I would contend that it *is* broken, because it doesn't DWIM (I can see people pouting already), and that there should be an implied $ on the end of any search-string, since dns become more specific to the left. I don't see an argument in favour of free-form searches in this database. Spoof entries like these, however, are an argument against them. J On Tue, 24 Oct 2000, Timothy Hunt wrote:

That's not broken. One is a host record for a terrorists.net host. And it's NOT "enough said".

The response also says: To single out one record, look it up with "xxx", where xxx is one of the of the records displayed above. If the records are the same, look them up with "=xxx" to receive a full display for each record.

So, if you do whois -h whois.internic.net =microsoft.com you get the respose you expected.

regards,

Timothy Hunt XO Communications

...

$ whois -h whois.internic.net microsoft.com

Whois Server Version 1.3

Domain names in the .com, .net, and .org domains can now be registered with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net for detailed information.

MICROSOFT.COM.IS.SECRETLY.RUN.BY.ILLUMINATI.TERRORISTS.NET MICROSOFT.COM

Enough said. Similar for apple.com. The web-based whois client at nsiregistry.com is giving correct results, as are the gtld-servers, as does -h networksolutions.com

FreeBSD and at least one release of Linux I've tested query whois.internic.net by default. If anyone is using automated whois in production (very likely), check your results!

J