Go Daddy to stop offering new China domain names

Go Daddy Group Inc., the world’s largest registrar of domain names, will stop offering new China domain names, a company executive said Wednesday.

Christine Jones, executive vice president and general counsel of the Scottsdale, Ariz., company, disclosed the change in policy at a hearing in Washington.

The decision was prompted by a “recent increase in China’s surveillance and monitoring of the Internet activities of its citizens,” Jones told the Congressional Executive Commission on China.

Go Daddy’s announcement comes two days after Google Inc. said it would no longer censor Internet search results in China. Mountain View, Calif.-based Google said Monday that it would redirect Chinese readers to its unfiltered Hong Kong website.

“Go Daddy is the first company to follow Google’s example,” Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.) said. Its decision is “a powerful sign that American” information technology “companies want to do the right thing in repressive countries.”

Jones told the commission that the China Internet Network Information Center, a quasi-governmental agency that oversees registration services, has begun requiring more stringent identification and documentation for those seeking domain names. In addition, the agency said it would audit all China domain-name registrations already held by Chinese nationals, Jones said.

“We are concerned for the security of the individuals affected by” the agency’s new rules, she said.

China has 384 million Internet users, according to government data, more than the total U.S. population.