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