WHOIS is a protocol which makes it possible to view the information a particular domain name has been registered with through a command line or using special web-based lookup websites. This info includes the names, address and e-mail address of the owner, admin, tech and billing persons along with the registrar company the domain has been acquired 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 vital since in accordance with the policies of the top-level Internet Corporation, ICANN, all details ought to be current and valid always. Failing to conform with these policies may lead to losing the ownership of a domain address and in some cases a domain could even be removed from the Domain Name System and released for free registration.