untangling_the_web

DID: 4046925
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The Shared Registration System
InterNIC, which was the original US-government sponsored domain name registry,
no longer allocates IP addresses or registers domain names. Just as its IP address
allocation functions were turned over to ARIN, its authority for registering the Top
Level Domains (TLDs) .COM, .NET, .ORG and .EDU and, even more importantly,
managing the vast database of registered domain names, was first assumed by
Network Solutions.
In 1999, the Shared Registration System for the .COM, .NET, and .ORG domains
was opened on equal terms to all accredited registrars, meaning that any company
that meets ICANN's standards for accreditation is able to enter the market as a
registrar and offer customers competitive domain name registration services in the .
.COM, .NET, and .ORG domains.
More new generic top-level domains are being approved by ICANN all the time.
Among those now in use are .BIZ, .INFO, .COOP, .AERO, .NAME, .PRO, and
.MUSEUM with more on the way. For more information on these new TLDs, how to
and who may register them, see the InterNIC FAQ on new top-level domains.
Shared Registration System (SRS) Warning!
If you look up a .com, .org, or .net domain name at the website of any
SRS member (NSI, etc.), be careful! Your "domain name search will
contain only technical information about the registered domain name
and referral information for the registrar of the domain name. In the
Shared Registration System model, registrars are responsible for
maintaining Whois domain name contact information. To obtain
information on the Registrant of a domain name. go to the registrar's
web site listed."
What does this mean? To see the complete Whois record. you must go
to the registrar's website' or use a Whois browser interface that
queries multiple Whois databases (more on this below).
The accuracy of the data in the Whois databases, however, is problematic.
ICANN issued its first report on the accuracy of Whois database information in
March 2004. The report is the first in what will be a series of annual reports on the
status of complaints about Whois entries. Since ICANN instituted the Whois Data
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