GoDaddy follows Google’s lead, exiting China

By J. DeVoy

In response to new regulations requiring domain name registrants to supply the Chinese government with extensive personal information, including photographs, GoDaddy.com has announced its intention to stop doing business in China.  Since 2000, GoDaddy has been one of the leading domain name registrants in the United States, but may be best known for its controversial Super Bowl advertisements.

Ultimately, this is a win for those concerned with privacy, and especially those concerned with anonymous domain name registration.  Yet, even with Google’s backing, it’s unlikely that China’s policies will change.  Because domain registration and web search are such competitive fields, a race to the bottom by market participants or entrants will ensure that the Chinese government gets exactly what it wants.

h/t Ferdinand Bardamu, whose many relevant links are a reason – sometimes the sole one – to view my facebook news feed.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 at 7:25 pm and is filed under Civil Liberties, internet law. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

One Response to GoDaddy follows Google’s lead, exiting China

  1. Fame Appeal says:
    March 25, 2010 at 9:55 am

    The age of information technology has come,
    two things could have

    first…The increasing number of internet hosting/search engines leaving China may cause the Chinese government to loosen their hold on the information superhighway

    Or

    second… china will try to engineer a search engine conglomerate aimed to outdo Google. (as we all know with yahoo, IBM, At&T, bullies in the industry can only be number one for so long)!