WHOIS is a protocol that makes it possible to view the details a specific domain has been registered with either through a command line or using special web-based lookup sites. This information includes the names, address and e-mail address of the owner, administrator, technical and billing persons plus the registrar organization the domain has been obtained through, the creation and expiration dates. Except for a number of country-code TLDs that have certain limitations, the WHOIS details of any domain address can be edited freely at any time, which is quite important considering that in line with the policies of the top-level Internet Corporation, ICANN, all details have to be current and legitimate all of the time. Failing to conform with these policies may result in losing the ownership of an Internet domain and in many cases a domain address might even be removed from the Domain Name System and released for free registration.
