The ownership of a domain name is determined by the domain registrar. A domain registrar is an organization or commercial entity that manages the reservation of internet domain names. The registrar provides registration information to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), and provides the user with a license to use the domain name. The actual ownership of a domain name is established when an individual or business registers the domain name with a domain registrar. This registration process requires that the domain name owner provide contact information, such as an address and phone number, which will be publicly available through a WHOIS search. The registrant can also choose to keep their contact information private by using a proxy service. Once a domain name is registered, the domain name owner is responsible for renewing the registration on a regular basis. If the registration is not renewed, the domain name may be made available for registration by another party. Domain owners can transfer their domain name to another registrar at any time, as long as the domain is not locked. The transfer process is usually very simple and takes just a few minutes.
