Identity Protect Limited - Domain Name Question

I have a UK domain name which is used for family members email and web pages. When I registered the name I was given the option to 'opt out' of having my contact details displayed when anyone does a whois search on the Nominet site.

I now see that although my details are not displayed the domain is now allocated to 'Identity Protect Limited'. It would seem that either Nominet or my Domain Provider are using this company to provide privacy services and their name and address appear as the owner of the domain.

Further checking reveals that they do now 'own' this domain, although it would immediately revert to me if I opt out of the whois privacy. I have done this and I am once again shown as the owner of my domain, albeit that my contact details are now published.

Sorry if this is a bit technical for many readers on here but those who know about domain registration will understand. Does anyone have any views on this company and the methods used? One obvious implication is that if a person fails to renew their domain, for whatever reason, full ownership may pass to Identity Protect Limited. Any views, just curious?
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  • InsideInsurance
    InsideInsurance Posts: 22,460
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    Who did you buy the domain via?

    Only personal (both in owner and in use) .uk domains were allowed to have domain privacy from Nominet itself.

    I see 123-Reg use Identity Protect Limited if you want domain privacy for a domain that isnt registered for personal use by a private individual and covers all their domains. They also charge for the service.

    May be worth investigating the link between 123-reg and Identity Protect Limited

    What do they use the domain for? Why do they need privacy?
  • grumpycrab
    grumpycrab Posts: 4,989
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    Why do they need privacy?
    Whilst I cannot answer any questions, the OPs name - Harold Finch - may provide a clue;)
    If you put your general location in your Profile, somebody here may be able to come and help you.
  • InsideInsurance
    InsideInsurance Posts: 22,460
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    May be worth investigating the link between 123-reg and Identity Protect Limited

    As suspected, 123-Reg own the company, so its just them charging a fee for their own services and trying to protect their own identity plus make you think you are buying a service from another company.

    They say you can still do opt outs for WhoIs on personal .UK domains but this now has to be done directly with Nominet and not available through their control panels/ buying process etc
  • Harold.Finch
    Harold.Finch Posts: 90
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    As suspected, 123-Reg own the company, so its just them charging a fee for their own services and trying to protect their own identity plus make you think you are buying a service from another company.

    They say you can still do opt outs for WhoIs on personal .UK domains but this now has to be done directly with Nominet and not available through their control panels/ buying process etc

    Thanks for the replies guys. As far as the privacy question, as a family we believe there is too much out there on everyone and although perhaps naive, we prefer to keep what we can out of the public domain.

    Thanks for the info about 123REG owning the company. I had a Google earlier but didn't turn up that connection. My bad, I guess. Our domains are with Heart Internet, which I believe was started by the same people who started 123REG before selling it to Webfusion.

    Will take a look at the Nominet site to see if I can find a way to do it there as the domain is a private .co.uk one.

    Thanks for the help. Appreciated.
  • grumpycrab
    grumpycrab Posts: 4,989
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    Blimey, is being a director with as many companies as possible a challenge or something? Not saying (at all) that this is bad thing but James Leslie Shutler gets around quite a bit.
    http://companycheck.co.uk/director/918459593
    He's also a Director (tax adviser) at Heart.
    If you put your general location in your Profile, somebody here may be able to come and help you.
  • Harold.Finch
    Harold.Finch Posts: 90
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    Update:

    Using Identity Protect via Heart Internet doesn't appear to cost anything for private individuals but I am still concerned about 'signing over' my domain name to a third party.

    Subsequently, I have logged on to Nominet using my registration address and was able to set the 'whois' response as it was before. In other words, my name as the registrar but with other details suppressed.

    Happy now.
  • I traced TAD / driving-vehicle-licence.co.uk to Identity Protect because they charge for what are free services like declaring SORN etc and have now taken the full £35 originally agreed to instead of the £8 for cancellation as stated in the "Contract" / Terms & Conditions, though the service was not used.
  • I have a UK domain name which is used for family members email and web pages. When I registered the name I was given the option to 'opt out' of having my contact details displayed when anyone does a whois search on the Nominet site.

    I now see that although my details are not displayed the domain is now allocated to 'Identity Protect Limited'. It would seem that either Nominet or my Domain Provider are using this company to provide privacy services and their name and address appear as the owner of the domain.

    Further checking reveals that they do now 'own' this domain, although it would immediately revert to me if I opt out of the whois privacy. I have done this and I am once again shown as the owner of my domain, albeit that my contact details are now published.

    Sorry if this is a bit technical for many readers on here but those who know about domain registration will understand. Does anyone have any views on this company and the methods used? One obvious implication is that if a person fails to renew their domain, for whatever reason, full ownership may pass to Identity Protect Limited. Any views, just curious?

    To be fair, you want to have your cake and eat it! To have privacy, someone's details must be entered in Nominet domain registrars information. 123Reg have opted to use Identity Protect. Is that any different to 123Reg providing their own details. Maybe they use a subsidiary to protect their own email/servers from being spammed!

    As for losing the domain to Identity Protect, is that any different to losing it to 123Reg if you forget to renew it? Hardly!

    You seem to have cut your nose to spite your face! (I understand why you may want to keep your identity private. I have a few domains and get spammed all the time. So I use a tired and old email address for the domain registration. They can spam away all they like as the emails get ignored.).

    By the way I am not in favour of Identity Protect. A spammer I want to get the details of has hidden their details using Identity protect. So I will have to write to Identity Protect to get the spammer's details.:eek:
  • Investigating shows that it has the same address and directors as 123reg, so it is definitely their company. As for them owning the domain, that sounds a bit suspect, as does the fact that the company only ever submits dormant company accounts to Companies House.

    Personally, I get my domains off of 1and1.de, who are just as cheap, if not cheaper, and a whois lookup shows my name, but tells people that I have opted out from displaying my address, which is fine. If Harold Finch is super paranoid, that's up to him, but I am happy with my lookup details, and the ownership of my domains.
  • Le_Kirk
    Le_Kirk Posts: 22,169
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    Hmmm, signing up, picking up a two-year old post just to advertise a domain supplier. Sniff, sniff! Apologies if I'm wrong
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