Whois!

 

"Whois" (pronounced "who is"; not an acronym).

"Whois" is a service or function provided on the internet that allows you to look up and domain name addresses www.domain.com, wwww.domain.org, etc). The address information is kept in central databases, where such information as, when an address was provided, who the address was provided to, possibly specific contact information regarding the owner, etc.

The information will also show what network the domain is registered in, where you might be able to find out certain geographic information regarding the location of the registrant.

For instance if the domain name was privately held the database will contain the full name and address, plus contact information (email address, or possibly phone number) for the registrant. If the domain name is registered to a company, then the companies name and address will be registered along with contact information specific to the people who look after the domain for the company. People like the domain administrator and any web based administrators.

One other important piece of information is the expiry date for the domain name. This is very important, since if the domain name expires, you could potentially lose your rights to the name and it could be picked up by someone else. This would be a catastrophe for a company that relies on its domain name for its online business and contact information