WHOIS is a protocol that makes it simple to view the info a given domain has been registered with either through a command line or using special web-based lookup sites. This info includes the names, address and email address of the owner, administrator, technical and billing persons in addition to the registrar company the Internet domain has been purchased through, the creation and expiration dates. Except for several country-code TLDs that have certain limitations, the WHOIS information of any domain name can be changed freely anytime, which is quite necessary given that in accordance with the policies of the top-level Internet Corporation, ICANN, all details have to be current and valid at all times. Inability to comply with these policies may result in losing the ownership of a domain and in many cases a domain address might even be deleted from the Domain Name System and released for free registration.