Question about WhoIs Guard

Anxious_Annie

I know very little about this sort of thing so I apologise if this is a stupid question.

A couple of years ago I bought a domain name to use on a personal blog, but I no longer require it.

I bought it from NameCheap and they used a WhoIs Guard to protect my private information, the WhoIs Guard is renewed when the domain name is, if I let the domain name expire will my private information become public? If yes is there a way to avoid that?

It's a .com domain name if that matters? I'm in the UK and the domain name was linked to my free Blogger blog which I no longer use.

Thank you. 

Neil_Jones

If the domain expires it won't be registered to anybody and if somebody else buys it after you its up to them whether they want (their own) Whois information on show.

Anxious_Annie

Neil_Jones said:

If the domain expires it won't be registered to anybody and if somebody else buys it after you its up to them whether they want (their own) Whois information on show.

So my private information, like my full name and address won't become public? That's great. Thanks for the information. 

Neil_Jones

Anxious_Annie said:

Neil_Jones said:

If the domain expires it won't be registered to anybody and if somebody else buys it after you its up to them whether they want (their own) Whois information on show.

So my private information, like my full name and address won't become public? That's great. Thanks for the information. 

Well technically its already public so...  Electoral register.  Is all I'm going to say.

Anxious_Annie

Neil_Jones said:

Anxious_Annie said:

Neil_Jones said:

If the domain expires it won't be registered to anybody and if somebody else buys it after you its up to them whether they want (their own) Whois information on show.

So my private information, like my full name and address won't become public? That's great. Thanks for the information. 

Well technically its already public so...  Electoral register.  Is all I'm going to say.

Well, yes I suppose you're right, but the Electoral Register doesn't include my email address and phone number. I was actually more concerned with someone Googling my name and being about to link me to my blog or blog related social media accounts, I have an uncommon name. There's nothing dodgy about my blog, it's just not something that I shared with my family or the people I know, it was just an anonymous hobby.

pbartlett

the way it seems to work is that the domain is actually registered in their name and then leased back to you, so it looks like your details are never on there anyway. I would confirm with Namecheap

Neil_Jones

pbartlett said:

the way it seems to work is that the domain is actually registered in their name and then leased back to you, so it looks like your details are never on there anyway. I would confirm with Namecheap

Domain names are often simply referred to as domains and domain name registrants are frequently referred to as domain owners, although domain name registration with a registrar does not confer any legal ownership of the domain name, only an exclusive right of use for a particular duration of time. The use of domain names in commerce may subject them to trademark law.

This applies to everything, so .com, org, .co.uk, .coop...  stop paying for it and anybody else can buy it later.