Want to buy a domain name that is registered at GoDaddy? Getting in touch with a registrant via email or phone just became a bit more difficult. As of yesterday, GoDaddy is no longer showing domain registrant contact information in Whois records. The only information that is shown on Whois searches is the registrant organization, registrant state and country, and nameserver records. Email addresses and phone numbers are no longer shown.

While this change is going to be frustrating to domain investors, journalists, and possibly law enforcement personnel, it is not unexpected. In April, I reported that GoDaddy planned to remove public Whois records across the board, as it has been doing to customers in Europe whose data was redacted due to GDPR privacy laws. The impetus for this most recent change was the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

Here’s how a Whois lookup at GoDaddy appears today for domain names that are not registered under privacy proxy:

Earlier this afternoon, I wrote an article about a change I noticed on the GoDaddy homepage. The primary color scheme was changed to black and white, and the GoDaddy logo was exchanged with a grey on black GoDaddy icon. I speculated it was related to #BlackoutTuesday and the Black Lives Matter movement, and it looks like the speculation was correct.

I just heard back from a GoDaddy representative responding to my request for more information, and I was given a statement that explains why GoDaddy made this website change:

I visited the GoDaddy home page this morning and was taken aback a bit. The homepage looked quite a bit different to me. Instead of the black and teal or black and green color scheme, there was a stark black and white color scheme in its place. An even more prominent change is that the relatively new GoDaddy logo has been replaced by its icon in grey on black. I do not see a single “GoDaddy” reference at all on the home page without scrolling down. The only colors I see are in the photos.

Here’s a screenshot of the home page right now: