Sometimes you might need to contact the owner of the domain name. Unfortunately, it is not that easy to do and you might need to scavenge through the Internet for a bit, to find the information you need. Here is where you will need the Whois online free service that connects the owners of domains with a web browsing community. This tool is often used to find an owner of a particular domain.

Whois is a worldwide database, they have the information about pretty much all the owners of domain names in their system, which they represent in the form of contacts. The online tool is regulated by The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. They store contact information for a domain name’s registrant and registrar.

Except for contacting info, they also have details like the dates that a domain was created, the name servers associated with a domain, and the domain name’s expiration date. In case any of the information changes while the domain is active, Whois renews it and puts it on a website in a form of an update.

So what exact contacting information do Whois have? Usually, they have everything you would need to know: the registrant’s company name, phone number, mailing address, fax number, and email address. People always come to Whois and consult then for different reasons. Originally, the purpose of this online tool was to maintain the security and integrity of the Internet. Nowadays a lot of people go to Whois to find the information that would help them resolve some cybercrimes, like illegal distribution of copyrighted material, copyright, and trademark violations, spamming, and malicious virus distribution. That’s why it is an absolutely necessary tool that helps fighting particular types of crime on the Internet.

The information on Whois always has to be correct. A company or an individual can file a complaint if the information is represented inaccurately or is invalid. The report can be done through an ICANN form and will go through their website.

There are also services like DomainTools that offer historical Whois records, or a service called Whoisology that allows people to search for anything they like from the Whois database.

A lot of registrants want their domain name to be registered privately, which means that they are paying to their registrar so they use the contact information for a privacy service, usually affiliated with the domain registrar. The cost of privacy always varies and depends on the registrar, although it is usually not really expensive. All domain registrars have different policies regarding the release of private Whois information, but it can be sometimes released if there is, for example, a court case.