The SIDN registry, which manages the Netherlands ccTLD .NL, announced on its website that it is banning the use of third-party privacy protection services to hide registrant data. Such services are often used by individuals who do not want their information - names, contact details, etc. – was available to Whois users.
Representatives of SIDN explain the decision with two reasons. First of all, since 2003 registrants of names in the ccTLD of the Netherlands can use the opt-out scheme and hide the possibility of viewing their data. And secondly, since 2010, the data of private registrants, by definition, are not uploaded to the public. Thus, there is simply no need for additional privacy protection measures.
The second reason is that the registry must be able to contact the registrant directly at any time. This is mainly due to the need to effectively combat the domain abuse. Unfortunately, in many cases, registrants turn to third-party privacy protection services precisely in situations where they intend to use their domain names for unseemly purposes.
The ban on the use of third-party privacy protection services applies to both registrants and accredited registrars and will take effect October 1. Corresponding changes will be made to the General Provisions and Rules for the Use of SIDN Services. At the first stage, the rules will only affect newly registered domain names, but in the future, the registry plans to extend them to previously registered domains. The Registry emphasizes that it recognizes that there are situations where a registrant seeks to hide its association with a domain name for legitimate purposes. These are, for example, cases when a company is preparing to launch new products or services on the market and planning their promotional campaigns. In situations like this, it's not uncommon for companies to register domain names for future releases, but prefer to keep it under wraps so as not to reveal their plans ahead of time. For such cases, a procedure is provided for assigning the Inactive status to a domain name. A domain is registered by a registrar without connecting DNS servers and remains virtually "invisible" until it is actively used.
