What is Whois Domain and Whois Privacy?

Each domain must provide information containing the name, address, email, telephone number, administrative, and technical contact. Well, this information is called the Whois data or Whois record. What is Whois? Whois is important information related to a domain that can be seen by anyone.  

As a website owner, of course, you don’t want just anyone to know your personal information, right? With Whois privacy, your personal information will not be revealed on the website. So, you don’t need to worry about irresponsible people who want to use your data. 

Eh but wait a minute, do you really understand what is Whois Domain and Whois privacy? If not, this article will be very useful for you. In order to know more about Whois, let’s just start the discussion! 

What is Whois Domain?

Whois is often mistaken for an acronym of who is. When, in fact, Whois is more directed to the question, “Who is the owner responsible for a domain name or IP address?” ( Who is the owner responsible for this domain name and IP address? ) 

Simply put, Whois is an internet service that provides information about a domain. This information is often called the whois record or whois data. The information includes the owner’s full name, address, telephone number, email, and so on. 

Good, so as not to be confused, we provide additional explanation through the points yes.

• When you buy a domain name, your domain name will then be registered through a company called a registrar and registries. 
• Both are directly related to ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) or non-profit organizations whose job is to oversee and manage databases on the internet. Also, it ensures stable and secure internet network operations. 
• Registrar is a company that has been accredited by ICANN. While registries is a company that has a contract with ICANN to manage the domain name the popular once are (.COM, .ORG, .NET, etc.) 
• So, every person or organization registers a new domain name to the registrar, and registries are required to make domain registrar information (aka your personal data). This information must be publicly available.
• That is, personal information or Whois data can then be accessed through the Whois service.

What are the Whois Functions?

After reading what the Whois explanation is above, you may now be wondering. What is the Whois function? What information can be seen on Whois?

In addition to knowing registration data from certain domains, Whois also serves to maintain stability and internet security. Especially when providing information about the owner of a domain.

Well, what kind of information can Whois give? You can see below:

1. Contact Information

In these three sections, the information is about: the name of the registrant/admin/technician, the name of the organization, home address, telephone number, email, and fax.

2. Registrar information

For this section, the information is different. It contains the Whois server name, URL, registrar, IANA ID, Abuse contact phone, and Abuse contact email. 

3. Billing Contact

This information contains bills and payments that have been made in the purchase and registration of a domain. 

4. Status

The information contains the domain statuses. Is updated (has been updated), prohibited (prohibited for unauthorized users), deleted (deleted). Complete with the status URL from ICANN.4

5. Important Date

It contains information about the date of the update, the date the domain was created, the date the domain was registered.

6. Server Name

As for the server name section, the information listed is only the domain server URL.

For clarity, you can see an example of the information displayed in Whois, below.

In order for this personal information to be safe and cannot be known by just anyone, you need Whois Privacy. You can see a discussion about what is Whois Privacy below. 

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What is Whois Privacy?

Whois privacy is a service to protect Whois your data. By adding a privacy domain, all your contact details or website information can be hidden from Whois records. 

This service is usually offered for an additional fee. After you pay a sum of funds for Whois Privacy, your personal data will be replaced with information about the privacy domain’s whois provider. 

Registered domains will still appear in Whois search, even with privacy. But your site’s name might appear like this: Who’s my Whois Privacy Service. And in the email section, it will appear like this: contact@siapasayawhoisprivacyservice.com

What are the functions of Whois Privacy?

There are some important Whois Privacy functions that can convince you to use it. Curious, what are the functions of Whois privacy? Well, here are some important functions of Whois Privacy for you:

Block SpamLeaving your contact details on Whois search is the same as allowing spam to attack you. Having Whois privacy means securing your inbox from incoming email attacks that have unclear origin and intent.

1. Avoiding Identity Theft

With Whois Privacy, you are protected from people who want to use your personal data to commit a crime. For example, people who want to make a bulging account for fraud and other crimes.  

2. Prevent Unwanted Business Bids / Requests

If you are the owner of a business, your contact information can trigger customers to contact. Without Whois privacy, you have no control over how to avoid invading email or incoming calls from your customers. Or it could be from other business owners who want to work with you.

3. Hiding Your Residence Location

Not all internet users are good people. Letting your home or business address is known to many people can be very dangerous. You certainly do not want your home, office, or offline store, for example, robbery, right?

How to use Whois?

There are several different ways to use Whois. In the past, using the command line face to face application was a popular way. But now, web-based tools are more widely used because the process is simpler.

Below, we have compiled four ways to use Whois you need to know:

1. Using the Whois Lookup Tool on the Website

ICANN has made searching for Whois (Whois Lookup) easier. To start searching, you only need to go to one website that has a Whois Lookup service/tool. Then enter the domain name that you want to search for and click “Lookup.”

Using the Command Line on Your Own ComputerIt is not impossible to replace third-party services with Whois Command-Line on your own computer. For example, if you are using a Windows operating system, you can use the  Windows Command Prompt. Type whois -v followed by the domain name. For example, whois -v example.com. 

If you are using a Linux OS, you can use Linux’s Lookup command. Then type whois and connect with the domain name. For example, whois example.com. The same way applies to MacOs users. You can open a Whois query on your Mac, then type, for example, whois example.com.  

2. Using IP Whois Lookup 

It is possible to find out who controls an IP address. The trick is to use browser-based tools to find contact data and the geographical location of the owner’s IP. To do an IP search, you only need to type the IP address into the search box in IP Lookup. If the owner does not use WhoisGuard, the results will be displayed. 

Now You Understand What Is a Whois Domain and How to Use It? 

Now, after reading what is an explanation of Whois and how to use Whois, of course now is clear? Why protecting Whois data is using Whois Protection is important. 

Niagahoster provides a Whois Protection service to protect important information that you do not want to display publicly. The aim is to avoid undesirable things such as domain theft, spammers, or scammers.

For those of you who are interested in buying a cheap domain that has a Whois Protection service, Click Here.

I hope this article helps you! Don’t forget to subscribe to always update other useful articles from us. See you later! 

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