# WHOIS privacy check

Registration data (WHOIS, and its modern form RDAP) can show who owns a
domain. Most registrars now redact personal details, but not all, and older
registrations sometimes still publish a name and email address. Enter your
domain to see what anyone can read.

## How we check

Nameward asks the domain's registry over RDAP. For `.com` and `.net`, the
owner details live with the registrar, so we follow the registry's link to
the registrar's record. We treat the details as private when they're
redacted (RFC 9537), left out, or replaced by a privacy service.

## What the results mean

| Result | Status |
|---|---|
| Owner details redacted or behind a privacy service | ● Fine |
| Only the organisation's name is public | ● Fine |
| A person's name or an email address is public | ▲ Watch |
| The registrar's data couldn't be read | ◌ Unknown |

A public email address is an easy start for targeted phishing, and for
someone trying to talk your registrar into moving the domain.

## How to hide it

Turn on WHOIS privacy or contact redaction in your registrar's control panel
(often free). If a contact must stay public, use a role address such as
`domains@yourcompany.com` instead of a person's.

## Same scan, also checked

The domain's expiry date, holds and transfer lock:
[domain expiry checker](/tools/domain-expiry-checker).

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Source: https://nameward.app/tools/whois-privacy-check (updated 2026-10-30)