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GoDaddy Follows Google's Lead; No More Registrations In China
phantomfive writes "GoDaddy has announced it will no longer register domain names in China, in response to new requirements that each registrant be photographed, and their business ID number be submitted. GoDaddy's representative said, 'The intent of the procedures appeared, to us, to be based on a desire by the Chinese authorities to exercise increased control over the subject matter of domain name registrations by Chinese nationals.'"
Fuck China and its shit.
GoDaddy did something I like.
Though, it probably has less to do with "Yay Freedom!" than "We can't sell that even with big-breasted women."
Liberal? Conservative? Compare perspectives at Left-Right
I would also like to announce that I will no longer be accepting contract work originating in China.
Everything is easier when someone else takes the first steps.
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
Not a big deal - godaddy isn't the only domain registry out there. I wonder what other companies are going to follow suit though. Endgame I see is china eventually unplugging from the rest of the world and inventing it's own set of 'tubes.
boycott slashdot February 10th - 17th check out: altSlashdot.org
In Soviet China, domain registers you.
If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
Good for GoDaddy! It probably won't make any difference, but it is always good to make a statement,
It's old and entirely unoriginal.
I have to wonder just how much GoDaddy.com was making from its presence in China. What was its market share? What was its gross revenue?
Based on the opinions of many /. comments, I would have suspected that the two would make happy bedfellows. Doesn't GoDaddy.com practice extreme control over their clients, rooting boxes, and taking over lapsed domain names to then extort their customers, or am I mistaking it for another registrar / host?
China is imposing requirements that domain registrants must provide a photo and a business ID. That's too much hassle for GoDaddy, home of extreme low-end domain registrations. This has little to do with politics and much to do with GoDaddy's business model.
If fu.cn is taken?
What a bunch of boobs.
This article summary is fairly misleading, they are no longer registering the .CN extension
Here is some background:
In December, giving 2 days notice to the international registrars, the .CN registry changed their policy to require paper documentation to register a .CN domain name. In January, because the registry didn't plan this very well, and because they gave absolutely no notice, they decided to turn off registrations all together until they could figure out how to actually implement their new policy. The registry implemented their policy without figuring out actually how to implement their policy..
After a month of no registrations, they opened it up, changing their policy once again to only allow .CN registrations for companies not individuals, and only companies that had an office in china. From what i understand, they are trying to remove the stigma of .CN being the #1 fraud extension (before .cm came out that is)
So to be clear, godaddy is no longer doing .CN registrations because .CN is no longer completely automated, which makes it unprofitable with their business model which is primarily based on volume.
The only thing China should be allowed to do is host a war.
On and one more thing, the Washington post article is WRONG TOO.
This is bullshit! This article is from today, it's not supposed to be posted here until earliest Friday and more likely by Sunday.
Do not comment! It will be posted again tomorrow anyway and your words will be forgotten. Or better yet I'll steal all the witty ones.
Companies like Google and GoDaddy leaving China is not the result of them foisting their (or as you put it, American) views upon the Chinese; they are acting in what they believe to be their best interests. Filtering internet content or maintaining a backlog of photos and business IDs takes time and costs money. These companies did not like the control China was trying to exercise over them. The Chinese told them to get lost, and they did.
I was going to post some thoughts along these lines.
For me, it boils down to this: When corporations start controlling policy (as happens in the USA all the time) the corporations need to be controlled.
The opposite of that is when the government dictates, it needs to be controlled.
In the US, we plainly have some issues where government needs to tackle the corporations. In China, it's the opposite in some cases (although they seem to have their share of crony capitalism too).
Thus, I feel that I can cheer for the corporations vs. China here, without being a hypocrite.
OTOH, when the US government actually takes steps to regulate out-of-control corporations, I can cheer for that too.
I always get some flames when I tell people I'm a passionate moderate. They think passion and moderation are inconsistant positions. No, They AREN'T, and yes I'm SHOUTING MY PASSION FOR MODERATION from the rooftop. Moderate government. Moderate corporate influence. BALANCE, DAMNIT. See? Passionate moderation.
The real reason for Godaddy pulling out isn't because of the Chinese government's new registration requirements, but because it can't survive as business when the government starved the company advertising dollars by banning its Danica Patrick online porno video ads.
It would be one thing if the US government decided to force democracy down China's throat.
As things stand, that's not even in the ballpark of what's going on
This, my friend, is capitalism. Google's power comes from freedom of information, which is severely limited in China. Similarly, GoDaddy has decided that continuing to operate in China would be just too much hassle.
In my opinion, this is also the right thing to do. China is a big power -- possibly the next superpower. And if they do become at least as powerful as the US, it seems reasonable to hope that they will be dedicated to freedom instead of oppression.
But in the end, this is the market at work.
Last I checked, neither Google nor GoDaddy has a military, so I don't see how they're forcing anything. Both GoDaddy and Google are probably less concerned about the health of the US than about the health of the Internet, so I don't even think "American world view" and "supporting dictators vs democracies" has much to do with the issue.
Not even a week ago there was an article on how the US government was pushing domain registrars to curtal effectivly anonymous registrations by pushing ID requirements. Before you critisize China you need to critical about the same shit closer to home.
Obviously the real reason why godaddy is pulling out is that for $5/yr or whatever the registration costs are the paperwork and ID requirements would not even come close to covering the cost of registration.
we need to take the growing chinese threat to america a lot more seriously than we have in the past. huzzah to google and godaddy for "getting it"
Remember kids, if you're not paying for the service, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT THAT IS BEING SOLD.
Other than the Post's general issues with content, how is the article wrong?
(Please post citations and sources for your conclusion.)
Note that the article quotes GoDaddy's general counsel as saying "We decided we didn't want to be agents of China."
I too will stop doing my business in China immediately. The fact I haven't started doing business there is irrelevant. The fact I might start again when nobody is paying attention is also irrelevant. All that matters now is that I grab some headlines and some free advertising ;)
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
this was meant to be a counter argument to everyone who is inevitably going to say "way to go human rights."
are there some hyptocrites around?
In the news one can hear now that China does not like Google and some US services sharing bed and servers.
I think now some of the real reasons show up!
...that each registrant be photographed, and their business ID number be submitted...
That doesn't sound too terribly far fetched for a step to be taken by any number of governments including the UK and US.
http://www.bynarystudio.com
how about we stop buying products that are Made In China?
am awfully tired of our half assed attempts to export our way of life at all levels only when we see fit. we have supported as many dictators as democracies mostly because dictators are easier to please and get to follow our wishes.
So you see a problem, and that is we aren't consistent in trying to make the world better, and your solution is to stop trying? If we change our policy, why don't we change it instead to be, encourage freedom where we can, deprecate evil wherever it is. We can't change the world alone, but almost everyone should agree that freedom of speech, women's rights, and freedom of self-determination are a good thing.
Qxe4
...Daddy ?!? Not even the spare ribs ?
And their eye-bleed .NET web site, but I applaud this stand by GoDaddy. They did the right thing and that always speaks louder than really tacky advertising to me.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
What about Hillary Clinton's speeches? </sarcasm>
$ make available
The Chinese government censors the Internet, thus screwing Chinese internet users. Google and GoDaddy find this offensive, so they cease serving Chinese internet users, thus screwing them again. Remind me how this makes sense?
"Smith has sponsored a bill that would make it a crime for U.S. companies to share personal user information with "Internet-restricting" countries. "
Actually if you think about it, that Bill would help companies like Google and GoDaddy. Sorry China I can't help you in your quest to find out which of your citizens posted that content! Problem solved thanks to the new Bill.
"deprecate evil wherever it is." Question: whose evil? and "We can't change the world alone, but almost everyone should agree that freedom of speech, women's rights, and freedom of self-determination are a good thing." that is only a very very recent development I mean even slavery was only completely, at least legally, eradicated half way through the 1900's.
every anarchist is a baffled dictator. Benito_Mussolini
Wait, I am confused.
Is your contention that:
1) Countries should be free to choose their own path, or is it
2) Countries should not be free to choose the path of shoving their worldview down everyone's throat
Because you can't have both.
Furthermore, even if we accept that what China is doing is legitimate in terms of "choosing their own path" (rather than a case of "shoving their worldview down everyone's throat"), why does that mean it has to be free of consequences? China chooses its path. Google, GoDaddy, and who knows who else looks at that path and says, "you know what, we're not willing to do business on those terms" and stops doing business in China. Do you think that not only should countries be able to choose their own path, but that private entities should be actively compelled to continue to do business in countries that they no longer wish to do business in?
I used to be really annoyed that the US has worked with so many kings and dictators, but then I realized the truth: 60 years ago, there was no one else really to do business with.
The US government has repeatedly overthrown democratically elected (usually socialist) governments and installed capitalist friendly dictators.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
can't we just let countries choose their own path?
Can't China just let its citizens choose their own path?
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
OK, there is some room for moral relativism in the world, but on the other hand some things are very clear, things like:
* Slavery is evil.
* Keeping women oppressed (voting rights, female circumcision, etc) is very bad.
* We should not murder.
* Freedom of speech is a good thing.
See? I have no problem asserting these things, and saying that if you disagree, you are dumb. These are moral judgements, true, but some moral judgements are really basic.
Qxe4
I'm sure there are plenty of chinese nationals willing to settle for a domain outside China just to avoid the registration requirements. So they might make more money in China by not being in China.
The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
Really? I am only aware of Iran (which we apologized for, as little as that is worth). Repeatedly means we did it a lot. Where else was it done?
Qxe4
Well, letting an entire country choose its own path sounds good.
Letting a very small % choose the path for a really large country has some problems with it. I mean do the citizens even know about Tiananmen Square? If my country was hiding something that recent and that huge from me I would hope somebody on the outside might put some pressure on them.
Morpheus, God of Dreams.
Flame me but can't we just let individuals choose their own path? There is no reason the Chinese government needs to force their world view down their citizens' throats.
This really does not hurt China much.
The western society is a 'servce culture', we exchange value by doing things for one another. The east culture is a manufacture culture. In the UK, our youth look up to playing instruments, video games, being footballers or engineers - doing service related things. In China, education is very important and cut throat. It's more about being a mathmatician, engineer or scientist. In my book about China and Microsoft (Gwanshee), the Chinese can get into university degrees as young as 13!
They are reducing our production capability - they manufacture a large number of things for us so we can do business cheaper. This is a massive stranglehold they have: we benefit because our businesses can do things for less. It's no longer profitable for us to run factories and production workshops in our own territories. This means we become dependent on them, like sucking from a teat.
What do they get from it?
Skills, knowledge, experience to bolster their own country. We get nothing. If we send an Apple engineer to overseer production of an iPod*, who is actually learning how the technology works? Do you think that it's really private from the native factory owners? We're essentially giving them technology and abilities. We have seen them building factories, power stations and transport links that put ours to shame, they are really building themselves an impressive infrastructure. They fund international scholarships to put the skills they learn to good news.
We're digging ourself into a roadblock. What if China cuts us off from manufacturing? It's not as though ALL THE businesses have absolute control, they could not avoid retribution from the government!
We would be screwed. The UK practically builds nothing by itself anymore, we just let China do it. If they stop, we're unemployed and opened for expansion. I think they are grinding us down slowly and surely.
What do you think of China? What can we do about it?
Slashdot needs Geekcode | Can anyone recommend any good SCIFI? My tastes: Foundation, Startide Rising, CITY, Ringworld,
Yeah, the cold-war didn't really bring out the best in the US, or Europe, or the USSR, or China, etc. At least nobody got nuked (sorry Japan).
Morpheus, God of Dreams.
2, although it is not a big stretch to take my argument another level of individuals not being able to force their views on others thus advocating anarchy which personally I don't think would work mostly and would instead advocate libertarianism.
every anarchist is a baffled dictator. Benito_Mussolini
I'm kind of disappointed that this got modded troll, I'm really just having a devil's advocate kind of day. So why are those things 'evil'?
every anarchist is a baffled dictator. Benito_Mussolini
I wouldn't mind if some tlds could only be registered with some sort of identity verification.
Oh, we've done it many times in South America. Pinochet comes to mind immediately.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
They have. You just don't like the path they've chosen.
Why would they point that out when they can spin it to be seen as noble agents of change?
I think you got modded troll because you used what is basically an argument from a philosophy 101 class to make a point. Everyone already knows that some things (like slavery) are bad, even if they can't describe the philosophical basis for that judgement, so bringing it up is nothing but a distraction from the conversation.
However, if you like to discuss philosophy, I'll give my view on it:
There is no natural reason that slavery is bad. It is entirely our opinion, our own judgement. Even if you want to base your moral system on an idea like, "we should try to make sure our system of government causes harm to as few people as possible" or "society should be fair" or "do unto others as you would have them do unto you," it still is nothing more than an opinion that "society should be fair." At the bottom of any moral system is an opinion (it should be noted that evolution will favor those systems that tend to preserve society, whereas those that are self destructive tend to disappear).
This is the meaning of freedom. We are free to see the world however we want, to be (in our hearts and minds) whoever we want. If enough people decide slavery is ok, it will happen. The earth has seen such things and worse before.
Personally what I have chosen is that slavery is bad, and it is an opinion I feel strongly enough that I would be willing to fight to make sure the US remains slavery free, if I had to. My beliefs are that it is good to be loving and kind, and help people out when you can. And I try to do that, no matter what other people think.
Qxe4
It's more interesting than your fucking post, you wanker.
China will be feeling the pain when their businesses and citizens are no longer able to be conned out of their money by GoDaddy.
On and one more thing, the Washington post article is WRONG TOO.
Thanks for THE INFORMATION.
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
China is bad, Russia is worst. Also I noticed a large amount of international (ie a .cn domain actually in .ru and vice-versa) and I wonder what anyone will do these. I seen all of these as links in spam messages when I do a check on the links within the messages.
Hawaii, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Nicaragua, Honduras, Iran, Guatemala, South Vietnam, Chile, Grenada, Panama, Afghanistan, and Iraq. As described in "Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq."
"almost everyone should agree that freedom of speech, women's rights, and freedom of self-determination are a good thing."
no one denies that. i tend to think many of us here in the west view the Chinese government officials or even occasionally the Chinese people don't believe in that. from what I know, that is not true.
however, this is a problem of looking at issues and solving them in a staged fashion. people in the developed countries, because of the developed status, tend to look at priorities a lot more differently than those "unprivileged" ones. There are many agendas, issues and problems the Chinese people and their government want to solve. And by their caculation at the *current point of time*, complete freedom of speech and complete freedom of self-determination are NOT ranked very high. so why so many of us automatically assume our priorities and values must be theirs and thus assuming their government is more evil beyond imagination?
people over there hold a hostile views against the west because deep in their mind they believe the purpose and goal of the west is NOT to see and foster a strong China to be able to challenge the west, whether it's of dictatorship or democracy. Thus many of these pro-democracy talks and actions done by the west governments and/or companies are viewed as conspiracy. I can't help but think they're mostly right. The US (both the government as well as the American people) wants to enjoy the unilateral single superpower status. Please enlighten me if I'm wrong here and the all those pushes and actions are sincere.
If people buy that arguments, and are willing to put themselves into the Chinese's shoes, lots of their behaviors and actions, such as GFW, censorships are making sense: because they don't want to see a color revolution and Afghan/Iraq style freedom imposed onto them and ultimately jeopardize their so called peaceful rise.
my 2c
The universe is ruled by letting things take their course. It cannot be ruled by interfering. -- Chinese proverb
I wonder what the response would be use China's own wisdom in making arguments in regards to what they're doing.
There is no freaking way in hell that I am going to stop shopping on dealextreme.com
no. way.
music lover since 1969
This is a shameless attempt by the world's worst domain registrar to ride on Google's coattails. As a registrar, GoDaddy engages in some of the shadiest practices ever devised in this little corner of the internet. If domain names were people, GoDaddy would be the China of DNS.
- I think Google management are immature, show a gross lack of understanding and tolerance, and I can assure all you Google groupies that you will not be getting much of a following. This case is not even related to Google so how can they be 'following Google'?
I fell short of predicting "others would follow" when I posted this:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1592790&cid=31591052
Instead I expressed my hope that there would be others. Now we just need to see a windfall of other companies prepared to follow these two. I wonder if there is an easy way to list who is currently doing business in China so that we can lobby or petition them to also "do the right thing?" After all, China won't hold up for long if people start leaving them. If that were to keep up, China would have to capitulate if they would like to continue to grow.
We can't get the U.S. Government to take appropriate action, but maybe "the people" will do it anyway. We all love our "walmart" prices, but it seems we love our ideals just a little more.
Maximize the localness of your purchases.
I'll show you censorship! *Rips off clothing* To see more, go to GoDaddy.com! (WARNING: WEB CONTENT UNRATED!!!)
I don't want to use a registrar where it stores your web hosting password with clear text.
New Economic Perspectives
China Should pay for how they treated Google.
they want "a color, head-and-shoulders photograph."
see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_sponsored_regime_change
I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
Just like there is no reason for the US government to force their policy of capitalist "democracy" down everyone else's throats.
I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
This isn't about capitalism or democracy, this is about individual freedom. The Chinese government, by censoring everything, is taking away its citizens' freedom to know what is going on. The Chinese government doesn't own the citizens as slaves and thus has no right to do this to them. The US, as a self-proclaimed defender of the citizens' freedom, is rightfully criticizing China.
This is not good. Too many tentions arise too fast.
Smells like a new Cold War is starting. The optimist in me hopes that it will stay limited to Internet-based hostilities only.
They're just riding the coat-tails of Google here. As others have posted the Chinese de-automated their registration procedure (paper documents!) and GoDaddy's business model simply can't accomodate that and still make a profit.
The tie-in with Google's China-bashing is just free publicity. Mark my anonymous coward words - GoDaddy will be back in China within a year with automated fax machines or something. That market is too big to ignore.
I hate to break it to you, but the US government/military/citizens have no jurisdiction in china.
I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.