WHOIS Running the Internet: Protocol, Policy, and Privacy

Book description

Discusses the evolution of WHOIS and how policy changes will affect WHOIS' place in IT today and in the future

This book provides a comprehensive overview of WHOIS. The text begins with an introduction to WHOIS and an in-depth coverage of its forty-year history. Afterwards it examines how to use WHOIS and how WHOIS fits in the overall structure of the Domain Name System (DNS). Other technical topics covered include WHOIS query code and WHOIS server details. The book also discusses current policy developments and implementations, reviews critical policy documents, and explains how they will affect the future of the Internet and WHOIS. Additional resources and content updates will be provided through a supplementary website.

  • Includes an appendix with information on current and authoritative WHOIS services around the world

  • Provides illustrations of actual WHOIS records and screenshots of web-based WHOIS query interfaces with instructions for navigating them

  • Explains network dependencies and processes related to WHOIS utilizing flowcharts

  • Contains advanced coding for programmers

  • WHOIS Running the Internet: Protocol, Policy, and Privacy is written primarily for internet developers, policy developers, industry professionals in law enforcement, digital forensic investigators, and intellectual property attorneys.

    Garth O. Bruen is an Internet policy and security researcher whose work has been published in the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. Since 2012 Garth Bruen has served as the North American At-Large Chair to the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). In 2003 Bruen created KnujOn.com with his late father, Dr. Robert Bruen, to process and investigate Internet abuse complaints (SPAM) from consumers. Bruen has trained and advised law enforcement at the federal and local levels on malicious use of the Domain Name System in the way it relates to the WHOIS record system. He has presented multiple times to the High Technology Crime Investigation Association (HTCIA) as well as other cybercrime venues including the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) and the National Center for Justice and the Rule of Law at The University of Mississippi School of Law. Bruen also teaches the Fisher College Criminal Justice School in Boston where he develops new approaches to digital crime.

    Table of contents

    1. COVER
    2. TITLE PAGE
    3. INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS WHOIS?
      1. I.1 CONVENTIONS USED IN THIS TEXT
      2. I.2 FLOW OF THIS TEXT
      3. I.3 WHOIS FROM VERSUS WHOIS ABOUT
      4. I.4 ORIGIN OF THE TERM WHOIS
      5. I.5 WHY WHOIS IS IMPORTANT (OR SHOULD BE) TO EVERYONE
      6. I.6 WHAT KIND OF USE AND CONTACT IS PERMITTED FOR WHOIS
      7. I.7 WHERE IS THE WHOIS DATA?
      8. I.8 IDENTIFYING REMOTE COMMUNICATION SOURCES
      9. I.9 GETTING DOCUMENTATION
    4. 1 THE HISTORY OF WHOIS
      1. 1.1 IN THE BEGINNING
      2. 1.2 THE SANDS OF TIME
      3. 1.3 1950s: ON THE WIRES AND IN THE AIR
      4. 1.4 1960s: SPARKING THE INTERNET TO LIFE
      5. 1.5 1970s: OK, NOW THAT WE HAVE AN INTERNET, HOW DO WE KEEP TRACK OF EVERYONE?
      6. 1.6 1980s: WHOIS GETS ITS OWN RFC
      7. 1.7 1990s: THE INTERNET AS WE KNOW IT EMERGES
      8. 1.8 2000s: WHOIS STANDARDS
      9. REFERENCES
    5. 2 USING WHOIS
      1. 2.1 DOMAIN WHOIS DATA
      2. 2.2 DOMAIN WHOIS FIELDS
      3. 2.3 GETTING RECORDS ABOUT VARIOUS RESOURCES
      4. 2.4 IP WHOIS
      5. 2.5 ccTLDs AND IDNs
      6. 2.6 WHOIS SERVICES
      7. REFERENCES
    6. 3 RESEARCH AND INVESTIGATIONS
      1. 3.1 COMPLETELY DISASSEMBLING A WHOIS RECORD
      2. 3.2 MORE TOOLS
      3. REFERENCES
    7. 4 WHOIS IN THE DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM (DNS)
      1. 4.1 THE BIG MISTAKE
      2. 4.2 BASICS OF THE DNS
      3. 4.3 DNS RR
      4. 4.4 OUTSIDE THE DNS: AN INTERNET WITHOUT WHOIS
      5. REFERENCE
    8. 5 WHOIS CODE
      1. 5.1 AUTOMATING WHOIS WITH BATCHING AND SCRIPTING
      2. 5.2 WHOIS CLIENT CODE
      3. 5.3 WEB WHOIS FORMS
      4. 5.4 PARSING WHOIS RECORDS
    9. 6 WHOIS SERVERS
      1. 6.1 HISTORICAL SERVERS
      2. 6.2 SERVER STANDARDS AND ICANN REQUIREMENTS
      3. 6.3 FINDING THE RIGHT SERVER
      4. 6.4 INSTALLING AND CONFIGURING WHOIS SERVERS
      5. 6.5 WHOIS DATABASE
    10. 7 WHOIS POLICY ISSUES
      1. 7.1 THE WHOIS POLICY DEBATE
      2. 7.2 STUDIES, REPORTS, AND ACTIVITIES ON WHOIS
      3. 7.3 WHOIS ENFORCEMENT AND NONENFORCEMENT AT ICANN
      4. REFERENCES
    11. 8 THE FUTURE OF WHOIS
      1. 8.1 NEW gTLDs
      2. 8.2 WHOIS-BASED EXTENSIBLE INTERNET REGISTRATION DATA SERVICE (WEIRDS)
      3. 8.3 AGGREGATED REGISTRY DATA SERVICES (ARDS)
      4. 8.4 TRULY SOLVING THE PROBLEM
      5. 8.5 CONCLUSION: THE DOMAIN MONEY WALL—OR WHY ICANN WILL NEVER FIX WHOIS
    12. APPENDIX A: WHOIS CODE
      1. A.1 C CODE EXAMPLE 1: BERKELEY WHOIS.c 8.1
      2. A.2 C CODE EXAMPLE 2: RIPE WHOIS3.c BY SHANE KERR AND CAN BICAN
      3. A.3 C CODE EXAMPLE 3: RIPE WHOIS.c BY MARCO D'ITRI
      4. A.4 JAVA WHOIS BY ERIK THAUVIN
      5. A.5 LISP WHOIS BY METIN EVRIM ULU
    13. APPENDIX B: WHOIS SERVERS
      1. B.1 TOP-LEVEL INTERNET ORGANIZATIONAL WHOIS SERVERS
      2. B.2 RIR WHOIS SERVERS
      3. B.3 ADDITIONAL REGIONAL REGISTRAR WHOIS SERVERS
      4. B.4 INTERNET ROUTING REGISTRIES (IRR) WHOIS SERVERS
      5. B.5 gTLD REGISTRY WHOIS SERVERS
      6. B.6 .PRO SUBDOMAINS
      7. B.7 NEW gTLD WHOIS SERVERS LISTED IN 2013
      8. B.8 ccTLD WHOIS SERVERS
      9. B.9 AUTHORITATIVE gTLD REGISTRAR WHOIS SERVERS
      10. B.10 CENTRALNIC SUBDOMAINS
      11. B.11 ZANET SUBDOMAINS
      12. B.12 NONAUTHORITATIVE AND SPECIAL USE WHOIS SERVERS
    14. INDEX
    15. END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

    Product information

    • Title: WHOIS Running the Internet: Protocol, Policy, and Privacy
    • Author(s):
    • Release date: November 2015
    • Publisher(s): Wiley
    • ISBN: 9781118679555