Yes, I want to be anonymous so I'll sign legal control of my domain over to a third party service (per their terms and conditions - http://www.whoisguard.com/registrant-agreement.asp):

• who you have to "provide […] truthful, complete, current, accurate and reliable contact details" to,

• who "has the right to disclose your identity and your other Personal Information" and

• who "may resolve any and all third party claims, whether threatened or made, arising out of your registration or use of the Domain"

Now for a lot of people who just don't want their name easily visible, that's fine because it's unlikely these terms will be acted on. But for anyone who actually needs anonymity, to protect their right to free speech (for example), that's not good enough.

If you're looking to actually protect your anonymity when registering a domain, you ought to do so with your own privacy protecting corporation. Delaware corporations (any many offshore corporations) can be legally registered anonymously, which will keep your information off the whois information, without relying on a shaky 3rd party agreement.

> Namecheap offers free anonymized WHOIS by default on their domains ... its called "WhoisGuard Protection".

Free for just the first year after transferring/registering a domain, after that it costs you.