WHOIS Running the Internet

This is the first real handbook for WHOIS and is useful as an introductory text as well as a comprehensive reference appropriate for various levels. Since this text covers policy issues it will tie the technical and real-world issue topics together in ways that encourage cross-discipline experience. The technical areas will contain a number flowcharts explaining network dependencies and process related to WHOIS as well as images of actual WHOIS records and screen-shots of web-based WHOIS query interfaces with instructions for navigating them. The book begins with an introduction and in depth coverage of the history of WHOIS. It then covers using WHOIS, how WHOIS works in the context of DNS, WHOIS query code, WHOIS server, problems, policy and politics, as well as the future of the Internet and WHOIS. There's also a reference appendix included that contains information on current authoritative WHOIS services around the world. For demonstrating statistics various charts are used to explain the growth of certain types of records and the trends in behaviour related to WHOIS. Policy sections of the text may contain images of critical policy documents, advisory memos and court dockets. The goal of this imagery is to show the relationship between real-world paperwork and what is actually translated into the digital world.