privacy with web hosting company

angs77

Hi All

I have a quick query.

I have been using an Irish based company for web hosting with the last few years. Last week, they posted a link on their public domain, facebook and twitter called 'Who Own's It' which allows anyone, anywhere to check who owns a specific domain name, which is fine if it was just my name, but it posts everything from my name, postal and email address and contact telephone numbers.

My question is, how is this legal under the current data protection act, when I didn't sign any agreement (that I know of) to allow my information to be circulated in this manner.

galwayjohn89

angs77 wrote: »

Hi All

I have a quick query.

I have been using an Irish based company for web hosting with the last few years. Last week, they posted a link on their public domain, facebook and twitter called 'Who Own's It' which allows anyone, anywhere to check who owns a specific domain name, which is fine if it was just my name, but it posts everything from my name, postal and email address and contact telephone numbers.

My question is, how is this legal under the current data protection act, when I didn't sign any agreement (that I know of) to allow my information to be circulated in this manner.

Its the WHOIS record for the domain which every domain has. You can pay extra from ID Protect from a lot of hosting companys that will protect your data. The WHOIS data is available from loads of websites, whois.org etc. Just google WHOIS information for more.

angs77

but, how is it possible for web hosting companies to allow this information into the public domain without prior consent from the owner of the data.

from my little time studying law and media law as part of my degree, I learned that data can't be shared without consent... or am I wrong...

I was only offered whosit protection after I voiced my opinion...

jimmycrackcorm

angs77 wrote: »

but, how is it possible for web hosting companies to allow this information into the public domain without prior consent from the owner of the data.
The
from my little time studying law and media law as part of my degree, I learned that data can't be shared without consent... or am I wrong...

I was only offered whosit protection after I voiced my opinion...

When you registered your domain you made your information public because of the way the dns system is set up - hence the whois facility.

If you wanted it to be private then you should have set it up in such a way that hides that information.

angs77

should this not have been automatically offered to me over the phone the day I set the account/domain up

galwayjohn89

angs77 wrote: »

should this not have been automatically offered to me over the phone the day I set the account/domain up

They don't need to offer it, not all web hosting companies do.

It's just the way the WHOIS and ICANN work, all domain names must have WHOIS information added to it.

Tails142

It's standard practice when registering a domain for your full contact details to be linked to the domain through a WHOIS database. As suggested, there are ways around this by registering the domain through a company, using their details to keep yours private.

It's probably in the terms and conditions of the service you purchased.

angs77

cheers guys, at least I know now... that is more information than they gave me when I complained about the link