I bought a new domain name through Njalla

I wanted to register a new domain name and decided to go with the privacy-aware domain registration service from Njalla. Unlike other domain registration services, Njalla actually purchases the domain for themselves and acquires full legal ownership and responsibility for the domain name. Njalla however grants you full control over the domain as long as you abide by their terms and conditions.

They own your domain name, that’s crazy right?

Maybe, it all comes down to how much trust you put into their service. In my opinion, the people behind Njalla have previously earned that trust. Besides, buying domain names is neither illegal nor controversial. Granted, sponsoring registrars might find an issue with their service were abuse reports for Njalla owned domains to stack up.

Why use Njalla?

In my experience, registrars have a nasty habit of selling their costumers personal data to third party advertisers and collaborators. That is unless you can locate the often well hidden forms allowing you to opt-out of third party offers. That’s the main reason why I no longer use any services from Bluehost.

More importantly though, you’ll be safe from inclusion into the “identity theft pot of gold”, often referred to as the WHOIS database. Sadly, security measures in place against domain name hijacking are often powerless against an attacker armed with WHOIS data to “social engineer” a help desk technician.

Administrating your domain with Njalla

Njalla provides you with full control over your domain, including DNS and custom WHOIS management.

Renewals for your domain name is handled by transferring additional founds to your wallet from PayPal or from a variety of popular cryptocurrencies.

There are a few improvements I would like to see added to their service though, especially the following features:

• Support for two-factor authentication.
• Native DNSSEC support.
• Removal of JavaScript dependencies.

Should you use Njalla?

I’m happy with the service, but you should carefully consider the benefits and risks for yourself. Njalla is still in its infancy so it’s too early to speculate about the longevity of the service. I should also confess that I’m not planning to move my primary domain to their service as of yet. Anyhow, if you’re not sold on Njalla, then at least make sure you protect your domain name with a decent domain privacy service.

I’ll keep renewing my Njalla owned domain name and will report back if any issues were to arise.