Websites, Domains & Internet Infrastructure · WDH-001

I have been given a website address — what am I actually looking at?¶

A website address is usually a URL: a complete instruction telling a browser where to find a particular resource. Preserve the whole address before trying to identify who may be behind it.

Break the address into its components¶

Consider:

https://shop.example.com/orders/123?view=receipt

This contains several distinct parts:

• https — the communication scheme;
• shop.example.com — the hostname;
• example.com — the registered domain;
• shop — a subdomain;
• /orders/123 — the path to a particular resource; and
• ?view=receipt — parameters that may affect what is displayed or help a provider locate records.

Each part can have different evidential value. Recording only the part that resembles a company name may lose identifiers that distinguish one page, account, file or transaction from another.

Preserve the exact URL¶

Record the address exactly as supplied, including:

• spelling, punctuation and capitalisation where relevant;
• the full hostname and path;
• any parameters;
• where the address came from;
• the date, time and time zone;
• what happened when it was accessed; and
• whether the user was signed in or redirected elsewhere.

Capture the visible page, but also preserve the URL as text. A screenshot alone may omit the full address or details needed to reproduce the observation.

Do not confuse location with attribution¶

A URL identifies an online location or resource. It does not automatically identify the person responsible for it.

The domain may belong to a legitimate platform. A user may have created the page. The address may redirect to another service. Hosting, payment, analytics and content-delivery providers may all be separate organisations.