Finding out who owns a website

StuartCoulson

For a more comprehensive result (and from an ex-ISP techie) you may need more than just 1 site.

1st - go to https://www.samspade.org
type in the domain into the first line and DO STUFF.
This will tell you all the info you need for an initial glance.

2nd - see the DNS servers - well, they have 2 IP addresses. You may need to ferret into those to find out who the REAL owners are, after all, if the website owner doesn't pay his bill, the ISP generally takes over.

Copy the 1st DNS entry (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) and then paste it into site : http://ripe.net/db/whois/whois.html

This will tell you the ISP where it is posted.


So if you have a particular problem with a site .. contact them first (using the details at samspade) and if no joy, then go on to the contacts from your Ripe search.



Abuse :
A big problem from some sites is Abuse - either spam mail or just generally incorrect info on it.

Abuse@<DOMAIN> is the first port of call.

You will need to forward on the email - for those using Outlook, check the 'properties' of the email and you will find a whole load of extra info that you will need to include.

If it is a persistent problem, then contact the ISP. If it carries on then I would suggest setting a mail rule up in Outlook to just delete it.

Thanks


Stu

p.s. if anyone is looking for information about hosting websites, I am going to put some info up in a couple of weeks after my hols

Martin81162

wirm wrote:

Sorry but your wrong.
Firstly when buying a domain name ALL registrars MUST give you the option of hiding your details. its the law.
And secondly they just add your name but keep your address/email address etc. out of the database.

That's strange because not all registrars are UK based. I know that with .co.uk domains you can hide your address but I've found that that's not the case with .com.

black-saturn

Its great for finding out the addresses of famous people :T

hammodt

black-saturn wrote:

Its great for finding out the addresses of famous people :T

Like a particular Mr M Lewis? :P

No, he's too savvy! It's registered through his server guys :P

David

black-saturn

No I mean of some of the bands I like who manage themselves and of Gary Numan!!

Pound

It's part of Nominet's conditions that the registrar must give the end user the option to hide their details when registering a *.uk but it only applies if it's a personal website, businesses must have their whois information visible.

TLDs like .com, .org, .net must show the whois information and the information must be correct. However, some registrars will let you use a proxy address owned by them.

WeirdoMagnet

I use uk2.net. Maybe I am wide of the mark, but if you type in the desired website url, then click on details, you get the owners details. So, for https://www.moneysavingexpert.com, you get this.

bs7

wirm wrote:

Sorry but your wrong.
Firstly when buying a domain name ALL registrars MUST give you the option of hiding your details. its the law.
And secondly they just add your name but keep your address/email address etc. out of the database.

erm... perhaps but only for .uk domains, and only if the domain is registered by a non-trading individual.

---


another good whois search worth using is - http://whois.webhosting.info/ - it also allows you to see what other domains are hosted on the same IP. This can be helpful to determine if a site is legitimate by seeing what other domains they own or indeed which hosting company they use.

seanparkin

wirm wrote:

Sorry but your wrong.
Firstly when buying a domain name ALL registrars MUST give you the option of hiding your details. its the law.
And secondly they just add your name but keep your address/email address etc. out of the database.

Not true. Only individuals may hide their details from the whois database, businesses may not. And I'm sure (but not certain) that is only for UK based domains also.

Diminutive

Quote:
Originally Posted by wirm
Sorry but your wrong.
Firstly when buying a domain name ALL registrars MUST give you the option of hiding your details. its the law.
And secondly they just add your name but keep your address/email address etc. out of the database.

Not true. Only individuals may hide their details from the whois database, businesses may not. And I'm sure (but not certain) that is only for UK based domains also.

Due to the data protection act in the UK, UK based domain owners do have the choice of private WHOIS details.

However, with .com details, the reverse is true. The internet something act (forgive my lack of specfics) specifys that for consumer protection all registered domains need correct WHOIS database details, including a postal address and the owners name. Its a criminal offense to put incorrect details into the WHOIS database (as Lycos kindly told me when I realised I can't spell my own address!).
You can get around it with a "proxy" domain where a company will register it to them but give you legal rights... that could get dodgey though if they suddenly decide that your domain is worth more than your custom

Looks like A level computing did teach me something after all =/