Whois added to station editor

For those doing station verification, a new link has been added to click to do a “Whois” query.

(Note the thumbnail of the page which I added recently but didn’t tell about in the blog)

Since I’m not asking you to do research until you’ve had significant experience, this new feature is mainly here for my use (and the curious among you).

First, some technical information.

To get a web site visible, there are three different things that have to be done. In many cases, the same company provides all of them, but not always.

The first is the Domain Registration. The domain registration process assigns exclusive use to a domain name on the internet – not only web servers, but email and other things you probably don’t want to know about. The process also provides a mechanism for resolving disputes where more than one person claims the same or similar names, or the name is a trademark. If I were to try to register Xerox.info, Xerox’s lawyers would challenge the registration and win.

The second thing you need is a web server on the internet, which is connected to the internet by someone who provides internet services and a path to reach the server. The current “investigate risk” link is telling you that information – which provides clues like server is located somewhere other than where you would expect (like Japan or Switzerland). It doesn’t mean there is an actual risk, but there is reason for being careful.

The third thing you need is a DNS resolver service. It’s the glue that holds the first two together. StreamingRadioGuide.com is registered, and the server is located at address 50.116.19.46.

When you try to access the server, first the domain is looked up to find out where to find the server. You will see that the domain is owned by me, and ENOM is the registrar (that’s the company in Chicago that used to house the web site). It tells you that my DNS lookup service is provided by EasyDNS, a company I switched to when ENOM’s DNS service failed and my business was losing $100s an hour because of it (back in the FindAnISP.com days). EasyDNS is located in Toronto, Canada.

The EasyDNS server tells the world that if you want to connect to StreamingRadioGuide.com, try IPv4 Address 50.116.19.46 or better yet, try IPv6 address 2400:cb00:2049:1::c629:defe

All of this is magic, and the good thing is you don’t need to understand anything I just said to use the World Wide Web 🙂

So let’s say you’re trying to figure out if http://www.lagiganteradio.net/ is really the website for WKIQ-AM (1240) in Eustis Florida, airing the Regional Mexican music format (The Big One).

The whois query will return to you:

Domain Name: LAGIGANTERADIO.NET
Registry Domain ID: 1643786752_DOMAIN_NET-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.publicdomainregistry.com
Registrar URL: www.publicdomainregistry.com
Updated Date: 2014-04-04T18:31:40Z
Creation Date: 2011-03-05T14:39:10Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2016-03-05T14:39:10Z
Registrar: PDR Ltd. d/b/a PublicDomainRegistry.com
Registrar IANA ID: 303
Registrar Abuse Contact Email:
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1-2013775952
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited
Registry Registrant ID: DI_14714404
Registrant Name: javier sanchez
Registrant Organization: javier sanchez
Registrant Street: bahia s n
Registrant City: guadalajara
Registrant State/Province: jalisco
Registrant Postal Code: 44100
Registrant Country: MX
Registrant Phone: +0.521331363205
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email:
Registry Admin ID: DI_14714404
Admin Name: javier sanchez
Admin Organization: javier sanchez
Admin Street: bahia s n
Admin City: guadalajara
Admin State/Province: jalisco
Admin Postal Code: 44100
Admin Country: MX
Admin Phone: +0.521331363205
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax:
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email:
Registry Tech ID: DI_14714404
Tech Name: javier sanchez
Tech Organization: javier sanchez
Tech Street: bahia s n
Tech City: guadalajara
Tech State/Province: jalisco
Tech Postal Code: 44100
Tech Country: MX
Tech Phone: +0.521331363205
Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax:
Tech Fax Ext:
Tech Email:
Name Server: ns1.hostinger.es
Name Server: ns2.hostinger.es
Name Server: ns3.hostinger.es
Name Server: ns4.hostinger.es
DNSSEC:Unsigned

Registration Service Provided By: SOLO10.COM S.A.

So the Domain Registrar is in Europe, DNS Server is located in Spain   (Espana), and the “Owner” of the domain is an individual named Javier Sanchez who lives in Guadalajara, Mexico.

So where is the actual server located?   doing a DNS lookup says the server is at an IP address controlled by a company in Lithuania, but the server is probably in England.   Doing a traceroute confirms this:

raceroute to 31.220.16.195 (31.220.16.195), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
1  192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1)  0.271 ms  0.237 ms  0.246 ms
2  * * *
3  * * *
4  cpe-024-074-xxx-xxx.carolina.res.rr.com (24.74.xxx.xxx)  29.863 ms  29.932 ms  30.003 ms
5  cpe-024-074-xxx-xxx.carolina.res.rr.com (24.74.xxx.xxx)  17.143 ms  17.488 ms  17.566 ms
6  be32.drhmncev01r.southeast.rr.com (24.93.64.200)  23.047 ms  17.461 ms  17.310 ms
7  bu-ether14.atlngamq46w-bcr00.tbone.rr.com (66.109.6.82)  28.570 ms bu-ether44.atlngamq46w-bcr00.tbone.rr.com (107.14.19.46)  32.564 ms bu-ether14.atlngamq46w-bcr00.tbone.rr.com (66.109.6.82)  32.437 ms
8  ae-1-0.pr0.atl20.tbone.rr.com (66.109.6.177)  29.844 ms  29.629 ms  29.692 ms
9  216.156.108.97.ptr.us.xo.net (216.156.108.97)  32.125 ms  32.189 ms 216.156.108.45.ptr.us.xo.net (216.156.108.45)  27.108 ms
10  67.111.23.95.ptr.us.xo.net (67.111.23.95)  38.045 ms  26.995 ms  25.877 ms
11  ae-1.r04.atlnga05.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.5.189)  114.028 ms  120.198 ms  117.946 ms
12  ae-8.r20.asbnva02.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.5.214)  31.050 ms  28.193 ms  38.858 ms
13  ae-0.r21.asbnva02.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.4.5)  39.650 ms  27.401 ms *
14  * ae-2.r23.amstnl02.nl.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.2.145)  116.540 ms  125.581 ms
15  ae-1.r03.amstnl02.nl.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.2.147)  130.375 ms  113.548 ms  184.336 ms
16  83.231.213.194 (83.231.213.194)  140.291 ms  131.805 ms  166.202 ms
17  te-9-3-3346.core-dc1.man4.uk.m247.com (77.243.185.177)  151.784 ms  142.160 ms  145.958 ms
18  176.10.80.150 (176.10.80.150)  205.378 ms  155.228 ms  136.225 ms

The actual server is located in Manchester, England – the connection hops on some fiber cable in Northern Virginia (near the CIA) to get to Amsterdam in the the Netherlands, then over to England on a connection run by the Nippon Telephone and Telegraph.

So with all that information, is this the real web site or a fake copy?

[The above should convince you why the United States no longer is “in charge” of the Internet]