from Hacker News

Ask HN: Anyone else private information get sold by namecheap?

by thedangler on 6/19/24, 5:43 PM with 17 comments

• by tamar on 6/19/24, 9:26 PM

  Hi, Tamar from Namecheap here.

  It's common for newly registered domain names to be targeted, especially if the WHOIS information is not protected. Some domains do not allow WHOIS protection due to registry restrictions. These include .ca, .ch, .cn, .co.uk, .com.au, .com.es, .com.sg, .de, .es, .eu, .fr, .gg, .id, .in, .is, .law, .li, .me.uk, .net.au, .nl, .nom.es, .nu, .nyc, .org.es, .org.au, .org.uk, .paris, .sg, .to, .uk, .us, .vote, .voto, and .xn--3ds443g domains.

  As a result, you may receive calls (you're not alone; I get them too if I register one of the aforementioned TLDs). The good news is that these calls typically stop after a few days. The bad news is that this situation occurs. While we wish we could apply our domain name privacy to all TLDs (we were the first domain name registrar to offer this for free, as privacy and security are of utmost importance to us), some registries do not permit this additional layer of security, and all registrars must comply with their regulations.

  I hope this clarifies the situation. Rest assured, we would never sell your information. Doing so would go against everything we stand for.

• by aragonite on 6/19/24, 7:42 PM

  It could be due to policy of the .ca registry, rather than at the registrar:

  > Due to the Registry restrictions, it’s not possible to use privacy protection tools for .CA domains.

  https://www.namecheap.com/support/knowledgebase/article.aspx...

  Might want to check your whois record at https://lookup.icann.org (not 3rd party sites like whois.com which sometimes does not show this information)

• by thatOneWutani on 6/19/24, 7:39 PM

  I have had many domains both in and out of NameCheap. I have yet to have a spam call that's been the result of NameCheap spilling my info.

  One thing I would suggest for the future is to register a free Google Voice Number and use that for domain registrations. It can act as a disposable phone number for situations where you don't want to give out your real number.

• by pocketarc on 6/19/24, 7:32 PM

  It is entirely possibly that they're not being truthful. Your registrar is public information, there's not a lot of reason to believe that the information did actually come from them. Unless you've literally not given that number out to anyone but name cheap, odds are they just found the number somewhere else.

• by anticorporate on 6/19/24, 8:22 PM

  I have previously used Namecheap and not had this issue. I feel like if they were selling my data, I would have gotten at least one piece of spam at namecheap.mydomainname@my-catchall-email-domain.com, which I never have. Although it's possible that there was a data breach, or even that they purchased the data from the payment provider you use. It's also possible they just lied to you.

• by notesinthefield on 6/19/24, 8:21 PM

  Yes. I had a couple business ideas and registered three different domains. Within a year id gotten pens, sticky notes, notebooks and cold calls all mentioning one of the domains I registered. This was 2016-2017. Now I create mail aliases specifically to track whos doing this to me now.

• by beretguy on 6/19/24, 6:38 PM

  Ok, I’m curious to know now too.

  I’ve got domains and hosting from namecheap but didn’t have that problem, yet (knock on wood).

• by ssl-3 on 6/19/24, 7:24 PM

  I've got a few .com domains from namecheap. My telephone spam quotient is very, very low.

• by richbell on 6/19/24, 8:20 PM

  Check the WHOIS associated with your .ca domains. Is your information redacted there?

  https://www.cira.ca/en/ca-domains/whois/

• by johnea on 6/19/24, 7:52 PM

  After years switching between many registrars, I finally landed at misk.

  I highly recommend them for domain name registration.

  (no connection to misk other than as a happy customer)

• by Kiro on 6/19/24, 8:20 PM

  So quick to jump to conclusions and consider legal actions before even confirming anything. People are too eager to pick up the pitchforks.

• by canadiantim on 6/19/24, 8:25 PM

  It's not called NameCheap for no reason

• by spencerchubb on 6/19/24, 7:39 PM

  Spam calls are part of life. Block it and move on