A domain registration where you provide a fake but consistent identity instead of your real legal name. Not the same as anonymous registration—the registrar still knows who you are, but the public WHOIS doesn't.
Pseudonymous registration sits in the middle ground: you get privacy from casual snooping and harassment, but you're not hiding from law enforcement or court orders. Most registrars won't let you do this cleanly—they demand real KYC data, then sell you WHOIS privacy as an add-on. We include it free, and we don't care if your billing name matches your registrant name.
Why use it? You run a privacy newsletter. You operate a forum for dissidents. You host security research. You don't want your home address indexed by stalkers, scrapers, or nosy competitors. A pseudonymous name gives you plausible deniability while keeping the domain legally tied to you (for renewal and contact purposes).
The catch: if someone sues you or files a valid UDRP, a court or ICANN panel will order the registrar to unmask you. Pseudonymous registration protects privacy, not liability. It's not encryption; it's just not publishing your real details by default.