Whois and I CANN - What's The Difference?

byleoemery

12.2K followers

Updated 10 years ago

A member asked what's the difference between Whois and I CANN.

So I thought in addition to replying to his question I would make a quick post as well.

What Is Whois?

Whois is a service that's operates through a Whois server.

So it's a protocol that finds information about networks, hosts and domains.

When you buy a domain name for example it will record your information and the information from the host.

Your host runs a whois server - if you have ever done a search for a domain name and it says the name is taken there is usually a whois tab somewhere beside the results so you can find out who has this name.

If there is no whois tab you can find on most hosts sites a Whois Search link - for example the Whois Search link at Go Daddy website is in the footer.

Simply enter the domain name for the Whois search. The search will bring back all the contact information on the owner of the domain the admin, tech name, DNS and email addresses.

TIP

This is why it's so important to buy Whois Privacy Protection when you buy a domain name.

This way if anyone does a whois search about your site all the information displayed is from the proxy company not yours.

Go daddys Whois privacy protection is with Domains By Proxy.

So instead of displaying your personal information in the WHOIS database for everyone to see and access. Domains By Proxy will replaces it with their own info.

Who Is I CANN?

Ok I CANN which stands for Internet Corporation For Assigned Names And Numbers

There are a private non-profit non-government corporation. And they are responsible for and I quote:

"IP address space allocation, protocol parameter assignment, domain name system management, and root server system management functions" Unquote.

In order to connect with another person on the internet every computer needs a unique address and using this unique address is how computers can find each other.

So I CANN coordinates these complex interconnected unique identifiers from around the world so this can happen.

However...

I CANN does not control any of the content on the internet, they have no control over spam, meaning they cannot stop it and it doesn't deal with access to the internet.

If you want to know more about I CANN you can go to their site https://www.icann.org/

Hope this helps you better understand Whois and I CANN.

I Believe In You
Leo