Thin versus thick Whois

Most Registries today are operating under the thick Whois model. That means the Whois servers are operated by the registries themselves and the Whois records returned by the registry are the full and complete records. Take a look at this:

$ whois easydns.org
Domain Name:EASYDNS.ORG Domain ID: D19300541-LROR
Creation Date: 2000-02-07T16:36:30Z Updated Date: 2014-02-05T19:35:20Z
Registry Expiry Date: 2015-02-07T16:36:30Z
Sponsoring Registrar:easyDNS Technologies Inc. (R1247-LROR) Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID: 469
WHOIS Server:
Referral URL:
Domain Status: ok
Registrant ID:tuFR6qyd4IzCW0LK Registrant Name:Hostmaster Role Account
Registrant Organization:easyDNS Technologies Registrant Street: 304A - 219 Dufferin St. Registrant City:Toronto
Registrant State/Province:ON Registrant Postal Code:M6K3J1 Registrant Country:CA Registrant Phone:+1.6474788439 Registrant Phone Ext: Registrant Fax: +1.6474386227 Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email:easydns@myprivacy.ca Admin ID:tukBnUT7S6DIXC3g
Admin Name:Hostmaster Role Account Admin Organization:easyDNS Technologies Admin Street: 304A - 219 Dufferin St. Admin City:Toronto
Admin State/Province:ON Admin Postal Code:M6K3J1 Admin Country:CA
Admin Phone:+1.4165358672 Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax: +1.4165350237
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email:easydns@myprivacy.ca Tech ID:tu4jwsWgdFxARStq
Tech Name:Hostmaster Role Account
Tech Organization:easyDNS Technologies Tech Street: 304A - 219 Dufferin St. Tech City:Toronto
Tech State/Province:ON Tech Postal Code:M6K3J1 Tech Country:CA
Tech Phone:+1.4165358672 Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax: +1.4165350237
Tech Fax Ext:
Tech Email:easydns@myprivacy.ca Name Server:DNS1.EASYDNS.COM Name Server:DNS3.EASYDNS.ORG
Name Server:DNS2.EASYDNS.NET Name Server:DNS4.EASYDNS.INFO
DNSSEC:Unsigned

This is in contrast with a thin Whois model. Under this model, the full record is returned by a Whois server operated by the Registrar, not the registry, which is largely the exception (only .COM, .NET, and .JOBS still use it) and officially on the way out. ICANN adopted the GNSO's Thick Whois Consensus Policy in 2014, and thus will move any remaining thin Whois services toward a thick model.