Anonymous domain name registration?

by IT Support 23 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  IT Support

  clear2c, professor,

  Thanks for your comments. Yes, they are good for avoiding spam.

  But there also appears to be a problem. The registrars apparently are too quick to disclose their customer's real identity if they receive a lawyer's letter challenging the contents of their customer's web site.

  Thus, let's say you want to create a human rights site, exposing a multinational corporation's abuses. You register your domain name 'XYZstinks.org' with ABC registrars. To avoid the problems Enigmatic describes above, you register your real name with ABC, but pay an extra monthly fee for the 'privacy' option. You set up your site.

  Naturally, XYZ, Inc. are none too happy with your site and instruct their lawyers to send a 'cease and desist' letter to ABC registrars, demanding to know the identity of the site owner or they will sue ABC for defamation and damages.

  What is ABC going to do? Go to court against a multinational corporation with revenues exceeding those of many states, to defend the privacy of a customer who's paying them $10 a month? Especially when ABC has no idea whether or not your allegations against XYZ are true...? Of course not. They reply to XYZ's laywers by return, giving them your name, address and inside leg measurement. Keeping your business is simply not worth the hassle to them.

  So, my question is, is there a better way to maintain your anonymity and/or privacy?
• 

  LittleToe

  Phone a friend?
• 

  rebel8

  I think if you created a site using the free services (50megs.com or freeservers.com for example) without registering a domain name (like I did with www.jwinfo.50megs.com) you could keep your identity secret. Those ones I mentioned do not use Frontpage very well with their free sites, so you have to use their web templates--which have significant limitations but are ok for some purposes. If you went to the public library and created your site there, your IP address wouldn't show up either. Of course you'd have to give a pseudonym when signing up for your site too.
• 

  clear2c

  IT Support, You could probably form a corporation to get some legal protection i,e- lol ask a lawyer if they can sue the corporation but not you personally alot of states have different laws and for the internet, if your business assuming its a business. it better be because designing, building and protecting it from vandals is an expensive deal not to mention hosting costs, interstate tax on and on and on.. here in california anyone can sue for anything bla bla bla bla bla... oh and by the way you better LOVE the topic of your site becuse you will be up to your NECK in support too.. unless you have about 10 years of web experience or it's some kind of a (high profit, low risk) business I would say just forget about it. Oh and if your interested on how theres all those hate sites and crap on the internet and how they dont get sued or punished ... often times those sites are registered with stolden credit card information.. yup they just punch in someone else's cc numbers over at godaddy.com and blam they got a domain name.
• 

  Nathan Natas

  Here's an irony for you:

  J. J. Luna, author of HOW TO BE INVISIBLE and HOW TO WORK FROM HOME AT ANY AGE, is an expert on how to conceal your identity. Mr. Luna began developing this experitise during time he spent in the Canary Islands as a JW missionary looking to avoid entaglements with the local Catholic Church authorities, who effectively ran the islands at that time.

  Visit his website at http://www.jjluna.com/. A person named Diego has posted a question about how Mr. Luna would establish a truly anonymous domain name registration. Watch the Questions and Answers section to see if Mr. Luna responds.

  Diego WA 58

  What advice can you offer about setting up an anonymous domain name registration for a website?

  For example, a person might want to set up a website dedicated to exposing a totalitarian religious cult. The cult has huge resources and no qualms about litigating dissenting former members into bankruptcy if they can. Naturally a dissident would want to be invisible in such a case.
• 

  Jourles

  The registrars apparently are too quick to disclose their customer's real identity if they receive a lawyer's letter challenging the contents of their customer's web site.

  Actually, the lawyer's send a C&D letter directly to the hosting company. Registrar's do not get involved unless it can be proven that the contact information is falsified or it is a case of cybersquatting. But with a "Domains by Proxy" setup, the WHOIS information is true.

  I've already been through all of this with dirtclod.com. If the WTS was able to simply get the registrar to open up the WHOIS record, I would have been busted from the get-go. But it took a mistake on my part for them to get me. I would have kept bouncing the site around to different hosting services if I hadn't got pinched. $5-10 a month is chump change. And takes less than an hour to set up a new account somewhere else and to upload your files.(you still have to wait for your dns propagation to float around though)

  Just use a domain name that wouldn't be considered "attached" to the WTS. Quotes is going to have to fight that as well since he uses Watchtower in his name. Don't use their logos anywhere. If your going to quote their literature, don't make reference to the CDROM. Just quote it or post partial scans of the articles.

  I wouldn't worry about them finding you. As long as you keep it legal, you won't have any problems. If you're unsure what would be legal, just ask the forum here. I'm sure everyone could help out.
• 

  ignored_one

  Nathan,

  I went to the Q+A section but don't see that question. Does it not appear until he answers it?

  If that's not the case then I think someone tipped him off or he lurks here himself.
• 

  Nathan Natas

  I'm pretty sure the question will not appear until he answers it, if he chooses to. I doubt that he lurks here or on any other XJW board. There's nothing that leadds me to think he's out or on his way out.
• 

  enigmatic

  hi again, as jourles mentioned registering your domain name and hosting are usually two seperate things. you can just bounce your domain from host to host but if you really don't want to be known i think there are a few options. Here are my 2 cents.... This might cost a few bucks to start but should provide layers of protection, that is the key when staying hidden, many layers of protection... Register a foreign domain not top level (i would reccomend a country with a decent language barrier)but do this thru the countrys services not register.com or something, use a money order, for the register (your) details you should use your new corporate info (see below) Start a corporation in the state you work out of or another, this is usually pretty cheap $100 here in floria, use a Po box (open the Po Box under the corp name) for for the address and dont list a phone number, most states you need a legal agent for the corp, this is where you could be traced, but in some states you can just put the business name as the agent (corporation as its own entity) but for legal purposes if you put your name down you could not be sued just the corp. Than don't worry so much about webhosting just pay using a money order.. Im sure there are so holes in this suggestion, so any help with this would be appreciated... J
• 

  IT Support

  To everyone who commented:

  Thank you very much for all your suggestions. I've got plenty of ideas to investigate over the next few days, and I'm sure I'll be able to use one of them.

  LittleToe,

  Phone a friend?

  You've obviously imbibed too deeply of the Liffey-water! Welcome home.

  rebel8,

  Thank you, that's not a bad idea at all. I'll give it serious consideration.

  clear2c,

  No, it's not for a business.

  Nathan Natas,

  I love the idea. The only problem I can see is that Kitty McMenemy knows your real identity, so you're still vulnerable.

  Regarding Diego's question, it seems to have been removed. However, this question from Sofi seems similar:

  (3) Specifically, internet properties like websites and domains, could those be combined into one LLC or do you recommend 2 separate LLC's? --You can use one for both, but using two is better because they will not be linked in any way. (4) If two, which state(s) do you recommend? --NM for both. (5) I keep going round and round in my head over this, and my last question is whether an offshore LLC to hold assets like domain name and/or website ownership would be not as good as the NM and/or DE or better than the NM and/or the DE? --Offshore entities of any kind are far more complicated. They are also more expensive. They require resident agents in that country, plus annual reports. A better solution is a NM LLC with a Canary Islands (Spain) business address. If anyone goes after your records, best of luck in trying to serve a subpoena in Spain!

  Jourles,

  I loved dirtclod, thank you for all your work.

  Actually, the lawyer's send a C&D letter directly to the hosting company.

  I know, I guess I should have included both the registrar and the web hosting company. In any case, the principle's the same. (I had the web hosting company in mind when I referred to the $10-a-month account!)

  And takes less than an hour to set up a new account somewhere else and to upload your files

  That's exactly what I had in mind, too.

  Enigmatic,

  This is basically JJ Luna's suggestion, referred to by Nathan Natas above. He recommends setting up a LLC in New Mexico.