Domain WHOIS Privacy

WHOIS Privacy protects your personal contact information when it would otherwise be published in the public WHOIS database for your domain. This article explains what WHOIS Privacy does, what happens if you turn it off, and how to manage the setting on your own domains.

Why WHOIS privacy exists

Since the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the registration data for all applicable Hover domains is redacted from public WHOIS lookups and replaced with Hover's general contact information. This keeps your personal details private while still letting people who need to reach you do so.

What WHOIS privacy does

Registering a domain requires providing up-to-date contact information, which is stored in the publicly accessible WHOIS database. Enabling WHOIS Privacy redacts your registration details from that database. Instead of your personal information, a WHOIS lookup on a privacy-protected domain returns Contact Privacy Inc.'s contact details, along with a unique email address tied to your domain.

Anyone who emails that redacted address receives an automated reply linking to an online form. Submitting the form sends a message to your registrant email address, which filters out spam and ensures only genuine inquiries reach you.

You can run a lookup yourself using the Tucows lookup tool to see what's currently published for your domain.

Note: WHOIS Privacy is available for most TLDs, but not all — check with your domain's registry for any restrictions.

What disabling WHOIS privacy does

Turning off WHOIS Privacy does not publish your information to the general public by default. Instead, it makes your details available to authorized parties through Tiered Access — a system that requires requesters (such as law enforcement, commercial litigators, or security researchers) to pass a rigorous authentication process with Tucows before viewing any registrant data.

If you specifically want your registration details published publicly, that's handled through the WHOIS Visibility service, which you can request directly from our support team.

Step 1: Manage your WHOIS privacy setting

WHOIS Privacy is included automatically with every eligible domain and is enabled by default. You can turn it on or off yourself:

1. Sign in to your Hover control panel using your two-factor authentication method. Note: If you have multiple domains, select the specific domain from your domain list first.
2. In the domain's details box, select the WHOIS Privacy toggle to enable or disable it.
3. If disabling, select Turn off WHOIS Privacy in the confirmation prompt to complete the change.

Next steps

• Learn more about your data protections: see Interpreting general data protection regulation principles (GDPR) for a plain-language look at how GDPR shapes Hover's privacy practices.
• Request WHOIS Visibility if you want your registration details published publicly — contact our support team to set this up.

Questions? Contact Hover Support.