What is a whois and what is it for?
Whois as most of us are going to use it is a web based application to query a database in order to determine if a domain is available for purchase or if it is already sold. If the domain is sold, the whois report will return the details of the domain and the ownership of it.
The details of the domain registration are public information and can be retrieved from one or more databases unless the privacy option has been added when registering. Adding a privacy package after the domain has been registered for a while will not insure privacy as the listing may already be in one or more of the databases.
There is an excellent article which will tell you more than you ever want to know.
If you would like to see how it works we have provided links to the top three Whois sites below. Each link will open in a new window.
Page revised 11-18-2008