WHOIS is a protocol that makes it possible to see the information a particular domain has been registered with either through a command line or with the help of special web-based lookup sites. This information includes the names, address and email address of the owner, admin, tech and billing persons as well as the registrar company the domain address has been purchased through, the creation and expiration dates. Apart from some country-code TLDs that have specific limitations, the WHOIS information of any domain address can be changed freely at any time, which is quite vital given that based on the policies of the top-level Internet Corporation, ICANN, all details ought to be current and correct all of the time. Failing to comply with these policies could lead to losing the ownership of an Internet domain and in some cases a domain may even be deleted from the Domain Name System and released for free registration.