WHOIS is a protocol which makes it possible to see the info a given domain has been registered with through a command line or through the use of special web-based lookup websites. This info includes the names, address and email address of the owner, admin, technical and billing persons as well as the registrar business the domain has been obtained through, the creation and expiration dates. Aside from a number of country-code TLDs that have certain limitations, the WHOIS info of any domain name can be changed freely anytime, which is quite important considering that according to the policies of the top-level Internet Corporation, ICANN, all details must be current and legitimate always. Failing to comply with these policies may result in losing the ownership of a domain and in many cases a domain may even be removed from the Domain Name System and released for free registration.