Rouge Proxy List

Rouge Proxy List

About

True privacy protects. Unchecked abuse of privacy leads to abuse, fraud and loss of privacy.

This Rouge Proxy List is a listing of domain proxy providers that either:

provides domain proxy registrations via their services, has an acceptable usage policy attached to their proxy services, but do not live up to their own provision of services, allowing consumers to be defrauded.

or

provides domain proxy registrations with no acceptable usage terms and/or does not respond to abuse reports and allowing consumers to be defrauded.

It has been proven that proxy registrations can lead to gross domain abuse and consumer harming issues like fraud, loss of privacy, extortion and other serious side affects, while the perpetrators remain unaccountable and simultaneously denying consumers to make an informed decision and depriving them of any due diligence attempts. The  proxy providers in this list have all been  contacted at some stage due to abuse issues and have refused to take any action, despite being provided evidence of a malicious domain leading to consumer harm.

  • 22.cn (OurDomains)
  • obambu.com
  • privacyguardian.org
  • privatewho.is (Knock Knock WHOIS Not There, LLC)
  • Qhoster.com
  • Reg.ru
  • whoisguard.com

22.cn

OurDomains have apparently since stopped providing this service. 

Initially the details of OurDomains parent company 22.cn was used to provide proxy services much abused by Cameroonian frausters leading to gross consumer fraud. Upon query they stated they did not yet have proxy terms available online.

Upon a complaint to ICANN, they denied ever providing such, despite clear evidence available in domain registrations. ICANN blindly accepted this lie without checking clear domain based WHOIS evidence, also accepting an excuse their original statement  was a mistake due to language issues [Ticket ID LLE-568-52171].

This listing shall stay as testimony of registrar dishonesty and gross consumer harm.

obambu.com

No proxy terms found. No response on query regarding abuse.

privacyguardian.org

https://www.privacyguardian.org/

A domain referencing PrivacyGuardian’s information is involved is SPAM or some illegal activity. What role do you play and how can I report the domain?
We do our best to ensure that our service is not utilized to hide the identity of people partaking in any of these activities. To report an infringing domain, please use the “Report Abuse” form on this page and, if we determine your complaint has merit, we will release the domain owner’s information to you. If you have a copyright/trademark dispute, you should direct your complaint to the respective web site host for the domain.
Attempts to report domains abused in 419 fraud and Cameroonian scams have resulted in zero reply, despite such domains clearly being abusive. Reporting is done via a web form with no acknowledgement and thus no evidence of being submitted.

privatewho.is (Knock Knock WHOIS Not There, LLC)

https://privatewho.is/terms-of-service/ is where one would expect to find the Knock Knock terms. Apparently this is for communicating with the domain licensees based upon the terms shown.

However the terms are tucked away at https://wordpress.com/knock-knock-whois-not-there-terms-of-service/.

6. Your Representations. You represent and warrant that to the best of your knowledge and belief, neither our Service, nor the associated domain name, nor the manner in which either are directly or indirectly used infringes the legal rights of any third party or is illegal in any way or violates this Agreement.

7. Termination. You understand and agree that in the event that we receive a formal complaint, notice of claim, or UDRP, that we will have the right to disable our Service pending final disposition of the matter. We shall also have the right, at our sole discretion and without liability to you or the contacts you identified, to suspend or cancel our Service and to reveal your WHOIS information including but not limited to the following circumstances:

  • If you breach this Agreement or your registrar’s registration agreement.
  • When required by law, government rules, court orders, or legal process.
  • If you breach any applicable law.
  • To avoid financial loss and any liability, civil or criminal.
  • If we believe that you or one of your designated contacts are using WHOIS Privacy Protection to conceal involvement with illegal, illicit, objectionable or harmful activities, or to transmit SPAM, viruses, worms or other harmful computer programs.

Full details of consumer fraud was presented to Automattic staff, in conjunction with an industry body dedicated to preventing fraud in their industry.  A report on an Automattic registrant, using hosting with Worpress.com and using Knock Knock WHOIS Not There, was ignored. A later prompt to them received a reply making this off as a hosting issue.

Reg.ru

No proxy terms can be found.

A compliance complaint to ICANN resulted in the following reply [Ticket: HKG-050-62015]:

Please note, the registrar demonstrated that all posting requirements of the Specification on Privacy and Proxy Registrations of the 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) are displayed on the registrar’s website, https://www.reg.ru/ Concerning the domain name <regprivate.ru>

Despite this, and requesting Russian capable readers scrutinize the website, none such could be found.

QHoster.com

No proxy terms can be found.

QHoster provides a proxy for their clients, substituting the details with their own:

Registrant Organization: Fast Serv Inc. d.b.a. QHoster.com
Registrant Street: 1 Mapp Str. 
Registrant City: Belize
Registrant State/Province: BZ
Registrant Postal Code: 00000
Registrant Country: BZ
Registrant Phone: +501.18774231155
Registrant Phone Ext: 
Registrant Fax: 
Registrant Fax Ext: 
Registrant Email: info@QHoster.com

The legitimate rights of various parties, from NATO to small business and victims are being trampled upon by the hidden licensees. QHoster was queried upon this cc’ing sponsoring Registrar Namesilo, using an example of  santanderin.com spoofing Santander Bank to illustrate the harm. A clear explanation was done as to what was being asked, the provisions they are mandated to comply with. Their Ticket 915013 was closed without providing information regarding their proxy services.

Obviously trying to address the result of failing policy implementation is not the answer. We have much experience of the extremely low quality checks being done on registration details at QHoster and Namesilo (It has even been the subject of an ICANN complaint).  Is this what is now hidden? This make a mockery of any form of accountability, creating an environment for facilitating consumer harm.

Some examples

whoisguard.com

http://www.whoisguard.com/legal-tos.asp

You also represent and warrant that you are using the Services in good faith and that you have no knowledge or reason to believe that your Protected Domain or the content found at any associated IP address infringes upon or conflicts with the legal rights of any third party or any third party’s trademark or trade name.
You also warrant that neither the Services nor Protected Domain(s) will be used in connection with any illegal or morally objectionable activity, or, in connection with the transmission of unsolicited commercial email(s) (“spam”).

Despite these terms, WhoisGuard is probably the most abused privacy proxy. Numerous instances of clear proxy abuse in consumer facing harm has been submitted to both WhoisGuard and Namecheap over a protracted period of time with clear provable harm, but with no reveal or other action taken.

Refer http://blog.aa419.org/2017/04/18/whoisguard-a-proxy-for-crime-targeting-the-usa-from-the-usa/