Namesilo - privacy is not private - warning !!!

edgey

edgey

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Be warned - NameSilo domain privacy is not so private ...

I've often recommended NameSilo for domain registration - low prices and free whois privacy ...

I am still in shock after today's discovery.

After a visit to the whoisology.com website, I discovered that all my domains (about 50) are showing as being linked to the same owner.

I contacted NameSilo and was told ... "It is true that all domains in an account share the same WHOIS privacy email address ... we update the WHOIS privacy email address automatically every 2-3 days. This makes it very difficult for bots to link domains to the same person even though, as you can see by the links you provided below, it is not impossible. "

So, there goes my PBN ...

I contacted namecheap to see if they use the same system - I was told every domain uses a different email addresses, and you can change it at anytime with a random address.

The whoisology website displays archive records, so transferring these domains will not solve the problem - the record will always be there.

So ... if you really care about the privacy of your domains - stay away from NameSilo.

If you have any names registered with them, I suggest you check what info whoisology has recorded about them - if they're still clean, you might want to consider transferring them as soon as possible.
 
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I am with NameSilo and I wanted to clarify how our service works. It is correct that for people who use our WHOIS privacy service and our "Randomize Email" option that one email address is used for all domains in an account, and that email address is randomized every 1-3 days. However, as this is not the desired result for some customers (such as the op of this thread), we also allow customers to select that they do not want to use this option. For customers opting out of the "Randomize Email" option, all domains are given a generic email address in WHOIS so the only thing a WHOIS harvesting service could tell is that all of the domains are registered with NameSilo - NOT that they are tied to a specific customer.
 
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Where can see this option for generic email?
 
Thanks for the headsup, op. Been transferring all my goduddy domains over to namesilo and now I have a little follow up work to do. Thinks I'll do a 50/50 split use of both methods described by namesilo1 and hope for the best.
 
You should have NEVER have used only 1 domain registry to host a PBN with 50+ sites in the first place.
You should have been using multiple domain registries to build your PBN.
If your using fake info on multiple domain registries, then you don't run into the issue your dealing with.

-JB
 
edgey said:
After a visit to the whoisology.com website, I discovered that all my domains (about 50) are showing as being linked to the same owner.
Click to expand...

Thats your mistake right there.
Why would you host all your sites on the same registrar?
IF you read ANY PBN guide, they ALL would have told you NOT to do this...
 
I only have a few domains on namesilo. And, yes...it's true, domain registrar should be diversified, as well.
 
Actually, I have many registrars and many hundreds of domains - and I've never had any such problem with other registrars, because they don't have this fatal flaw in their privacy protection.

Use NameSilo at your own risk ! Their method defeats the purpose of privacy. Why would you want privacy and have all your domains linked?

I will also add, that nowhere on their site does NameSilo mention this, or specify that the privacy email is not unique to each individual domain.

NameCheap, for instance, assigns a unique email address to each single domain.

And ... if you use "fake info on multiple domain registries" you run the risk of losing your domains ... not for me, thanks.
 
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I had the same problem. I created another account and pushed the domain to other account so that would change.
 
radiant13 said:
Thanks for the headsup, op. Been transferring all my goduddy domains over to namesilo and now I have a little follow up work to do. Thinks I'll do a 50/50 split use of both methods described by namesilo1 and hope for the best.
Click to expand...

Personally, I would transfer them to NameCheap - I've completely lost faith in NameSilo - their system is too risky for my liking.

I've referred many friends and clients to NameSilo, and contacted them all within the last few hours. We have checked whoisology - they all have exactly the same problem, and were completely unaware that this is how NameSilo's privacy feature operates, or that there was any option to change the settings.
 
Pankage said:
I had the same problem. I created another account and pushed the domain to other account so that would change.
Click to expand...

The problem is that whoisology.com archives all the records - so if your domain details have been archived, that won't solve your problem.

If whoisology.com knows about your domains, we can assume G does, too.
 
radiant13 said:
Thanks for the headsup, op. Been transferring all my goduddy domains over to namesilo and now I have a little follow up work to do. Thinks I'll do a 50/50 split use of both methods described by namesilo1 and hope for the best.
Click to expand...

radiant, you might want to go to the whoisology.com website, and check those domains that you have already transferred from godaddy to namesilo - if they are showing as being linked, you might want to reconsider using them.
Also, I think you will find that whoisology does not update their results immediately - so while it might not show now that they are linked, it could turn up in a couple of months. I guess you will have to decide for yourself how much risk you want to take.
 
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edgey said:
The problem is that whoisology.com archives all the records - so if your domain details have been archived, that won't solve your problem.

If whoisology.com knows about your domains, we can assume G does, too.
Click to expand...
You're right, it didn't solve the problem. Domains have same email on that account now. Jesus, this needs to be fixed somehow. Maybe that's why they offer free WHOIS privacy.
 
ezines said:
Where can see this option for generic email?
Click to expand...

The option is available on the Account Maintenance page. You would set "Privacy Randomize" to "No". Had the op selected "No" in their account then they would have been no problem.
 
edgey said:
Actually, I have many registrars and many hundreds of domains - and I've never had any such problem with other registrars, because they don't have this fatal flaw in their privacy protection.

Use NameSilo at your own risk ! Their method defeats the purpose of privacy. Why would you want privacy and have all your domains linked?

I will also add, that nowhere on their site does NameSilo mention this, or specify that the privacy email is not unique to each individual domain.

NameCheap, for instance, assigns a unique email address to each single domain.

And ... if you use "fake info on multiple domain registries" you run the risk of losing your domains ... not for me, thanks.
Click to expand...

We have always made note of this on our web site, and have updated the verbiage recently to make it even more clear. Again, selecting "No" for "Privacy Randomize" makes this all a non-issue.
 
Pankage said:
You're right, it didn't solve the problem. Domains have same email on that account now. Jesus, this needs to be fixed somehow. Maybe that's why they offer free WHOIS privacy.
Click to expand...

Please simply select "No" for "Privacy Randomize" on the Account Maintenance page in your account to prevent using the same email address in WHOIS for your private domains.
 
namesilo1 said:
Please simply select "No" for "Privacy Randomize" on the Account Maintenance page in your account to prevent using the same email address in WHOIS for your private domains.
Click to expand...
That will solve the "problem"?
 
50 websites on same registrant.
50 websites on same DNS.

You're scolding a registrant for not providing sufficient SEO-hosting protection, when that's not their business. Just to make it perfectly clear to everyone reading the thread, even though your sites were "grouped" as having the same owner, the ownership still remains hidden. No, it won't fool Google, but it wouldn't even have fooled Google if they were all different emails, because your blog network used the same registrant, and most likely the same DNS servers.

Really no one to blame but yourself on that one, and tarnishing NameSilo is uncalled for. Honestly, if your entire network is on the same DNS there's most likely many other footprints you're leaving behind as well.
 
namesilo1 said:
The option is available on the Account Maintenance page. You would set "Privacy Randomize" to "No". Had the op selected "No" in their account then they would have been no problem.
Click to expand...

So how the fuck are we supposed to fix this after the fact? I didn't know I had to be a PHP programmer to register a couple of goddamned domains in one go.
 
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ouch! i host them on different registrar's always +different IPs on hosting so nothing can be linked..but this same email is a pain...ill check namesilo1's option
 
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