WHOIS is a protocol that makes it simple to view the details a given domain has been registered with through a command line or with the help of special web-based lookup sites. This info includes the names, address and e-mail address of the owner, admin, tech and billing persons along with the registrar company the Internet domain has been purchased through, the creation and expiration dates. With the exception of a few country-code TLDs that have certain limitations, the WHOIS info of any domain address can be modified freely at any time, which is quite necessary given that based on the policies of the top-level Internet Corporation, ICANN, all details have to be current and legitimate all of the time. Failure to comply with these policies could lead to losing the ownership of a domain name and in some cases a domain address might even be removed from the Domain Name System and released for free registration.