WHOIS is a protocol which makes it an easy task to see the information a particular domain name 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 e-mail address of the owner, admin, technical and billing persons as well as the registrar business the domain address has been purchased through, the creation and expiration dates. Except for several country-code TLDs that have specific limitations, the WHOIS details of any domain can be modified freely anytime, 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 correct all of the time. Failing to conform with these policies may result in losing the ownership of a domain address and in many cases a domain name could even be erased from the Domain Name System and released for free registration.