Member
This thread made me check my own domains. Found one where the privacy add-on expired in 2022 and I've been public since. No notification. The registrar is a Portuguese company, I'm in Lisbon, and they never emailed.
Filing complaint with Deco now. Thanks for the nudge.
Member
The notification problem is systemic. I audited my email for "privacy" and "whois" from my registrar for the last two years. Zero results. They don't use those words in billing reminders. The renewal is buried under "domain services" or "add-on package."
This is dark pattern design, not accident.
Member
So for non-EU, non-US people, the realistic option is just move to registrar with free privacy and hope? No legal recourse?
Member
Against the scrapers, almost none. They operate in jurisdictions that don't care, or they're shell companies that dissolve and reappear.
Against the registrar, depends on their TOS and your local consumer law. Vietnam has consumer protection regulations that require clear notice for service changes. Whether anyone enforces them for domain add-ons is another question.
Practical recourse: name and shame on forums, chargeback if within window, move domain. The market punishment is often the only one that works.
