
Ask HN: Is namecheap.com selling my data? - coreyp_1
I just bought a domain name.  Today alone, I have received 9 (NINE!!!) robocalls, 3 text messages, &amp; 2 emails offering everything from logo creation to website design, to SEO services.  Yesterday I received none.<p>What&#x27;s going on?  Is namecheap.com selling my data (the same way that water companies used to sell a list of &quot;new connections&quot; to churches and salesmen)?  Is someone watching for changes in the DNS entries?  My domain name is obscure and not in use yet, so I don&#x27;t know how anyone would even know to look for it.<p>Is there something about the technology &amp; workflow that I don&#x27;t know yet?<p>Obviously, I know that my info is in the DNS entries, even on a parked page (and I refuse to pay for &quot;private listings&quot; on principle), but how do these leaches know about it in the first place?
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tqkxzugoaupvwqr
Do you use some kind of whois privacy? If not, all your contact details are
online, publicly visible anyone to who cares. If a whois command is installed
on your system (Linux, macOS), open a terminal and type: whois example.com
Replace example.com with your domain name. You should see contact information
for the owner of the domain.

There are dubious services that scrape that info of newly registered domains
and offer their services.

Edit: For some TLDs, whois privacy is not allowed. Depending on your TLD you
may not be able to activate it / use a privacy service. You could always enter
incorrect information but in a dispute you might lose your domain.

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sjs382
If you're not using some whois privacy protection, they're literally _giving
it away_. They all do, though—that's how it's supposed to work.

[http://whois.domaintools.com/cscrunch.com](http://whois.domaintools.com/cscrunch.com)

Edit: Ah, I missed the part where you say you understood what _whois_ is.

So, to answer your other question—yes, there are _many_ services that will
sell you changes to any whois entry.

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PaulHoule
If you try Godaddy you will get called by a salesperson who thinks that
registering a domain name is a life changing event. I tell them, "Look, people
ask me how many web sites I have, and I tell them I don't know." It's just
like John McCain didn't know how many houses he owned.

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tqkxzugoaupvwqr
To answer your edit: There are services that sell lists of newly registered
domains. Not sure how they create these lists in the first place. They
probably hook themselves into the DNS and keep track of changes.

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zgavin1
I experienced the exact same thing. Their customer service rep directly denied
it.

Three or so months after listing it I still receive a call like this once a
week or so.

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tjr
I have multiple domain names with NameCheap, some with privacy guard and some
without, and I have not experienced this.

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tenkeyless
Me neither and I have more than 10 domains parked with them

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treycopeland
Welcome to 2017

