GoDaddy Stops Offering Chinese Domains

from the taking-a-stand dept

Wed, Mar 24th 2010 1:33pm — Mike Masnick

It seems that with Google now taking a stand on Chinese policies, other companies are at least stepping up a bit as well. GoDaddy, who I believe is the largest domain registrar around, is going to stop offering .cn domains, after China put in place new rules, requiring registering with the government and providing all sorts of personal info, including a photograph and identity cards. GoDaddy says it sees these new rules as a "threat to the security of individuals," though it almost certainly has noticed the good publicity Google has received for its stance, combined with the political winds suggesting new laws to punish American companies that help censorship abroad.

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Filed Under: china, domain names
Companies: godaddy

18 Comments

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:Lobo Santo (profile), 24 Mar 2010 @ 1:52pm

Lawyer-in-the-know...
The lawyer who founded GoDaddy is nobody's fool (though he sucks to work for) and no doubt is looking for some of the admiration/recognition that Google is getting.
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DJ, 24 Mar 2010 @ 2:00pm

I'm still baffled....
...that nobody bothered to take notice of the fact that China is a COMMUNIST COUNTRY! Of course they're going to want this kind of control over their people.

Oh wait, I forgot that communism is the new way to go....Too bad EVERY SINGLE INSTANCE of it in history has ended in genocide of the citizens.....
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Anon, 24 Mar 2010 @ 2:22pm

Re: I'm still baffled....
Actually, China is socialist, not communist. The only two communist countries left in the world are North Korea and Cuba.
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Dark Helmet (profile), 24 Mar 2010 @ 2:37pm

Re: Re: I'm still baffled....
Meh, this discussion has already been had on this site in the past, but despite what they call themselves, NONE of those countries actually practice communism. Most/all are some odd meld of socialism and authoritarianism....
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a-dub (profile), 24 Mar 2010 @ 2:44pm

The whole Google leaving China thing is like a breath of fresh air. Its nice to see other companies doing the same and I look forward to seeing other companies pull out of China as well. Its amazing how much crap people/companies will accept if they can make a $.
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Ivan, 24 Mar 2010 @ 2:46pm

Re: Re: I'm still baffled....
According to the cia, it's a communist state...

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ch.html

Government type:
Communist state
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Michial Thompson, 24 Mar 2010 @ 2:46pm

Loyalties will come back to bite these companies
I understand taking a political stand in the world, and feeling that when your Google's size almost HAVE to take a stand.

But it's really getting old watching American's try to force their will on how every country out there works. Each country has a populace, and those people have a right and responsibility to live the way they choose. If they don't like what their government is doing they need to change it.

America is not the world's moral authority anymore than little mikee is the copyright authority...

For these companies to take a stand against China they might want to look in the mirror pretty soon. China's got the largest single population in the world, and while their policies may change due to pressure from Americans, it's just as likely that they will ban Google and GoDaddy etc from doing business in their country as well after they change.

Companies should leave the politics to the politicians and the business to the businessmen. When they try to use politics to market/advertise it's a double edge sword.
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Ivan, 24 Mar 2010 @ 2:49pm

Re: Re: I'm still baffled....
According to the cia, it's a communist state...

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ch.html

Government type:
Communist state

And according to wiki there are 4 countries that are a communist states, China, Cuba, Lao People's Democratic Republic, and Vietnam.

North Korea on the other hand is a socialist state.
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Grumpy (profile), 24 Mar 2010 @ 3:12pm

Let's stay on topic, please
About GoDaddy: I might be an old cynic but isn't GoDaddy benefitting enormously by registering domains for s[cp]ammers, many of them using .cn sites? This story doesn't sit well with me. There must be something fishy going on that we just haven't seen yet. Are they afraid of a crackdown on their criminal customers followed by the burning light of the Daystar on their own dealings?
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Anonymous Coward, 24 Mar 2010 @ 3:34pm

godaddy blows
Goddady is a miserable company to do business with, and the owner is a complete asshole, worse than the owner of Whole Foods. I've moved all thirty of my domains away from them a while ago due to him, and their pushy up-sells.
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Anonymous Coward, 24 Mar 2010 @ 4:01pm

Re: Loyalties will come back to bite these companies
Google's publicly stated position is that they can't continue to operate in China if the nation continues to sponsor electronic warfare against their systems. It doesn't have anything to do with enforcing America's morals on anyone. The issue of censorship is just a lever.
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Anonymous Coward, 24 Mar 2010 @ 5:01pm

I too am going to turn this into a bash Bob Parsons thread but something about him strikes me as REALLY sleazy.

I think the .cn domains just turned a lot more expensive and this allows them to back out and save face. I agree that they are probably doing some nefarious stuff with .cn domains or maybe they just "don't know... wink.. wink".
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Txknight (profile), 24 Mar 2010 @ 6:36pm

I would admire them more, if they had publicly came out years ago and refused to enter the Chinese market at all, but wait, China spends American dollars and they wanted it, now they want to stand up and seem to have developed morals and "take a stand", ridiculous, they want the attention of being a "good" company to try to make more money, greed as usual nothing new here
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mike allen (profile), 25 Mar 2010 @ 12:26am

I have never liked Go Daddy so have avoided using it as other people have said should never have moved into china in the first place.
now when will they pull out of the UK.
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Ben, 25 Mar 2010 @ 12:35am

I also just read a couple of other interesting reports. A report from India is saying that Dell is considering pulling out of China. China is officially saying that they are still a reliable government with which to make investments.
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Ben, 25 Mar 2010 @ 12:40am

Re: Loyalties will come back to bite these companies
America is the world's moral authority, whether you like it, or not. I prefer America's moral authority, flawed as it is, to China's.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Mar 2010 @ 6:54am

Re: Re: Loyalties will come back to bite these companies
America is the world's moral authority?? Bloody hell, not a world I particularly want to live in. America has to have the most ballsed up, contradictory morals in the world..
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Hephaestus (profile), 25 Mar 2010 @ 7:08am

Re: Let's stay on topic, please
"There must be something fishy going on that we just haven't seen yet."

Yeah we have seen it, it has something to do with the fact that china steals all tech that comes into it. If you look at RIM (makers of the blackberry) all of their stuff is made in mexico for a reason. There has been a slow realization that IP theft is rampant in china. That products are coming out with modifications not part of the original designs. That the quality is substandard and toxic (ie sheet rock that peels chrome, milk products that kill children, lead based paint on toys, radioactive tuna cans, batteries that explode, etc). That now that they have a manufacturing base they really dont need foreign investment anymore but they do to gain access to new technology.
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