The data for all .at domains and their contact persons is stored in the so-called Whois database. Parts of this data are publicly accessible: Data for legal persons is published, data for natural persons only, if they have explicitly agreed.

GDPR compliant Whois

The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) protects the data of natural persons. Therefore, the data shown in the Whois for domains owned by natural persons only includes the domain name, the administrating registrar and necessary technical information . This regulation also applies to data of the technical contact person (tech-c): If the domain holder or tech-c is a natural person, relevant data will not be published. If natural persons want their Whois-data to be displayed, this is possible upon request. If a company or organisation owns the domain, the holder’s name and address will still be published, although contact data such as e-mail address, telephone and fax number can be hidden upon request. Due to data protection regarding legal persons, nic.at recommends avoiding the use of natural persons as contacts, as well as the use of personalized e-mail addresses (e.g. sarah.smith@example.at). Instead, general e-mail addresses should be used (e.g. office@example.at).

Information on private domain holders only for legally justified reasons

Natural persons’ domain data will only be accessible to people who provide proof of identity and are able to prove a legitimate interest for finding out who the domain holder is. This includes law enforcement agencies, lawyers or people who contact nic.at following domain disputes and can prove that their rights have been infringed.(LINK!) The domain holder can check the data for his domain or request his domain certificate at nic.at at any time.

WHOIS queries are subject to copyright

The nic.at WHOIS database is a copyrighted database. Single domain queries are available to the Internet community free of charge until further notice. nic.at retains the exclusive right to copy, distribute, transmit or communicate the database or parts of the database to the public.