The government of China is clamping down on registrants of .com domain names.
Regulations that have prevented Chinese residents from using many new top level domain names will soon affect .com and .net domain name registrations, too.
The rules will apply to .com and .net domain name registrations starting March 1, 2016, according to documents obtained by Domain Name Wire.
At that time, domain name registrars in China will have to obtain Real Name Verification and Domain Name Verification for each newly-registered or transferred .com/.net domain name. They will also have to obtain this for existing domain names within 45 days after they auto renew.
Failure to provide the codes can result in suspension of the domain names by Verisign.
Verisign may also request government license verification from registrars in China.
China has been a huge growth driver for Verisign, as Chinese registrants have registered millions of short and numeric domain names in recent months.
Chinese regulations for registrars and registrants in China have prevented most new top level domain names from being used there. Some new TLD registries are working with the government to enable their domain names for use in China.
Andrew- Thanks for covering this development.
It seems Big Brother is going to try to put the genie back in the bottle. Despite the impressive growth of many Chinese registrars, this cannot be good news for China-based registrars.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out, and whether it is indeed enforced. In the meantime, Chinese registrants who want the benefit of the globally recognized .COM TLD are being given further incentive to use non-Chinese registrars and to take advantage of WHOIS privacy proxies.
I would be interested in hearing the perspective of China-based domain registrars and registrants on what is driving this effort to regulate domain name usage through domestic policy and how this may impact the perceived attractiveness of domain name investing.
China has played on the stupidity of Western Govts to build up massive foreign reserves, whilst also violating Western IP rights ,and now it has all this money it wants to cut off any chance for the West to get any back. China does not want Free Trade, it s wants all its own way and none for us.
Why would ANY Chinese person or anyone else keep any domains at Chinese registers. Seems counterintuitive to getting assets/value out of the dragons belly.
Keep your .com names at Canadian or US registrars, problem solved.
and we wouldn’t have to keep going back and forth to google translate anytime we sold a domain transferring to ename.
And how do you propose those registrants manage their domain names from China, when access to the registrars will require getting through the Chinese firewall?
Hi John,
If you are in China trying to manage digital assets then the best option may be a virtual proxy site that lets you exit the firewall and manage/access sites outside of the beast. My point is/was directed at those that invest in .cn that live outside of China. Many .cn investors do not live in China so trying to access a registrar there when you don’t speak Chinese is very difficult. As mentioned using a registrar that has and English interface is much easier than running 22.cn or others through gargoole translate. It does not format well and is very difficult to manage. imho. 😉 Do a search for the best VPN’s to get access outside of China and you will see how Chinese people access facebook, etc and get around the “wall”.
All the best for 2016!!
I’m currently in China and want to curse all the time because of the ridiculous Great Firewall.
It’s so inconvenient that you can only access to your favorite products of Western civilisation (eg Youtube & Google) with VPN.
You may say if VPN could overcome the Great Firewall, why would I still feel unhappy? The reason is….there aren’t many affordable option for stable VPN services.
Hi Jack,
I am wondering if Tor browser would help you get around the “wall”?
https://www.torproject.org/
Hmm. Maybe there is an opportunity for my VerifiedNames.com? On a serious note, this seems like a registrar’s nightmare depending on how they define “verified” For the most part, the new TLDs haven’t risen to the .com & .net levels of relevance so the impact wouldn’t be as dramatic. Will be interesting.
I missed this article. Oddly enough I started a thread on dnforum just last month about an issue I ran into with ename and a buyer. End of day, I will NEVER agree to transfer ownership of a name I sell to ename unless the buyer takes respondsibilty for them locking the name on them. Basically if I as the seller and GD customer couldn’t prove the transfer was “legal” they locked it on the buyer (their customer). My email and whois verification was not good enough. I even cc’d godaddy transfer disputes on emails to them (ename). They then wanted my ID etc. I told them to stick it as there was no way I send my photo ID to ename especially. Feel horrible for the customers of theirs that go through this. What seemed off to me was they are trying to protect the last registrant (me) but when the last registrant tells them it was legal they don’t believe it lol Seems like these Chinese rar’s are looking for ways to take domains for customers.
China can be an difficult beast for managing .cn names. While some .cn names are VERY valuable the gov’t can take them away at any time!!! As mentioned previously keep your .cn’s out of China if possible and avoid the extension if possible as well. Many, many Chinese investors have obviously switched their attention to .com and .CC!!! Both managed by Verisign so the “dragon” can’t get it’s hands on them.
I had to send over passport information, befriend someone working at the registrar to help me manage and transfer my .cn’s as I don’t speak Chinese. It took months and yes they have all my passport id, etc. If you want to play you have to pay!!
Happy New Year!!! Fun times ahead for 2016!!!
I don’t think keeping your .CN domains at a registrar outside of China will make much of a difference. The registry is in China.
Yes but managing them in an English interface is much easier than trying to figure out how to read Mandarin or trying to access a Chinese registrar’s site using google translate. Very complicated. If your .cn’s are at gdaddy, dyna or any other English registrar it is WAY easier to read and navigate the site. You still have to provide all of your info but it’s via an English site, not Chinese. Go to 22.cn, ename.cn and have the page translated via google translate. It looks like a dogs breakfast. At least 4.cn has an English interface option. If you have .cn\s and don’t speak Chinese then the simplest solution is an English registrar. Or just invest in .com or .cc.
Makes sense. Some country code options are held back because of questionable regulation by the government. India comes to mind — their cybersquatting arbitration is a joke. I’d put similar risks on .CN.
Ment to say take domains FROM customers.