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All birds lay eggs, but not all animals that lay eggs are birds.

All shady sites use WHOIS privacy, but not everyone who uses WHOIS privacy is shady.

Actually i have found just as many shady sites use fictitious whois data as those whose registrars provide whois privacy. It is of little use either way.

Exactly. I am in India and I frequently get SMS and calls about web hosting services, they use the name and number I provide while registering the domain. It is definitely not shady if I want my info hidden from these spammers.

Especially considering how much people's addresses are being abused now. Not just spam or scammers, but also harassment, internet/social media campaigns after controversies, swatting, etc.

Having WHOIS data public makes all of those things incredibly easy for the scumbags out there.