WHOIS is a protocol that makes it simple to view the details a given domain has been registered with through a command line or using special web-based lookup sites. This information includes the names, address and e-mail address of the owner, admin, technical and billing persons along with the registrar company the domain has been obtained through, the creation and expiration dates. With the exception of some country-code TLDs that have certain limitations, the WHOIS details of any domain can be modified freely at any time, which is quite necessary provided that in accordance with the policies of the top-level Internet Corporation, ICANN, all details have to be current and valid all of the time. Failing to conform with these policies may lead to losing the ownership of a domain and in many cases a domain address might even be removed from the Domain Name System and released for free registration.