Two US Firms Drop China Domain Registration
CCID, 3/25/10
According to foreign media reports, two US-based domain name registrars have ceased registering new domains in China due to government regulations requiring that they provide their customers photographs and other documents of identification. Christine Jones, executive VP and general counsel for Go Daddy, said the decision was not in response to recent actions by Google but rather due to concern for its customers' security, and the "chilling effect" of the new rules. Jones told a congressional committee that Go Daddy made the decision not to act as an agent of the Chinese government. Network Solutions LLC, another domain name registrar, said it stopped handling Chinese website registrations in December last year for the same reasons.
Go Daddy has already registered 270,000 .cn domains, and has contacted 1,200 customers to request additional information that it would then submit to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC). Only about 20% of those customers, however, have provided the necessary documents. Jones said Go Daddy will no longer register new Chinese domain names. Jones declined to disclose revenue generated by this business.
Keywords: Christine Jones withdraw Internet CNNIC Go Daddy regulation domain name registration
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