A private domain registration will keep your personal information (name, email address, etc.) out of the global Internet database, and will prevent a lot of spam from reaching your email box.  You have the option of getting a private domain registration with every domain you register.

ICANN, the governing body of domain names requires every registrar to maintain a publicly accessible WHOIS directory for all domains that are registered.  This means your personal information is made available to anyone who wants to see it.

With a private domain registration, you can keep your personal information private via a new and unique process that is supported by two patent applications.

With a private domain registration, domain company name, address and phone number are made publicly available in the WHOIS directory — not yours.

Litigation

With “private registration”, the private registration service is the legal owner of the domain. This has occasionally resulted in legal problems.

In a trademark infringement case, a 2009 United States District Court ruling in U.S.A. held that, for domains with “private registration”, the privacy service is legally the “owner” of the domain. The privacy service acts as the “cyber-landlord of the Internet real estate”, and the domain is “licensed” to the customer of the privacy service.