What's in the WHOIS?
The WHOIS database is a searchable list of every single domain currently registered in the world. To find out who owns a particular domain name, all you have to do is type it into the box above.

The Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) requires accredited registrars like Affordable Domains to publish the registrant's contact information, domain creation and expiration dates and other information in the WHOIS listing as soon as a domain is registered.

Click Here To Check Your Whois Status

Although it often appears "WHOIS" or "WhoIs", the term is not an acronym. It means literally "Who is", referring to the searchable database that stores domain information for every URL currently registered on the Internet. Think of the WHOIS database as the "white pages" of the Internet neighborhood.

Search the Affordable Domains WHOIS database whenever you want to know who a particular Web site belongs to. You may even be able to find the name and contact information of the business or individual who holds the registration on that domain. If the registration is private, specific information such as the holder's name, address, phone number and email address will be hidden from public view.

There are a number of reasons why you might want to use the Affordable Domains WHOIS database:

If you're a domainer, you might have your eye on a particular domain name(s) and want to know when it expires in the hopes of registering it yourself. You might also wish to approach the registrant with a private purchase offer.

If you are the legal owner of a copyrighted name and you find someone else has registered a domain with that name in it, you'll want to take legal action against whoever's infringed on your rights by "cyber-squatting" on your Internet territory.

If you come across your own original content reproduced without permission on another Web site, you may want to look up the name of the domain registrant in order to file a DMCA complaint against him or her. This federal act makes it illegal for anyone to produce or distribute another's original material on the Internet.

Law enforcement agencies use the WHOIS database to support national and international efforts including copyright protection and anti-terrorism laws. They're able to identify the registrant - or at least the host or registrar - of every domain name registered today. Legal infractions that can't be traced to an individual or business can certainly be traced to a registrar. Depending on the offense, the registrar may warn the site owner or shut down the Web site altogether.

Affordable Domains has been active in combating Internet crime and abuse. Affordable Domains lawyers have testified before the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security about the rapid proliferation of illegitimate pharmacies and child pornography on the Internet. In fact, the company had a hand in the 2008 passage of the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act, named after a California teenager who died from an overdose of a drug he bought online.

Click Here To Check Your Whois Status