Who owns domains

Also, we cannot treat unsolicited information as confidential. You recognize that our review of your information, even if you submitted it in a good faith effort to retain us, and, further, even if you consider it confidential, does not preclude us from representing another client directly adverse to you, even in a matter where that information could and will be used against you. People Services. Who owns your domain names?

Mark Sableman July 21, Links About. Cybersecurity, Privacy and Data Governance. Intellectual Property. Media and Internet. Follow on Twitter. Mark Sableman. This can be a great way to purchase a domain name from an owner without doing all the work yourself.

GoDaddy is one of the longest running and largest domain name registrars in the world, managing over 77 million domain names. They offer competitive pricing and a great selection of domain name extensions to choose from. It works similarly to the tools above. Simply enter the domain name into the WHOIS database lookup, and the tool will find the relevant domain name information.

However, it can be helpful to try the domain name search with multiple tools. If the domain is hosted at a specific registrar, then you can get more accurate information. This service, along with recent the GDPR law , can make it difficult to find out who owns a domain. Your final option is to simply email the domain name owner through their website contact form if their website is currently online.

For example, you can find the WordPress theme a site is using , and find out who is hosting a certain website. We hope this article helped you learn how to find out who actually owns a domain name. You may also want to see our expert picks of the best WordPress hosting and our list of the must have WordPress plugins for business websites. If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials.

You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook. These are free, publicly available search tools that contain almost every single website and domain name. ICANN is a nonprofit that ensures the maintenance and security of domain names, websites, and other internet namespaces. WHOIS was constructed to be as simple as possible. The Internet contains an overwhelming amount of information and ICANN has remained committed to ensuring that domain ownership remains transparent.

Some WHOIS databases will go even further and furnish website statistics such as traffic and performance as well as other domains that a given owner might possess. The most common method used by domain owners is a tactic called proxy registration. In these cases, owners have paid or struck deals with companies or organizations to act as the registrants on record. When you search for a domain that has been masked by a proxy registrant, the information reported will provide no helpful clues as to who the real owner is.

However, if you are determined to find the real owner of a website and have discovered a proxy registrant, there are research techniques you can use to acquire the information.

If you encounter other privacy settings, look for information that predates those settings. If the owner has registered other websites, look them up on WHOIS and see if they contain any updated contact information. In other cases, domain owners may have failed to update their contact information. Unless the updated contact information somehow interferes with the ability of the domain registrar to collect their annual fee, this misinformation tends to linger, sometimes indefinitely.

If you attempt to find a domain name owner through the WHOIS databases but fail to uncover the desired information, there are a few other research methods you should try before giving up.

Even if the domain name owner has hidden their information on the WHOIS database, the website itself might be able to furnish contact information.

Reach out with a positive attitude. Once you agree to the deal, exchange payment for ownership. In effect, Domain. Registering for Domain Privacy does not mean that you sacrifice any control over your domain—you retain total ownership. Domain Privacy is only available to.