China single handedly trying to destroy the internet: Removing individual citizens from owning/registering domain names.
Once again the argument and ideology of “saving the kiddies” from harmful pornographic material and all kinds of icky human parts is ruining a grand part of the internet — individually owned websites/domain names. Before we go any further, it’s worth noting that this crackdown is a China only crackdown. Whew!
A statement made by The China Internet Network Information Centre, starting this week only businesses, businessmen, and organizations will be able to register and own personal domain names. Even then, several hoops will have to be navigated and jumped through. New registrants will need to have written applications, copies of various licenses, and/or other certificates — for a goddamn domain name.
Those Chinese whom already own and run their own websites and own said domains may not be not be out of the woods. According to various site owners located abroad in Jiangsu, Shanghai, Henan, Zhejiang and Jiangxi no “grandfather rule” is being applied. That simply means that if current site owners with private domains could find their site dead, gone, and digital buried. A sad realization for the countless numbers of private site owners who have no doubt invested copious amounts of blood, sweat, and tears in their websites.
As mentioned above, the China Internet Network Information Centre is using the excuse reasoning that too much porn has popped up on private sites. Logical solution: erase them from existence. Great idea.
If you ever needed a reason not to move to/start a Chinese native website, this would illustrate a perfectly logical reason not to do so. As hard as I may try to keep personal politics out of this, I can’t help but feel sadness for the countess Chinese site owners — especially the nerdy ones — who have spent so much time on their websites, some spending many years, to now have it all hanging by a thread. Not to mention I can’t even begin fathom how any single one of the idiots who hold a seat in the Chinese government can even begin to think this is a reasonable or perfectly logical solution.
I’m sure there’s plenty of opinions out there. Let’s hear ‘em.
Author: Mike Norris
visit my websiteGadget lover, smartphone collector, and beer connoisseur. I've been writing about gadgets for three years now and loving every minute of it. Outside of the digital landscape, I enjoy being active outdoors. I'm always up for a good conversation, so feel free to drop me a line!
