# Website Ownership



## rjemery (Jan 24, 2000)

For any given website, how can I determine who owns it? Where is there a record kept of who purchased the URL and who maintains it?


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## Blackmirror (Dec 5, 2006)

http://www.internetfamilyfun.com/internethelp/whois.htm
have a read there


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## rjemery (Jan 24, 2000)

That just gives me the name of the registrar, not the name of the individual or entity who paid the registrar to register the domain name.


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## mdhall (Sep 15, 2008)

The Whois information that Blackmirror pointed you to does not always display who bought the domain name. 
Edit: It is not limited to just the Whois site that Blackmirror mentioned. The following information is true for all Whois sites.

For example: The company that I use to purchase my domains and hosting gives me the option of hiding that information and using their default information. It will only show who I bought the domain through instead of listing me as the one buying it. 

It is completely optional to me to do this. Some other registrars charge you a couple dollars per month to gain this privacy. 

In conclusion: It is not always possible to find out who paid/bought a particular domain. Sorry. 

I hope this helps.


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## rjemery (Jan 24, 2000)

Yes, it does help.

I am faced with uncovering the actual owner of a malicious site who hides behind a private registration. I could contact the registrar, but then I reveal who I am without necessarily learning who owns the site. In this instance, it's probably time to call in the lawyers and investigators.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge in this matter.


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## dannyn (Nov 9, 2007)

Yeah, if it is that serious you do not want to try and talk to the person, let law enforcement intervene.


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## namenotfound (Apr 30, 2005)

mdhall said:


> For example: The company that I use to purchase my domains and hosting gives me the option of hiding that information and using their default information. It will only show who I bought the domain through instead of listing me as the one buying it.


Mine doesn't even give me the choice, they automatically hide it by using their info for whois 

If you wanna find my info from a whois lookup, you can't


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## ipwnos (Jan 14, 2008)

Try this: http://www.moniker.com/whois/whois.jsp

If you scroll down after typing in an address...you can get their phone number, fax, and address!


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## DotHQ (May 6, 2008)

namenotfound said:


> Mine doesn't even give me the choice, they automatically hide it by using their info for whois
> 
> If you wanna find my info from a whois lookup, you can't


With godaddy it's 9.95 a year to hide the true ownership from whois. This doubles the price of a $9.95 domane name. 

How much does a domain cost a year at the place that automatically hides the whois info? If doman names are cheap like godaddy (9.95 a year per .com domain) how about listing a link?


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## rjemery (Jan 24, 2000)

ipwnos said:


> Try this: http://www.moniker.com/whois/whois.jsp
> 
> If you scroll down after typing in an address...you can get their phone number, fax, and address!


That does not provide the identifying information of the true owner. It merely provides the name of the registrar or agent who is shielding the true owner's contact information, to wit:

Admin Name........... PrivateRegContact Admin
Admin Address........ P O Box 99800
Admin Address........
Admin Address........ Emeryville
Admin Address........ 94662
Admin Address........ CA
Admin Address........ US
Admin Email.......... [email protected]
Admin Phone.......... +1.5105952002
Admin Fax............


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## namenotfound (Apr 30, 2005)

DotHQ said:


> With godaddy it's 9.95 a year to hide the true ownership from whois. This doubles the price of a $9.95 domane name.
> 
> How much does a domain cost a year at the place that automatically hides the whois info? If doman names are cheap like godaddy (9.95 a year per .com domain) how about listing a link?


It's $10 a year. My domain and host are from the same company, I'm not sure if they sell domains by themselves though.


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## goaf1968 (Sep 17, 2008)

If you really do suspect a malicious site, you might want to consider making a call to your state attorney general's office. Most states have divisions who can deal with this. You, however, should not engage in any other way -- you just don't know who is running that location.


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## rjemery (Jan 24, 2000)

goaf1968 said:


> If you really do suspect a malicious site, you might want to consider making a call to your state attorney general's office. Most states have divisions who can deal with this. You, however, should not engage in any other way -- you just don't know who is running that location.


The good advice received herein strongly suggests the next move for me is to engage an attorney and investigator to determine who is paying for the domain name and hosting.


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