WHOIS Privacy Terms

WHOIS Privacy is an optional add-on for domain names registered through Static.app. These terms apply when you add it to a domain, in addition to our Terms of Use, including their Domain Names section. By adding WHOIS Privacy to a domain you confirm that you have read and agree to these terms. If you register the domain for someone else, you confirm that they have agreed to them too.

Every domain has a registrant: the person or organization that owns it. Their name, address, email address and phone number are given to the registry when the domain is registered, and for some endings they can appear in the public WHOIS/RDAP directory. With WHOIS Privacy on, the details of the privacy service are shown there instead of the owner, administrative, technical and billing contacts you provided.

The service is provided by the Whois Privacy Protection Foundation through our registrar partner, Openprovider. It only replaces contact details in the public directory. It cannot guarantee that nobody can find out who owns the domain, for example from the website's content, its nameservers or other public records.

• WHOIS Privacy is meant for personal and other non-commercial domains. If a domain is used for commercial purposes, the privacy service may switch privacy off.
• It is only offered for endings whose registry allows it. Some registries do not allow privacy at all, and some publish no personal details in the first place.
• You can switch WHOIS Privacy off at any time from the domain's page.

WHOIS Privacy does not change who owns the domain. You keep full control of it and remain legally responsible for its registration and for how it is used. You agree to indemnify Static.app, the registrar and the privacy service against any claims, damages and costs, including reasonable legal fees, arising from the registration or use of the domain or from the privacy service being provided for it.

You must keep your real contact details accurate and up to date in your account, even though they are not shown publicly. The registrar holds them and may give them to escrow providers as registration rules require. If the details are false, incomplete or out of date, the registrar may switch privacy off, suspend the domain or delete it.

The privacy service may switch WHOIS Privacy off, and disclose your details in WHOIS and to the party asking, at its own discretion and without liability to you. Reasons include, but are not limited to:

• a breach of these terms or of the registration agreement, or a failure to pay for the service;
• a requirement of law, a court order, or a request from a registry or a law enforcement agency;
• a legal complaint about the domain or its use, a UDRP or other dispute resolution proceeding, or a third party's claim that the domain infringes their rights, such as a trademark;
• a good faith belief that the domain is used for spam, malware, phishing or other illegal, harmful or objectionable activity, or that disclosure is needed to establish whether the law was broken;
• use of the domain for commercial purposes;
• to avoid financial loss or legal liability for the service, the registrar or their affiliates;
• the domain being deleted.

The service aims to give 24 hours' notice before switching privacy off, but is not obliged to. Once privacy is off your details are shown in WHOIS where the registry publishes them. If we learn that privacy was switched off on one of your domains, we will tell you by email and stop charging for it from the next renewal.

While WHOIS Privacy is on, the privacy service may refuse a request for the domain's authorization (transfer) code or a request to transfer it. Switch privacy off on the domain's page before you ask for the transfer code.

WHOIS Privacy is not an email forwarding service. Email sent to the contact address shown in WHOIS receives an automatic reply explaining how to reach the owner through the contact form at privacyprotected.domains. Please do not give that address to anyone as a way to reach you.

Post sent to the address shown in WHOIS is not forwarded to you. The privacy service may review, return, destroy or discard it, and you waive any claim arising from not receiving it.

Messages about your domain from the registry, the registrar or us, such as renewal reminders or requests to confirm your email address, still go to the real email address you gave us.

WHOIS Privacy is charged per domain per year, on the same subscription as the domain, and renews with it. Switching it off stops it from being charged at the next renewal; the year already paid for is not refunded. If the privacy service switches it off, we also stop charging for it from the next renewal, and may refund the remaining part of the current year at our discretion.

Neither we nor the privacy service are liable for delays or interruptions caused by events beyond reasonable control, or by third parties. The service may be limited where this is needed to keep it, the network or stored data secure and stable. To the extent the law allows, liability for the service is limited to intent and gross negligence, and to the amount you paid for WHOIS Privacy on the domain concerned.

We may update these terms when the privacy service or the rules that govern it change. The date at the top says when they last changed. The privacy service's own terms with our registrar are governed by the laws of the Netherlands.