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Whois search typically refers to a query for information about any domain name that has been registered. This information is required to be published by the Registry and Registrar under their ICANN contract.
Terms you’d like to know:
- ICANN is a non-profit organisation that overlooks technical management of Domain Names and their IP addresses. ICANN mandates that information for every domain has to be made available via a WHOIS search.
- Registry is an organisation that manages the registration of domain names for which it is responsible and controls the policies of domain name registration. Most Registeries do not sell domains directly to end customers.
- Registrar is an organisation that sells domain names on behalf of the Registry and it needs to be ICANN accredited.
- Registrant is You, the customer, an individual or organization that registers a domain name.
Whenever a customer registers a domain name, they agree to publish the valid contacts for their domain. This information may be cached by third party whois information providers such as who.is, whois.com, port43whois.com for public access.
What information is visible via a WHOIS Search?
A WHOIS search result, will show 4 types of contact details. Registrant, Administrative, Billing and Technical. Every TLD -Top Level Domain(.COM .IN .ORG etc) has its own set of policies. So you may not find all TLDs with all 4 types of contacts. The reason why this information is published is to know the owner of the website(Registrant) along with the Registrar, Date of registration and expiry, domain transfer process, dns details. The registrar needs to follow up with the registrant for maintaining the accuracy of WHOIS details for the domain name or for any complaints that are reported against the domain from ICANN.
*Note -Certain domain extensions (TLDs) do not support Privacy Protection due to restrictions imposed by the registry. Here’s the list:
.IN (& third level .IN domains like .CO.IN, .WEB.IN), .ASIA, .AU, .CA, .CN, .ES, .EU, .NL, .NZ, .PRO, .SX, .TEL, .UK, .US
To hide your whois details you could opt for privacy protection for the TLDs that offer it.
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