WHOIS protocol
E766425
The WHOIS protocol is an older internet service used to query databases for information about domain name registrations and IP address allocations.
All labels observed (3)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| WHOIS | 4 |
| WHOIS protocol canonical | 3 |
| WHOIS service | 2 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T8918640 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: WHOIS protocol Context triple: [RDAP, replaces, WHOIS protocol]
-
A.
WHOIS and registration data policy
WHOIS and registration data policy is the framework governing how domain name registration information is collected, accessed, and protected within the global DNS ecosystem.
-
B.
RIPEstat
RIPEstat is an online data platform that provides comprehensive information and visualizations about Internet number resources such as IP addresses, prefixes, and ASNs.
-
C.
Onionoo
Onionoo is a web-based protocol and service by The Tor Project that provides structured, real-time data about Tor network relays and bridges.
-
D.
RIPE Database
The RIPE Database is a public registry of Internet number resources and related contact information used for managing and coordinating IP address and AS number allocations in Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Central Asia.
-
E.
RDAP
RDAP (Registration Data Access Protocol) is a standardized internet protocol used to access and query registration data for domain names, IP addresses, and autonomous system numbers in a structured, machine-readable format.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: WHOIS protocol Target entity description: The WHOIS protocol is an older internet service used to query databases for information about domain name registrations and IP address allocations.
-
A.
WHOIS and registration data policy
WHOIS and registration data policy is the framework governing how domain name registration information is collected, accessed, and protected within the global DNS ecosystem.
-
B.
RIPEstat
RIPEstat is an online data platform that provides comprehensive information and visualizations about Internet number resources such as IP addresses, prefixes, and ASNs.
-
C.
Onionoo
Onionoo is a web-based protocol and service by The Tor Project that provides structured, real-time data about Tor network relays and bridges.
-
D.
RIPE Database
The RIPE Database is a public registry of Internet number resources and related contact information used for managing and coordinating IP address and AS number allocations in Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Central Asia.
-
E.
RDAP
RDAP (Registration Data Access Protocol) is a standardized internet protocol used to access and query registration data for domain names, IP addresses, and autonomous system numbers in a structured, machine-readable format.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (54)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
application layer protocol
ⓘ
internet protocol ⓘ network protocol ⓘ |
| characterEncoding | ASCII ⓘ |
| dataFormat | plain text ⓘ |
| definedInRFC | RFC 3912 ⓘ |
| governedBy | ICANN policies ⓘ |
| hasDesignLimitation |
lack of built-in access control
ⓘ
lack of privacy controls ⓘ lack of standardized output format ⓘ no query language standard ⓘ no support for structured data ⓘ |
| hasFullName |
WHOIS
ⓘ
linked to:
WHOIS protocol
|
| introduced | early 1980s ⓘ |
| isBeingReplacedBy | Registration Data Access Protocol ⓘ |
| operatesAtLayer | application layer ⓘ |
| originallyUsedFor | querying ARPANET user contact information ⓘ |
| originatedAt |
DARPA
ⓘ
linked to:
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
|
| previouslyDefinedInRFC |
RFC 812
ⓘ
RFC 954 ⓘ |
| primaryUse |
query IP address allocation data
ⓘ
query autonomous system number registration data ⓘ query domain name registration data ⓘ |
| queryModel | simple text query ⓘ |
| relatedConcept |
IP address allocation
ⓘ
autonomous system number registration ⓘ domain name registration ⓘ |
| relatedStandard |
ICANN WHOIS policy
ⓘ
linked to:
WHOIS and registration data policy
|
| responseModel | unstructured text response ⓘ |
| standardizedBy |
IETF
ⓘ
linked to:
Internet Engineering Task Force
|
| status | legacy protocol ⓘ |
| stillInUse | yes ⓘ |
| successorProtocol | RDAP ⓘ |
| supportsAuthentication | no ⓘ |
| supportsEncryption | no ⓘ |
| supportsInternationalization | limited ⓘ |
| usedBy |
Regional Internet Registries
ⓘ
domain name registrars ⓘ domain name registries ⓘ law enforcement agencies ⓘ network operators ⓘ security researchers ⓘ |
| usedFor |
abuse reporting
ⓘ
cybersecurity investigations ⓘ intellectual property investigations ⓘ law enforcement investigations ⓘ network troubleshooting ⓘ retrieving IP address allocation records ⓘ retrieving domain creation and expiration dates ⓘ retrieving domain name server information ⓘ retrieving domain registrant contact information ⓘ retrieving domain registrar information ⓘ |
| usesPort | 43 ⓘ |
| usesTransportProtocol | TCP ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: WHOIS protocol Description of subject: The WHOIS protocol is an older internet service used to query databases for information about domain name registrations and IP address allocations.
Referenced by (9)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: WHOIS protocol
linked to: WHOIS protocol
linked to: WHOIS protocol