WHOIS is a protocol that makes it easy to view the information a given domain name has been registered with 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, technical and billing persons as well as the registrar business the Internet domain has been obtained through, the creation and expiration dates. Apart from some country-code TLDs that have specific limitations, the WHOIS details of any domain name can be changed freely at any time, which is quite important considering that in accordance with the policies of the top-level Internet Corporation, ICANN, all details have to be current and valid at all times. Failing to conform with these policies may lead to losing the ownership of an Internet domain and in some cases a domain could even be erased from the Domain Name System and released for free registration.