Anyone seen this? Google lets you buy domains

eliquid

Digital Strategist
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https://domains.google/
Maybe I missed this, but I've known for a long time they were a registrar.

However, I didn't know they had this as a service. Anyways, it looks like they are advertising the service on FB now.

Another way they tie you to your PBNs... lol
 
Another way they tie you to your PBNs... lol

Yeah, they say the entire point of becoming an official registrar was to see behind WhoIs privacy. Supposedly they now can tap right into the ICANN database and see what's what. Next they'll have to start cracking down harder on fake information, probably using address verification and ID card uploading or something. I know Nominet already does this and takes it very seriously.
 
There are always options... LLC + Living Trust as owner/managing partner of said business.

You now have a legitimate business vehicle that is legally recognized as such. That business vehicle can have assets, addresses. It can be your WHOIS and be entirely legit. You won't have to worry about your domain being revoked for false info. Get you a PO box for a few bucks per year! :wink: You can also take advantage of the domain trust in public WHOIS info...

Major difference being that third parties, in most circumstances, cannot know who the trust members are. This is especially true if you only pursue this on services not connected to the evil G, so there is no record anywhere of anything connecting said company to your profile. I mean to the degree you don't even type the brand words or domain into the browser under a known account, so there are no vectors connecting you.

All of this can be acquired for the paltry sum of a few hundred bucks in most cases. You can do it cheaper. Personally I prefer having my lawyer handle it. No sense playing fast and loose with incorporating business documents.

Really, for anyone serious about a marketing endeavor, that cost should be a non-issue. Even better, that small sum likely cuts out a lot of the broke-ass riff raff who were never really serious anyways.
 
sublease in good neighborhoods.

Paper docs stored at your lawyers office.
 
Yeah, they say the entire point of becoming an official registrar was to see behind WhoIs privacy. Supposedly they now can tap right into the ICANN database and see what's what. Next they'll have to start cracking down harder on fake information, probably using address verification and ID card uploading or something. I know Nominet already does this and takes it very seriously.
Wasn't this debunked years ago? Unless you're referring to their own privacy whois customers, I don't think just being a registrar gives you access to view other registrars' customer's whois behind privacy.
 
Wasn't this debunked years ago? Unless you're referring to their own privacy whois customers, I don't think just being a registrar gives you access to view other registrars' customer's whois behind privacy.

Yeah I don't understand why this rumor keeps going around. I talked with Moniker, a registrar, and they stated Google and they themselves are unable to see behind another registrar's private WHOIS information. I have no problem letting this lie live on cause it doesn't do anything positive or negative IMO, but it's technically is still a lie/rumor that is false.

If Moniker, NameCheap, or other cannot see who owns your GoDaddy registered domain, Google will also be unable to.
 
I have no problem letting this lie live on cause it doesn't do anything positive or negative IMO, but it's technically is still a lie/rumor that is false.

Stop outing! I was about to offer up my legal incorporation and virtual office services! LOL JK :wink:
 
I agree that one company shouldn't be able to see beyond the veil of another company's privacy. But we're not necessarily talking about an entirely private industry here either. ICANN is more of an international public utility at this point.

The US just last year gave some portion of control over our net over to ICANN (I don't know the details but you can look it up). The reason I point that out is that it's like saying one hospital can't know the details of another hospital's customer because it'd be a HIPPA violation, except they do pass info around in order to save lives. Another analogy might be background checks for purchasing a gun. Two different stores tap into the same registries and mine the same information.

Not exactly great analogies, nor am I supporting the idea that Google can magically pierce the ICANN veil, but if they can then that's how it would work, because it's more like a public utility at this point.

But what I can say is that I've registered domains with WhoIs enabled from the first moment, and without fail I've had junk snail mail come to me with companies congratulating me on the purchase and trying to get me to add years to it under a different registrar. And when the renewal date comes up they snail mail me some more junk to try to trick me.

So they've managed to get the info despite the privacy. So either someone can pierce the veil, or more likely and even worse... someone's selling data.

And we all know data is the currency of the internet and every company is selling data to each other and to the government and to advertisers and to whoever else has the cash to pay the fee.

And I know damn well Google has the cash.

Now they have a plausible reason to request the data, as a "fellow registrar."
 
Those are fantastic points @Ryuzaki. The other thing I think gets easily forgotten is, it's people that work for these companies, that horde all this data. People are fallible, and some of them have bad intentions.

Ideally, this is why I'd prefer restricting certain things so that even those people on the other end have no actual clue who the owner of a particular property is. Maybe it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, but man it sure comforts the OCD. :wink:
 
Yeah, they say the entire point of becoming an official registrar was to see behind WhoIs privacy. Supposedly they now can tap right into the ICANN database and see what's what. Next they'll have to start cracking down harder on fake information, probably using address verification and ID card uploading or something. I know Nominet already does this and takes it very seriously.

Are you saying they're about to find thousands of our old churn and burn domains, camouflaged owned by prominent olympic athletes, paid for with prepaid credit cards from 711, regged on a computer from the local library with a catchall?

Stop outing bro, this shit is getting serious.

#justkidding #ohaigoogs :evil:
 
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