Webnames.ca StaffCIRA, the Canadian Internet Registry Authority, introduced domain privacy for individual registrants on June 10, 2008. Domain privacy is the removal of all contact details, including the registrant name, in order that the ownership of the domain name remains completely private.
On a standard WHOIS search, contact information for the registrant is displayed. This information includes the registrant and administrative contact name, administrative contact phone and fax numbers, mailing and email addresses. According to CIRA, “while WHOIS has been used since the inception of the Internet, recent concerns over privacy necessitated a re-evaluation of what information is publicly available in the dot-ca (.ca) WHOIS.”
This is a rare service among registries and the process has been in discussion, consultation and development since late 2004. While many registrars have been offering a paid domain privacy service for years, CIRA eventually followed Nominet’s, the .uk domain registry, lead in suppressing the contact details of registrations by individual registrants. According to CIRA the legal types of individual registrant are Canadian citizens, permanent residents of Canada, Legal Representatives of a Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident or Aboriginal Persons.
Below is an example of a WHOIS listing for a .ca domain name under an individual registrant:
Webnames.ca also offers a privacy service for .ca domain names under non-individual registrants, and for .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info, .mobi, .cn, and .asia domain extensions.