‘Who Owns a Domain Name’ has two parts First, is finding out what person owns a particular name. Second, is finding out if the domain name you own is really yours!
Who Are You?
If you need to find out who in particular owns a domain name, you can look it up pretty easily. And who you find depends on if the owner has domain privacy.
First, go to whois.org to look up the name and particulars of who owns a specific domain. You’ll either see a person’s (or company’s) name or a name that has “privacy” somewhere in it.
More and more people are utilizing the privacy option when registering their domain. Why? For one, it cuts down on junk mail, especially the people who (bogus-ly) try to get you to renew your domain with them usually for a steep price. Another is that it keeps your address and phone number out of the public eye.
Whether you choose to enable privacy on a particular domain name is a matter of choice. And while some domain registrars charge for this service, others offer it for free.
Do You Really Own Your Free Domain?
Here’s something that many people don’t know if you have a free domain name, you probably don’t really own it. How is that?
Free web domains are often tied to keeping that domain name registered with a specific host (where you host your blog or website). In other words, you “own” the domain name as long as you stay with that host. If you try to transfer it away, you may find that you have to “buy” it, for a rather steep price.
Now staying with a particular host might not be an issue is the host has reasonable rates and excellent uptime. It can be an issue if the hosting rates are high and/or uptime is less than 99% in practice.
When it comes to owning your own domain name, your best course is to just go ahead and buy it. In general, registering a domain for a year is around $10, give or take a couple dollars. There are plenty of sites that charge more, though. I’ve seen some registrars who want to charge $35 or more for a year’s registration! So verify the registration fees before you sign on the dotted line (so to speak).
Who Owns a Domain Name
So now you know the answers to the question of who owns a domain name. You’re armed with the information you need to either look up a domain name or register one.
