How WHOIS works
What's in the Public Record
Before you search, here's what the public record shows and why privacy protection exists.
What WHOIS shows you
WHOIS is the public registration record for a domain. It shows who owns a domain, how long they've owned it, when it expires, who the registrar is, and its current nameservers. ICANN requires every accredited registrar — including NameBright — to publish this, unless the owner has privacy protection turned on.
What's public by default
Without privacy protection, a domain's WHOIS record shows the owner's name, address, phone number, and email, along with the expiration date and nameservers. Some TLDs show more of this than others.
Why privacy protection exists
A public WHOIS record is also public to spammers and anyone else looking. Privacy protection replaces those personal details with a privacy service's contact information instead — the more common choice for anyone who'd rather not field the spam that comes with a public listing.
Register With Privacy Built In.
Every domain you register at NameBright comes with free WHOIS privacy. Open an account in minutes and keep your details out of the public record from day one.
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