Hacker News Reader

Comment by larrys | Hacker News Reader

Many registrars have sold people on using whois privacy to "protect yourself against hackers and spammers". [1]

Many end users either buy this argument or simply parrot what they see others doing (or not doing).

There are legitimate reasons for privacy but as a general rule if you are a business it's a big mistake.

On this page [1] it states that you will also "protect yourself from telemarketer". Well I am here to tell you (I also run a registrar that doesn't even offer privacy btw) that with thousands of domains under management we get perhaps 1 or 2 phone calls per week. And if we were to use a google voice number that wouldn't even be an issue. (Yes, thousands of domains ...)

[1] https://www.name.com/whois-privacy

View on HN

> Many registrars have sold people on using whois privacy to "protect yourself against hackers and spammers".

I simply don't want to put my home address on the internet, and have no office address to use.

Why? What is the threat model here? It's not like some serial killer is known to use random whois data. Your home address might already be "on the internet", in the form of the phone book.

I don't know if it seems alien to you, but it's an honest question. The first thing I did when I got Internet access was to put my contact info in my finger banner. When I got web access I put up a "home page" with my contact info. It's been there since, and I think it's a feature that people can contact me if they want.

I had an eBay transaction go very wrong. Foolishly I used my real email and domain for communication, with a very WHOISable home address.

When the physical threats started I had to get the police involved.

There's also the issue of pseudonymity. If I work on a lot of different projects, I don't necessarily want everyone to know about everything I'm doing with everyone else.

This doesn't mean I ignore NDAs and share sekrit stuff - I most certainly don't. But I've freelanced in the past, and some employers have strange and unrealistic expectations about how much exclusivity they're buying.

This isn't hypothetical. In the past I've been told "You absolutely can't work for anyone else if you freelance casually for us."

Really? How about "no"?

Also it's better for free speech. I can express opinions freely with online privacy. I don't necessarily want those opinions to be associated with - say - a startup I'm creating.

Generally, contact info is a problem. It's actually mandatory for UK companies to include a business registration number and an office address. (I'm not sure how many UK devs know that.)

Problem is, when you can incorporate in Delaware or Kiev, physical contact details start to become meaningless anyway.

My rule now is that contact is easy if there's a networking, customer care, or community-building benefit. But privacy is a fine thing too.

Being able to pick and choose is best of all.

All of these are examples of the need of multiple on-line identities. You wouldn't use your main email for two projects or two employers that you don't want to know each other. Surely someone you freelance for has your address already?

Your primary address probably has traces of your real identity all over the Internet, including orders from eBay and others, so an adversary could dox you in an instant anyway. Especially if you use it for work related things. So why not make it easy to contact you?

I should have said "many registrars have sold businesses on" not "people on".

I agree that it's not desirable to have a home address on whois as a (once again) general rule. Yet many of our customers do that and we've never heard of any particular issues that they have had.

That said, if you are working as a business (and it's unclear if you do any business consulting or programming I did look at your website quickly (very nice btw.)) in my opinion it pays to get a PO Box for $10 per month.

Totally agree that it is worth it to get a PO box, and I did have one when I was in NYC, but now that I'm backpacking for many months it is hard to keep a PO box renewed. I'm half considering getting a PO box in the town I grew up, simply because I know I will always have people able to check it / keep it active.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com