Contact Privacy Service

The Contact Privacy service hides a registrant's identity in public WHOIS lookups for a domain. When it is enabled, masked contact information appears in the public WHOIS database and is used in the OpenSRS gated WHOIS. This page explains how the service works and how to enable, manage, and disable it.

About Contact Privacy

Instead of the registrant's email address, a WHOIS lookup displays a placeholder in the format domain.tld@contactprivacy.com. Messages sent to that address receive an auto-reply with details about the service and a link to the contactprivacy.com portal.

You can enable Contact Privacy at any time. It expires at the same time as the domain, and the full subscription cost is due when the service is added. If the domain is set to auto-renew, Contact Privacy auto-renews with it.

If you disable Contact Privacy while the domain is still active, the complete registration records are sent to the registry. When a domain is deleted, disable Contact Privacy so renewal messages are not sent to the registrant listed in the WHOIS record, since they no longer own the domain.

About the Contact Privacy web portal

The contactprivacy.com portal lets anyone send a message to the contacts on file for a domain. The message is delivered as a text-format email attachment to a single chosen contact or to all contacts. Domain contacts are not obligated to respond.

Step 1: Send a message through the portal

1. Visit the Contact Privacy portal.
2. Enter the domain name and click Submit.
3. Choose the recipient from the contact drop-down (owner, admin, billing, tech, or all).
4. Enter the sender address in the From field.
5. Enter the subject and type your message.
6. Complete the captcha and click Submit.

Step 2: Enable Contact Privacy for a new domain

During registration, when Contact Privacy is available for the TLD, the domain settings section of the registration form includes an option to enable it.

1. Select the check box beside Contact privacy in the domain settings section of the registration form.
2. Complete and submit the rest of the registration form.

Step 3: Enable Contact Privacy for an existing domain

1. In the Domains section of the Reseller Control Panel (RCP), enter all or part of the domain name or admin email, then click Search.
2. Click the domain name to view its information.
3. Toggle the Contact Privacy switch to active in the domain settings section.
4. Confirm the charge and click Save.

Enable Contact Privacy during a transfer

You can add Contact Privacy during the transfer-in process. In the domain settings section of the transfer form, select the box beside Contact privacy. The cost is displayed there, and the service is enabled once the transfer completes.

Enable or disable Contact Privacy for multiple domains

Use the bulk change tools to enable or disable Contact Privacy for many domains in one request.

1. In the RCP Domains section, select the check box next to each domain.
2. From the Bulk actions drop-down list, select Change contact privacy.
3. In the Contact Privacy section, choose Enable or Disable.
4. Verify the charge, then enter an address in the Email results to field to receive notifications about the request.
5. Click Save contact privacy.

Disable Contact Privacy

1. In the RCP Domains section, enter the domain name or admin email and click the search button.
2. Select the domain name to view its information.
3. Toggle the Contact Privacy switch off in the domain settings section.

View domains with Contact Privacy

1. In the Domains section of the RCP, click Advanced filters.
2. Select the On box under Contact Privacy.
3. Click Apply filters.

Next steps

• Understand how Contact Privacy interacts with Public WHOIS (Whois Publicity), which it always overrides.
• Review making bulk contact changes for related bulk operations.

Questions? Contact OpenSRS Support.