WHOIS is a protocol which makes it easy to view the details a given domain name has been registered with through a command line or through the use 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 organization the domain has been purchased through, the creation and expiration dates. Aside from a number of country-code TLDs that have specific limitations, the WHOIS details of any domain name can be modified freely anytime, which is quite important considering that in accordance with the policies of the top-level Internet Corporation, ICANN, all details ought to be current and correct at all times. Failure to comply with these policies may result in losing the ownership of an Internet domain and in many cases a domain name might even be removed from the Domain Name System and released for free registration.