Internet Company Go Daddy Announces a Halt to new Business in China
GoDaddy.com the domain name registration and Web hosting company, told lawmakers yesterday that it will halt registering Web sites in China in response to intrusive new government rules that require applicants to provide extensive personal data, including photographs of themselves.
According to press reports, the rules, the company said, are an effort by China to increase monitoring and surveillance of Web site content and could put individuals who register their sites with the firm at risk. The company also said the rules will have a “chilling effect” on new domain name registrations.
GoDaddy’s announcement is on the heals of the Internet Titan Google announcing early in the week that it will no longer censor search results on its site in China. Analysts and human rights advocates have warned that China’s insistence on censorship and control over information is becoming a serious barrier to trade.
“GoDaddy and Google deserve more than praise for doing the right thing in China — they deserve our government’s support,” said Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.), who has sponsored a bill that would prevent U.S. companies from sharing personal user information with “Internet-restricting” countries.
It’s probably cheaper to make this kind of move now… Google are masters of building adoption and it seems they’ve had some success at doing so. Bet they’re pretty confident they have enough user adoption in China to finally make this move.
It’s probably cheaper to make this kind of move now… Google are masters of building adoption and it seems they’ve had some success at doing so. Bet they’re pretty confident they have enough user adoption in China to finally make this move.