What’s the trick with domain names and domain name protection?

Question:

Some websites have offers to protect domain names? Buy why do you need to protect a domain name, isn’t it yours once you buy it?

Answer:

Yes, you do own the name.  It’s not protecting the name so others can’t have it.  It’s referring to protecting your private information;  your name, address, phone number and email address.  Let me tell you from experience, if you want to get spammed to death, leave your information unprotected after you buy a domain name.  It will be harvested and sold in no time.

The protection is called whois protection.  Like I said, your WhoIs record contains your personal information.  Anyone can do a whois on a domain name in the browser address bar like this:  whois domainname.com

Some domain name registrars charge around $8.99/yr for this protection.  That’s expensive.  You can get free WhoisGuard at NameCheap for the 1st year and it’s only $2.88/yr after that.  It’s what I use.  Click here to compare GoDaddy vs NameCheap as an example.