China and the Internet was and it will always be a delicate subject. As you probably know or you are aware of, China has a long list of obstructed Internet services and websites. To this list it adds a new draft of Internet regulations that defines rules about domain name registrations for websites.
Most of the document creates on current Internet regulations, that entered in 2004 and then constantly were updated, with respect to managing domain name registrars.
If you want to send domain names from China, each registrar has to have license from MIIT or another government entity, get personal information of a domain name’s operator and to build up a “management system” from inside the nation’s borders.
A new section says that domain names that captives in network access inside borders but that are not ran by internal domain name registration service bodies are banned from network access services. Denying access for websites that haven’t got their domain name from inside China, could have a strong impact on both individuals and businesses. Besides inaccessible websites, there is also Facebook and New York Times that are deprived from access by users.
China’s intentions are to redirect traffic to forbidden pages to false IP addresses. With these new Internet regulation even harmless websites like cooking websites will be blocked from access.
An assistant professor of journalism and communications at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Lokman Tsui affirmed to Quartz that:
“Censorship would be the norm and not the exception. In the past you were allowed to exist as long as you didn’t piss anyone off. The worst-case scenario means that basically the internet in China will be closed to the rest of the world.”
Anyone who resists these Internet regulations would be fined up to $4,600.
Public comments will be open until April 25.
Remember that registrars were allowed to sell .cn domains only after they offered a business identification, a color headshot photo identification and physical signed registration forms from the registrant and a Chinese business registration number.
For authorities to find easier the person behind a website with “sensitive” content, a domain name holder has to give its personal information to registrars.
Even though there is not a certainty the new Internet regulations will adopted as it is in the draft, its existence is a proof of China’s intentions towards internet and media access inside its borders.
Chinese authorities constantly adopt extreme restraints on Internet freedom, such as forcing social media users to register accounts with their real names.
Visiting the offices of state TV broadcaster CCTV, Xi Jinping said to employees that:
“All the work by the party’s media must reflect the party’ s will, safeguard the party’s authority, and safeguard the party’s unity.”
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