WHOIS is a public protocol and database, maintained by every domain registry, that lists the registrant (legal owner) of every domain on the internet. Created in 1982 when the internet was a few thousand academics, the original assumption was full transparency.
Modern reality: those public records are scraped relentlessly by spammers, scammers, identity thieves, and stalkers. To address this, ICANN's 2024 Registration Data Policy switched the default for gTLDs to redacted public WHOIS — registrant contact details are no longer published unless the registrant explicitly consents.
Registrars can also offer WHOIS privacy (also called domain privacy), which substitutes a generic proxy address for your real details. Modusdom provides this free on every TLD that permits it. Two notable exceptions: .us (US Department of Commerce policy) and .nyc (NYC registry policy) require public registrant data.
