WHOIS is a protocol that makes it easy to view the information a specific domain has been registered with through a command line or with the help of special web-based lookup websites. This information includes the names, address and e-mail address of the owner, admin, technical and billing persons plus the registrar organization the domain address has been obtained through, the creation and expiration dates. With the exception of a number of country-code TLDs that have specific limitations, the WHOIS information of any Internet domain can be edited freely anytime, which is quite necessary since in accordance with the policies of the top-level Internet Corporation, ICANN, all details have to be current and valid at all times. Failure to conform with these policies could lead to losing the ownership of a domain name and in many cases a domain name may even be erased from the Domain Name System and released for free registration.