Canadian web .ca domain name privacy

[oxmounter]

I have conflicting information from a couple of sources, so I am seeking clarification.

When one registers a .ca domain in Canada, is privacy protection - the masking or covering of the domain owner - automatically available and applied by default?  When registering a site in the U.S., companies are available to provide such privacy for a fee.  I thought that such coverage was automatic and included in .ca registration here, but looking around, I get mixed signals.  If anyone here is dealing with such matters, please advise. Thank you.

[theafkgamer]

Are you purchasing the domain yourself personally, or through a re-seller?

For example, I purchased my domain name www.theafkgamer.ca through a re-seller (iPage) and if you look up the domain through a "Who Is" search, the re-seller company would be listed as registrar. If you did not go through a reseller, I could only assume your information would be there.

[mimzy21]

Me me me - I can gladly answer you 🙂

. For .ca, it depends on who the legal registrant is.

If it is registered to a non-individual entity (corporation, association, charity, institution, trademark holder, the queen, etc... not one of 2a,2b,2c http://www.cira.ca/assets/Documents/Legal/Registrants/CPR.pdf ), the information is public. Registrars and their resellers are not allowed to apply any kind of privacy shielding AT ALL. There is no 'privacy' optiion.

If it is registered to an individual (citizen, landed immigrant, or representative of either), it is automatically deemed a private registration UNLESS you opt to have it public. You may have it switched between public/private at any time. Registrars or their resellers are not allowed to charge a fee to change the privacy setting.

i.e. if you do want to protect your contact information, register in your own personal name rather than that of your company or organization.

[mimzy21]

"re-seller company would be listed as registrar." - registrAR, yes, But you would be listed as the registrANT/owner.

If your reseller shows up as registrant/owner in a .ca WHOIS - they registered the domain to themself! This will be a very sticky situation if you ever need to prove that is indeed your domain name ...

Even for .com, as of last year, a reseller should not have their info as registrant. The registrar they are reselling for can provide the privacy shielding mechanism, but the resellers of that registrar may not. i.e. if you registered with an eNom, Tucows, or GoDaddy reseller, the privacy shielding should show eNom, Tucows, or GoDaddy's generic info. If it shows your individual reseller's info in registrant/owner contact fields, you would have to have that explicitly in their contract with you that you are aware they ARE the registrant/owner of the domain and they are allowing you to use it for the period of the contract. This most often is the case when a 'free' domain is included with a year sitebuilder-type hosting. Problems arise when you outgrow their hosted solution and decide to obtain your hosting services elsewhere. They are under no obligation to be nice enough to release the domain to you.