My firewall software warns me that SmartWhois is "attempting to access the Internet." I am aware that some sites are able to track users by collecting the information sent by their programs via Internet. Why does SmartWhois "attempt to access the Internet

What alerts your firewall are the attempts to connect to Whois databases to fetch the requested records, and the attempts to connect to DNS serves to resolve IP addresses to hostnames. The primary function of the program is to obtain the most current records available from whois databases; therefore SmartWhois makes outbound connections on TCP ports 43 and 80 and UDP port 53. Additionally, the program may check for updates by contacting www.tamos.com (this functionality can be disabled). There are no other hidden activities. We don't sell spyware.