We've used the registrar gandi.net for the Sturmkrieg Adminstration Committee. They also offer .ru domain names, but they require a passport number and research has revealed that this is required for .ru registration. What I need to know before registering a .ru domain name is whether this registrar is reputable enough to be trusted with this information.

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Sturmkrieg Administration Committee member, Legislative Council

I have registered an .io domain at Gandi.net last year and I continue to use them as my .io registrar of choice to this day. I need to say that they look to me as a reputable company so I guess you shouldn't have any problems with them. They seem to be a large company with lots and lots of clients from all over the globe, therefore I'd say that you don't need to be concerned with anything.

Why are you worried about a passport number? It's unique to that passport, it changes when that passport expires or is replaced. It's a reference to THE PASSPORT not to THE PERSON. What do you think could happen if someone knew that number?

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Either provide enough details for people to help, or sit back and listen to the crickets chirp.
Security thru obscurity is a myth - and really really annoying.

Yes Gandi is reputable, I'd trust them infinitely more than say GoDaddy.

If someone were to use it fraudulently they could pretend to be you, say for registering .ru domain names.

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Sturmkrieg Administration Committee member, Legislative Council

I'd worry more about Russia than I would most registrars.

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Are you saying that the people in their government who have access to the database of registered domains can't be trusted?

I don't actually know if the information goes to their government or if it's only stored by the registrar in the event that they need it because of fraudulent activity. Is there anyone here who can answer that?

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Sturmkrieg Administration Committee member, Legislative Council

The form on Gandi also says "national identification number." Would this apply to a Selective Service or Driver License number? I can ask them as well.

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Sturmkrieg Administration Committee member, Legislative Council

Sign up, when it asks for your passport number make a few, shall we say "typos" and see if they take it. If so, then they don't have access to the actual passport database and anything you put in will work. If they say it's not valid, then you know the russian government trusts them enough to let them actually check name vs passport number.

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Either provide enough details for people to help, or sit back and listen to the crickets chirp.
Security thru obscurity is a myth - and really really annoying.

And then hope that there will never ever be any dispute with the domain in question, because if it does, and they see that the passport number is fake... well, at best they will just take your domain out of your control, so, if you like to take risks...

What? No one has ever typed in 123456798 when they meant to type in 123456789? If you get caught, you claim a simple fumble fingered error.

Once again, you can only get caught if they actually cross check the data - and do you really believe that a mere domain registrar has access to that type of info? That would be like GoDaddy have access to your SSN in the States (of course it is Russia, so who knows - give it a shot with a throw away domain and see what happens).

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Either provide enough details for people to help, or sit back and listen to the crickets chirp.
Security thru obscurity is a myth - and really really annoying.

That would of course work for simple typos, but we're talking here about serious faking of passport numbers. If they catch you faking the passport number in some non - innocent way, there will definitely be trouble.

So why go with that route anyway when you can simply provide your real passport number and avoid any potential future hassle? It's not your SSN or anything THAT sensitive, and you also need to reveal the passport number whenever you cross the border anywhere in the world, so why all this paranoid stuff?

I agree, this convoluted thread wandered when the OP stated they were worried about handing over their passport number. As I stated in my first post, I would just hand it over, it's only tied to that passport not to that person. But the OP was worried about the very small risk that someone could use that passport number for identity theft (possible but not probable).

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Either provide enough details for people to help, or sit back and listen to the crickets chirp.
Security thru obscurity is a myth - and really really annoying.