> > Then what do they typically use it for? Isn't it of fairly limited use > unless you're licensing the DB from ALL of the ICANN registrars? That's a > lot of registrars and a lot of $.
The truth is that for most legitimate purposes, the top five databases will get you enough information to ensure a reasonable dataset. For instance, companies like D&B cross reference the whois database with their existing database and compile a variety of reports based on the data. Tucows could make a pretty good case for getting the other top four for the purpose of conducting local lookups and other "cache-like" applications. Both examples don't require a 100% complete dataset to be effective. -rwr
