Box address and fake phone #. How do you do it? ---
**Author:** ![aenea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@aenea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aenea)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2000, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-domain-name-and-my-privacy/6833/12 "2000-02-05T23:21:00Z")
Yosemitebabe, Head on over to [www.networksolutions.com](http://www.networksolutions.com) and click on “changes” to make account changes to your domain name. You’ll have to have your account # and password. 😉 * * * I struggle every day to be the kind of person my dog thinks I am.