WHOIS is a protocol that makes it simple to view the information a particular domain has been registered with either through a command line or by using special web-based lookup sites. This info includes the names, address and e-mail address of the owner, admin, tech and billing persons plus the registrar company the domain name has been acquired through, the creation and expiration dates. With the exception of a number of country-code TLDs that have certain limitations, the WHOIS information of any Internet domain can be changed 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. Inability to conform with these policies may result in losing the ownership of a domain and in many cases a domain address may even be erased from the Domain Name System and released for free registration.