WHOIS Privacy Service Terms

These WHOIS Privacy Service Terms ("Privacy Service Terms") govern OrbitFour's optional WHOIS Privacy Service. They are part of, and incorporated into, your Domain Registration Agreement with Vianames LLC, d/b/a OrbitFour ("OrbitFour," "we," "us"), a Michigan limited liability company and an ICANN-accredited domain registrar (IANA ID: 3873). Capitalized terms not defined here have the meaning given in the Domain Registration Agreement.

1. What the Privacy Service Does

When you register a domain, registration data is collected and handled under ICANN's rules. The WHOIS Privacy Service replaces your personal contact information in public WHOIS/RDAP output with privacy-service contact information, so your name, postal address, email, and phone number are not displayed publicly.

Important context: most data is already redacted by default

Under ICANN's Registration Data Policy (which contracted parties were required to implement by 21 August 2025), most registrant contact information is already redacted from public WHOIS/RDAP by default for many registrations. As a result:

For many individual registrants, your personal contact details are not publicly displayed even without the Privacy Service.
The Privacy Service provides additional protection that is most useful where default redaction does not apply — for example, for some organizational registrants, or for certain extensions (including some ccTLDs) whose registries still publish contact data.

We recommend reviewing what is published for your specific extension before deciding whether you need the Privacy Service.

2. What Gets Redacted vs. What Stays Public

Redacted when the Privacy Service is enabled:

Name — replaced with a privacy-service designation
Postal address — replaced with OrbitFour's privacy-service address
Email — replaced with a privacy-service address or contact form (see Section 6)
Phone number — replaced with a privacy-service number where applicable

Remains public in WHOIS/RDAP:

The domain name itself
Creation, expiration, and last-updated dates
Nameservers
Registrar information
Domain status (EPP status codes)

3. Pricing

The WHOIS Privacy Service is included at no additional charge with eligible domain registrations. There is no separate fee and no upsell.

4. Availability and TLD Restrictions

The Privacy Service is not available for every extension. Some country-code TLDs and some registries prohibit privacy services or require specific contact information to be public. We will indicate at checkout whether the Privacy Service is available for your chosen extension. See our TLD Requirements page for extension-specific rules.

5. When Your Information May Be Disclosed

The Privacy Service protects your information from casual public view; it does not make your registration anonymous and does not shield your information from lawful disclosure. Your actual registration information may be disclosed:

In response to valid subpoenas, court orders, or other legal process;
As required by ICANN consensus policies, the Registration Data Policy, or temporary specifications;
During UDRP or URS proceedings, or other applicable dispute-resolution processes, involving your domain;
When required by the registry operator for your domain's TLD;
To investigate or address abuse, illegal activity, or violations of our policies, consistent with our Registrar Abuse Policy;
In response to valid intellectual-property or trademark claims, including through ICANN's Registration Data Request Service (RDRS); or
If you breach your Domain Registration Agreement or these Privacy Service Terms.

6. Message Forwarding and Contact Form

So that legitimate parties can still reach you, messages directed to the privacy-service contact are screened and forwarded to your registered email address, and/or made available through a public contact form referenced in RDAP at https://www.orbitfour.com/contact/[your-domain]. We screen for spam and abuse and make reasonable efforts to forward legitimate messages, but we do not guarantee delivery, and large attachments or messages flagged as abusive may be blocked. You are responsible for monitoring your registered email address.

7. Your Responsibilities

When using the Privacy Service, you agree to:

Maintain accurate information with OrbitFour even though it is not publicly displayed — this is required by ICANN policy;
Monitor your registered email for forwarded messages and service notices;
Respond to legitimate legal, intellectual-property, or business inquiries forwarded to you;
Comply with all laws, ICANN policies, and your Domain Registration Agreement — the Privacy Service does not exempt you from any of them; and
Not use the Privacy Service to conceal illegal activity, fraud, or abuse. We may suspend or remove the Privacy Service, and take other action, for domains used for such purposes.

8. Termination of the Privacy Service

Voluntary. You may disable the Privacy Service at any time through your account dashboard. When you do, your actual contact information will be published in WHOIS/RDAP to the extent applicable (subject to any default redaction) within a short processing period, and message forwarding will cease. You can re-enable it at any time.

Involuntary. We may suspend or remove the Privacy Service if your domain is used for illegal activity or abuse, if you breach your Domain Registration Agreement or these Terms, if required by law, court order, registry, or ICANN policy, or if your domain registration expires or is cancelled.

9. Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability

THE PRIVACY SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND. We are not liable for disclosure of your information as required by law or policy, for spam or unwanted communications you receive, for message-forwarding failures, or for third-party discovery of your information through other means. Our liability relating to the Privacy Service is subject to the limitation-of-liability and dispute-resolution provisions (including binding arbitration and the class-action waiver, governed by Michigan law) of your Domain Registration Agreement.

10. Related Policies

Questions?

Version: 2.0 Last Updated: June 18, 2026 Effective Date: January 1, 2026