China will block .com's for a competive edge.

[Chris Rice]

The above statement is just a prediction of mine. Blocking .com's for an unfair advantage over US company's would not be beyond them and it is definitely doable. Verisign does not even have a license to use or sell .com's in China, it was only tolerated. But that might change very soon (effective March 1, 2016)

Research MIIT, the Chinese government organization that regulates the internet and domain names in China. This has all been talked about for quite sometime, long before Google re-organized under abc.xyz (do some research for once). It was also well understood that .xyz and .club would be two of the first foreign registrars to get a license in China.

According to Daniel Negari, XYZ is the only U.S. registrar to apply for a license in China AND coordinate with ICANN about it. While a lot of .com loyalists have been bashing new GTLD's a lot of people have been in the background hand registering cheap domain names. A lot of large .COM portfolio holders already sold out and domain name news outlets are slowly easing on their criticism.

TheDomains was right, it will take an intense marketing campaign by at least 2 to 3 major brands. He mentions the Super Bowl as a good example and if you do some research, that is exactly what's happening.

ChrisRice.xyz

 

[dordomai]

I guess we can agree to disagree. @dordomai

Time will tell who is right, and who is wrong.

Thank you for the healthy discussion ☺

Right. It doesn't matter what we write in forums. We can only wait and see.

I have seen some former predictions of Schilling and they were really accurate. Some not so.

Same is true for Rick Schwartz he got many things right and some predictions turned out to completely off.

I would say 2-3 years from now it should be clear in which direction things are going.

Personally I am not basing my guesses so much on registration numbers because I believe a large part of what we are seeing are speculative or protective registrations. .TK is incredibly large in terms of registration numbers but in reality it is irrelevant.

The only thing that will matter over the long term is development.

 

[Chris Rice]

Right. It doesn't matter what we write in forums. We can only wait and see.

I have seen some former predictions of Schilling and they were really accurate. Some not so.

Same is true for Rick Schwartz he got many things right and some predictions turned out to completely off.

I would say 2-3 years from now it should be clear in which direction things are going.

Personally I am not basing my guesses so much on registration numbers because I believe a large part of what we are seeing are speculative or protective registrations. .TK is incredibly large in terms of registration numbers but in reality it is irrelevant.

The only thing that will matter over the long term is development.

Yeah, that's true. And it definitely isn't good to invest in anything unless you are 100% sure in terms of being and feeling comfortable with that specific investment.

And even if I am right, you could still buy in after news hits (if it does) since .xyz domains wouldn't go from $.01 to $10k overnight.

There would probably be tons of $50.00 - $500.00 sales if something incredible happened (i.e. Facebook switches to .xyz). And your investments would practically be risk free (if spectacular news hits).

Most of my money is tied up in real estate and family bills so I would not be able to buy a large portfolio of domains for $100+ each. That is why I invested early, since it is only $0.20 - $2.00 per domain. I also want to corner a specific market in a single TLD and I could definitely not do that in .com.

So we have different positions in life but I respect your posts. I am sure you will do well. This is an exciting time to be in the domaining industry, even if you don't invest in nGTLDs @dordomai ☺

 

[Chris Rice]

When I first posted my theory about China in January of 2016, most of you thought I was on crack or in an alternate Universe.

My perspective on China was questioned and "experts" on NamePros said that China would "never isolate themselves" on the level that I was predicting.

Well, China has done the unthinkable and even went a step farther:

They drafted laws to ban foriegn companies from Publishing in China altogether!

(forget only banning .com's)

As more news comes out the picture is getting clearer. China will not allow Google or Facebook to publish in China, and maybe never again (or as long as the Communist Party is in Power).

FB and Google will instead work with a Chinese company(s) as a "Technology Partner" and find a way to profit off of the Chinese market that way.

If I can see a couple steps ahead into the future Google and Facebook can see 5 to 10 steps ahead. And the fact is, Verisign has never announced anything about gaining MIIT approval other than saying that they can try to apply (look it up). Verisign is instead focusing on International IDNs in each country's foriegn language (look this up too).

And without MIIT approval, a TLD will eventually be blocked and banned in China, even if it is the legendary .com (the Government will probably take it's sweet time in order to scrape the Real Name Verification Data).

I am almost certain that the partners of Facebook and Google will publish their technology under a Chinese company(s) using .XYZ domain(s) as it will represent the United States in a Chinese friendly extension.

And for the people who wonder why Chinese buyers were flooding the .com market with money, whose to say they will always use those domains to host websites?

They can easily forward all of their .com's to their State approved-TLD counterparts and their investment in .com will retain it's value, especially if they do it as a collective or Government imposed effort. This is one way that the Chinese Government can prop. up their state approved TLDs.

And one more thing, if Google can see 10 steps ahead, China is trying to see 15 to 20 steps ahead. And if the ICANN transitions to IANA they will create a new Internet economy, one where China holds much more influence.

P.S. I'm not saying that we shouldn't transfer ICANN to IANI, but there is a correlation between China's threats to block unapproved extensions and the 2015, and now the 2016 deadline to transition ICANN.

@Zandibot @Kate @JB Lions @MasterOfMyDomains @Brandingtheweb.com @rokaska7 @dordomai @Eric Lyon

 

[dordomai]

If .com were to be banned they would just be using the highly popular .cn or the well established .com.cn not a new and unknown extension.

 

[Kate]

They can easily forward all of their .com's to their State approved-TLD counterparts and their investment in .com will retain it's value, especially if they do it as a collective or Government imposed effort. This is one way that the Chinese Government can prop. up their state approved TLDs.

Do you realize that this statement doesn't make sense. This is not even necessary. China could instead force Chinese companies to host in China (by restricting access to non-Chinese IP addresses). This they already do I think.

Plus, I agree with the above, they already have .cn, plus other extensions based on Chinese soil. They don't need .xyz.

Banning .com altogether isn't the aim, the aim is total online control of the populace and they are achieving this through different means.

 

[dordomai]

It's less about extensions they simply don't want Chinese to be able to register and operate domains anonymously.

 

[Chris Rice]

I know that blocking .com is not China's ultimate goal but I also believe it is one of the details in their overall plan.

Verisign would be making statements about MIIT approval if it was in their game plan for .com but it's not. They are pursuing International IDNs instead (look it up).

I respect your opinion and perspective @Kate @dordomai and I have not been right about everything, but I did predict the "Draconian" clamp down by China, and the massive jump in .XYZ registrations started during the Superbowl (2016) like I predicted (check the chart).

I stand by my prediction that .XYZ will break the Verisign triopoly and that it will benefit the companies (Google, Amazon, Wordpress, etc.) who invested (or will invest) more than $100 million USD in GTLDs as a whole. Their efforts will not be subdued.

 

[dordomai]

Verisign would be making statements about MIIT approval if it was in their game plan for .com but it's not. They are pursuing International IDNs instead (look it up).

Just because they didn't announce anything doesn't mean that they don't care. Unless we have clear statement from them they decide to exit the Chinese market it is a daydream.

The IDN launch is in many languages not just Chinese and had been plannned for years. This is an additional product that they will launch and will not replace their flagship product which is .com

That being said, they are not that stupid and won't kill their cash cow .com and .net in China. Which will continue to be the money maker for them. They don't expect .IDN to get that many registrations. Look up the previously launched strings.

In reality the approval is not such a big deal. That's why they are not talking about it. They don't need to hype themselves.

It was only the .XYZ registry that tried to hype it and exploit the confusion that it caused among some domain investors.(deceptive as always)

This is just marketing. Let's stick to the facts not some deceptive marketing.

Instead you should ask yourself why your favorite registry is constantly trying to twist the facts to make them seem better than they are?

Will this be a good strategy to deceive if you want to become a brand that Fortune 500 companies are trusting?

I stand by my prediction that .XYZ will break the Verisign Triopoly and that it will benefit the companies who invested (or will invest) more than $100 million USD in GTLDs as a whole. Their efforts will not be subdued.

If that were to happen the .com registry would officially be the most incompetent in the in the world. Throwing away a virtually perfect(and legal) monopoly in one of the biggest markets, their only money maker, just because they are not interested in doing a simple approval that many other small registries (see Rightside, Minds and Machines, .XYZ) are getting without any major problems.

Why would they give up 95% of their revenue in China?

Unless you can come up with a good reason for that you are daydreaming.

 

[Chris Rice]

Just because they didn't announce anything doesn't mean that they don't care. Unless we have clear statement from them they decide to exit the Chinese market it is a daydream.

The IDN launch is in many languages not just Chinese and had been plannned for years. This is an additional product that they will launch and will not replace their flagship product which is .com

That being said, they are not that stupid and won't kill their cash cow .com and .net in China. Which will continue to be the money maker for them. They don't expect .IDN to get that many registrations. Look up the previously launched strings.

In reality the approval is not such a big deal. That's why they are not talking about it. They don't need to hype themselves.

It was only the .XYZ registry that tried to hype it and exploit the confusion that it caused among some domain investors.(deceptive as always)

This is just marketing. Let's stick to the facts not some deceptive marketing.

Instead you should ask yourself why your favorite registry is constantly trying to twist the facts to make them seem better than they are?

Will this be a good strategy to deceive if you want to become a brand that Fortune 500 companies are trusting?



If that were to happen the .com registry would officially be the most incompetent in the in the world. Throwing away a virtually perfect(and legal) monopoly in one of the biggest markets, their only money maker, just because they are not interested in doing a simple approval that many other small registries (see Rightside, Minds and Machines, .XYZ) are getting without any major problems.

Why would they give up 95% of their revenue in China?

Unless you can come up with a good reason for that you are daydreaming.

In February of 2016, Verisign said in effect that they can try to apply for MIIT accreditation (look it up) or in other words, they hadn't even started yet (XYZ and CLUB started 12 to 24 months ago). If they could apply for accreditation and didn't "they would officially be the most incompetent [company] in the world". That leads me to believe that didn't have a choice, and could not apply.

Let's see what happens when .XYZ and .CLUB get approved. I believe .COM will be allowed to operate in China for some time to scrape the Real Name Verification Data, but once it is in the interest of China, they will block .COM and promote their regulated TLDs (.cn and .com.cn are not the only ones).

It will also be much harder to impose China's regulations on .COM than a new GTLD.
- XYZ worked a revenue sharing deal with a Chinese company for 1, and customers, Executives and shareholders of .COM might be less than willing to bend over backward to meet the demands of China.

 

[nomen]

Not taking sides, not read the whole thread, not that interested in domains geared towards China in general but I do remember reading something similar that @Chris Rice is suggesting a couple of years ago from somewhere (that at the time seemed legit). Can't recall the details of the article but the bottomline was to get rid off .COMs on Chinese operated businesses in the long run. And yes, it didn't make that much sense to me then. And doesn't make now either. But that's what I read.

 

[dordomai]

BTW from my understanding the approval has nothing to do with blocking extensions rather than requiring real name approval of registrants. Unapproved TLDs require real name approval for domain registration. So it is designed to eliminate anonymous registrations.

At worst a .com registrant would not be able to register their domain anonymously.

A far cry away from being a "banned" extension. But facts don't sell as well as hype, right?

Let's see what happens when .XYZ and .CLUB get approved. I believe .COM will be allowed to operate in China for some time to scrape the Real Name Verification Data, but once it is in the interest of China, they will block .COM and promote their regulated TLDs (.cn and .com.cn are not the only ones).

But what makes you believe that if .com gets blocked that everyone would use .xyz? They are 20 years late and a large part of companies use .com.cn or .cn

This would make only .cn stronger.

No chinese business would use .club or .xyz

Feel free to ask any Chinese domainer if .xyz>.club>.cn>.com.cn

The answer will be always the same.

.cn has a strong and active aftermarket and that is not going to change. A lot of ecommerce and corporate sites are hosted there.

If you believe that .com in China = dead then the next logical step would be to buy as many .cn as you can.

 

[Chris Rice]

Not taking sides, not read the whole thread, not that interested in domains geared towards China in general but I do remember reading something similar that @Chris Rice is suggesting a couple of years ago from somewhere (that at the time seemed legit). Can't recall the details of the article but the bottomline was to get rid off .COMs on Chinese operated businesses in the long run. And yes, it didn't make that much sense to me then. And doesn't make now either. But that's what I read.

It is actually well documented. @nomen

Most business experts in China say it won't happen but I also subscribe to a newsletter about the Geopolitics in China. That is how I knew there would be extensive censorship and additional regulations. It was completely in line with the predictions made by Daniel Negari. @gipson

And the interesting thing is that China has always made threats to regulate and block unapproved TLDs right before the ICANN is about to transition to IANA. But the transition got extended for another year (and more than once). If you notice, Google re-organized under Alphabet abc.xyz in August of 2015, right before ICANN was supposed to transition to IANA (and around the same time China was supposed to enforce their TLD regulations).

You are wrong @dordomai All TLD's will need to gain MIIT approval in China in order for registrants to be issued an ICP. Real Name Verification is ONLY one of the requirements to gain MIIT approval. Check the facts, I have posted enough about this and will not dig the exact link to spoon feed you the proof (I already have).

Check the facts, you're wrong.

 

[dordomai]

Check the facts, you're wrong.

One of the people of a China based registrars were telling these stories were put in an exaggerated way in the media to hype some of the newly launched TLDs. Basically that is what you have left if you don't have a product with natural demand. You put in a lot of scare stories in the media to scare the unexperienced into buying your worthless product.

Please find me one reputable Chinese domainer that will agree with you. These 'fools' are still paying 7 figures for their LL:com that will be worthless to them next year, right? Don't they know this?

if you notice, Google re-organized under Alphabet abc.xyz right before ICANN was supposed to transition to IANA (and around the same time China was supposed to enforce their TLD regulations).

Now we are supposed to believe that Google which own g.cn and have no market share in China planned to put their global operations under .xyz because they knew in advance that .com would be banned in China.

The next logical step would probably be China ruling the world and enforcing global TLD standards under which everything excluding the .XYZ empire is banned. .XYZ will partner with Google and the Chinese government to eliminate all competition because Daniel is secretly running Google and the Chinese government, while executing the 10 year world domination plan masterminded by Frank Schilling.

I can't believe that you believe what you are writing.

Are you getting paid to spread these rumors? Or are you trying to increase the value of your portfolio on the aftermarket?

 

[Kate]

Please find me one reputable Chinese domainer that will agree with you. These 'fools' are still paying 7 figures for their LL:com that will be worthless to them next year, right? Don't they know this?

They might have trouble hosting them in China in the future, or using them to reach a Chinese audience but they are still investments... Chinese will not stop buying domains from foreign registrars.

 

[Chris Rice]

They might have trouble hosting them in China in the future, or using them to reach a Chinese audience but they are still investments... Chinese will not stop buying domains from foreign registrars.

I can agree with you there @Kate

We just disagree on the part of it benefiting .XYZ. I believe it will but you believe it won't, that's fine though.

No worries

 

[McDuke]

I can agree with you there @Kate

We just disagree on the part of it benefiting .XYZ. I believe it will but you believe it won't, that's fine though.

No worries

I disagree regarding .xyz as well, the day china makes .xyz the extension of choice is the day that;

 

[Chris Rice]

I disagree regarding .xyz as well, the day china makes .xyz the extension of choice is the day that;

I never said that China will make .XYZ the TLD of choice. But it will get approved by the MIIT in China (registrants can't use their .xyz domains in China yet), .com on the other hand will not get approved.

American companies like Alphabet and Facebook will choose .XYZ for their Chinese counterparts to stand out and represent American enterprise in China.

After gaining a foothold in China, XYZ will target India next.

 

[dordomai]

com on the other hand will not get approved.

you keep saying this as if it were fact but it is just your personal belief. The approval process of .,com is different than for newly launched TLDs and you know this. There is no reason to believe that .com would not or could not be approved when there are letting all kind of foreign .crap in.

Use some logic.

Basically no one in the Chinese domain community is talking about this which tells you all you need to know.

At this point you should ask yourself why?

Or do you believe you, unlike the Chinese domaining community have some special insights that others don't have?

If you have conclusive proof that .com is not being approved and will not be approved and this will result in a full ban then post it.

No wild speculation, connecting random news pieces in a creative way, rumors. A definite "official" statement that:

a) :com will not be approved at any time in the future
b) .com will be fully banned in China

Unless you don't have this you are dealing with rumors.

All you have posted were some speculative 'rumor' news stories where often some of the stakeholders in the nGTLD biz were involved in delivering or interpreting the information. I bet you didn't pay attention to that little fact.

If you understand how PR and the media works you would ask for facts instead of taking rumors at face value from people who benefit financially from you believing anything they feed you.

I will sum this up again:

1) There is no reason to believe that .com would not or could not be approved when they are letting all kind of foreign .crap in.

2) Basically no one in the Chinese domain community is talking about this which tells you all you need to know.

3) You have some vague and confusing speculative 'rumor' news stories where often some of the stakeholders in the nGTLD biz were involved in delivering or interpreting the information.

 

[Chris Rice]

you keep saying this as if it were fact but it is just your personal belief. The approval process of .,com is different than for newly launched TLDs and you know this. There is no reason to believe that .com would not or could not be approved when there are letting all kind of foreign .crap in.

Use some logic.

Basically no one in the Chinese domain community is talking about this which tells you all you need to know.

At this point you should ask yourself why?

Or do you believe you, unlike the Chinese domaining community have some special insights that others don't have?

If you have conclusive proof that .com is not being approved and will not be approved and this will result in a full ban then post it.

No wild speculation, connecting random news pieces in a creative way, rumors. A definite "official" statement that:

a) :com will not be approved at any time in the future
b) .com will be fully banned in China

Unless you don't have this you are dealing with rumors.

All you have posted were some speculative 'rumor' news stories where often some of the stakeholders in the nGTLD biz were involved in delivering or interpreting the information. I bet you didn't pay attention to that little fact.

If you understand how PR and the media works you would ask for facts instead of taking rumors at face value from people who benefit financially from you believing anything they feed you.

I will sum this up again:

1) There is no reason to believe that .com would not or could not be approved when they are letting all kind of foreign .crap in.

2) Basically no one in the Chinese domain community is talking about this which tells you all you need to know.

3) You have some vague and confusing speculative 'rumor' news stories where often some of the stakeholders in the nGTLD biz were involved in delivering or interpreting the information.

1. There was "no reason" to believe that China would impose Draconion regulations starting on March 31st, 2016 but I called it in January of 2016 (read the OPs) and it happened.

2. The domaining community isn't really a good source to tap. Geopolitical analysts and government regulators are the people that you should pay attention to. That is how I made my March 31, 2016 prediction and that is how I make my current predictions (even Apple & Disney got caught off guard).

3. I predicted the crackdown by the Chinese Government in the Internet space months before it happened (It did) I also predicted a boom in .XYZ during the Superbowl of 2016. That happened too (check the charts) and on the exact day of the Superbowl.

I am not a genie but my track record for predicting future events on NamePros is better than yours.

NEXT PREDICTIONS:
- .XYZ will get approved by the MIIT in China, sometime in the next 30 to 60 days.

- .COM might be tolerated in China for a while but it will not receive Offical Accredition by the MIIT.

- After .XYZ and .CLUB, other nGTLDs will get approved by China but on the condition that they follow China's state-imposed regulations.

Check this post by the end of this year since it's plastured in a public forum. Just like before I will be right once more. And the .commers will remain skeptical every step of the way.

 

[dordomai]

You still didn't explain why .com don't gets approved while .club and .xyz can.

This doesn't make any sense. As all the power and money in the Chinese ecommerce world is under .com

You are seriously deluded to put it mildly.

Why isn't the Chinese internet world talking about the "BIG SWITCH" that is coming soon to any .com site next to you? The "BIG SWITCH" from .com to .cn

Must be millions of backlinks that would be lost, billions in branding, hundreds of millions in domain investments losing their value, think about how short numeric .com values will crash if they can not be used anymore.

There would be chaos in the chinese investor community, in the internet business scene, the startup scene, protests in the SEO scence yet we don't hear a single peep from our chinese friends.

Dn.com must be really worried that they have to rebrand to dn.cn. Did you see them complaining? Kassey Lee must be really busy translating the hundreds of news horror stories out of the Chinese domaining community

We don't see anything. We don't hear anything? Why the silence?

because the whole thing is happening only in your head !! and now wake up from your daydream.

Personally I hope I can stay out of this nonsensical thread.

I heard enough of Negari secretly running Google's brand strategy and taking over the world and other assorted delusions. There is only so much of this that I can tolerate and my quota is about to be reached.

 

[Chris Rice]

You still didn't explain why .com don't gets approved while .club and .xyz can.

This doesn't make any sense. As all the power and money in the Chinese ecommerce world is under .com

You are seriously deluded to put it mildly.

Why isn't the Chinese internet world talking about the "BIG SWITCH" that is coming soon to any .com site next to you? The "BIG SWITCH" from .com to .cn

Must be millions of backlinks that would be lost, billions in branding, hundreds of millions in domain investments losing their value, think about how short numeric .com values will crash if they can not be used anymore.

There would be chaos in the chinese investor community, in the internet business scene, the startup scene, protests in the SEO scence yet we don't hear a single peep from our chinese friends.

Dn.com must be really worried that they have to rebrand to dn.cn. Did you see them complaining? Kassey Lee must be really busy translating the hundreds of news horror stories out of the Chinese domaining community

We don't see anything. We don't hear anything? Why the silence?

because the whole thing is happening only in your head !! and now wake up from your daydream.

Personally I hope I can stay out of this nonsensical thread.

I heard enough of Negari secretly running Google's brand strategy and taking over the world and other assorted delusions. There is only so much of this that I can tolerate and my quota is about to be reached.

In regards to Google and Facebook, I may have spoken too soon. Lu Wei just announced a couple of days ago that he would hold the line and not let Google or Facebook (re)enter the Chinese market.

Now less than a week later he steps down?

P.S. @dordomai You base your perspective on what everyone else is doing, thinking and saying while I judge the situation for myself. Even in the face of disbelief, criticism and mockery. I am contrarian, you are a follower, it's as simple as that.


China's internet censorship chief steps down
Lu Wei, who cracked down on internet freedom and made Time’s 100 most influential people list, has been replaced

China’s top internet regulator, who oversaw a severe tightening of internet freedoms during his tenure, has stepped down, reports said on Wednesday.

Lu Wei – named as one of the world’s 100 most influential people last year by Time magazine – had been in charge of supervising controls on online expression since taking over as head of the Cyberspace Administration of China in 2013.

China censors online content it deems politically sensitive, while blocking some western media websites and the services of companies including Facebook, Twitter and Google.

Lu will be succeeded by Xu Lin, a deputy from the same department who joined in 2015 and previously served two years as the minister of propaganda for the city of Shanghai.

“Xu Lin has replaced Lu Wei as the head of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs,” the official Xinhua news agency said, citing an official statement but providing no further details.

Advertisement

Xu worked alongside China’s president, Xi Jinping, in Shanghai in 2007, when the latter was the city’s communist party chief.

Jamie Metzl, a senior fellow at thinktank the Atlantic Council, said: “It’s impossible for outsiders to know what Lu Wei’s departure might mean, but it’s clear that the space for open expression in China continues to shrink.”


Colleague Roger Cliff, Senior Fellow: “Lu Wei is not in any political or legal trouble, but Xi simply decided he wanted someone closer to him to be in charge of internet policy. I certainly would not interpret this move as a repudiation of Lu Wei’s approach to internet governance.

“If anything I would expect to see a further increase in the Chinese government’s efforts to monitor and control the internet within China as well as to influence the content of the internet outside of China.”

Jon Huntsman, a former US ambassador to China, told Time in April last year that Lu imposed tougher regulations because of “social-stability concerns”.

“Lu’s choices will either provide greater access to online freedom or further suppress the natural curiosity that thrives beneath the surface in China. Whatever he does, the gregarious former propaganda chief is certain to affect the lives of billions,” he wrote.

Last year, a report by the American pro-democracy thinktank Freedom House found China had the most restrictive internet policies of 65 countries studied, ranking below Iran and Syria.

Lu was a powerful figure at home and abroad, where he commanded the attention of global technology companies eager for a piece of the Chinese market.

He was personally received by Mark Zuckerberg in 2014 at Facebook’s Silicon Valley headquarters, and appeared in the front row of a “family photo” alongside Xi and top executives from American tech giants such as Amazon when the head of state visited the US in September last year.

It remains unclear whether Lu, who retains his position as deputy head of the ruling Communist party’s Central Publicity Department, will take on additional roles.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/30/china-internet-censorship-chief-steps-down

 

[Chris Rice]

This is what I was saying in this thread in January and February of 2016 @Kate @JB Lions @Brandingtheweb.com


Where Is China’s Internet Headed?

A ChinaFile Conversation


China’s Internet population is huge, at 700 million-plus users, yet only 52 percent of the overall population. It’s poised for yet more growth. But China’s Internet is also at the nexus of an extraordinary experiment: to see how great an extent cyberspace, that great tool for openness and connectedness, can also be used as a tool for control, for curation, and for autarky.

Lu Wei was merely the face of China’s cyber control. Whether in his role as a Vice President of the state news agency Xinhua, or in his position as Vice Mayor of China’s capital, Beijing, or in his most recent roles as Deputy Director of the Propaganda Department and Director of the State Internet Information Office, he was the classic apparatchik: executing tough policies with gusto but without much apparent personal lofty strategic planning beyond the accumulation and use of power.

It is possible that Lu’s ambition has now come back to bite him—certainly Lu has many enemies and many who have been offended by his manner and his actions over the years. That matters not to cyber policy—that was never personal to Lu.

I think given all we have seen since the 18th Party Congress, China’s Internet policy has been—and will be—personal to Xi Jinping, an extension of his need for control, for caution, for personal trusted networks, and for nativism.

In Xu Lin (Lu’s successor as Internet Czar), Xi Jinping has appointed someone he knows, he trusts, and he has worked with—someone who will make Internet policy even tighter and tougher.

Tighter and tougher: these may not be words that intellectuals, journalists, or foreigners want to hear. But to Xi, they are vital.

With the economy no longer powering automatic legitimacy to the Party, Xi needs to shore up the instruments of control to ensure that the natural discontents and grumblings that accompany slowdowns, layoffs, restructurings, and reforms stay quiet, stay disconnected, and stay confined.

In happier economic times, the Internet was a useful escape valve for pressures and discontents, where commentators could trade jokes and barbs on Weibo and a cyberclass of discussion could swell up.

The times are different.

To Xi’s eyes, the Internet brings only dangers and unwelcome influences.

Much safer to control it, limit it, restrict it.

The question is whether the strategy will work.

My money is on yes, for the medium term.

Those who need access to the world beyond the restricted Chinese Internet can still get at it through VPNs, though they too are often restricted and usually frustrating. Chinese Internet companies fill most needs for most users. Chinese language information and entertainment sites abound with content. Innovation and experimentation take place in a Chinese way within a Chinese world. That may not be ideal, but it is still a huge market and a growing one.

The upcoming Wuzhen Internet Summit in November will be a chance for China to focus more on how to govern the Internet and to seek global allies. U.S. or European observers often forget that China is not alone in its fear of a free Internet.

There are, of course, many in China who grumble about the restrictions—but they tend to be exactly the same people who grumble about the rest of the state of the country and Party anyway, so to Xi they can be easily dismissed.

As long as Xi remains in power and remains convinced of the need for a top-down, controlled society, China’s Internet will be in his image—restricted, rule-based, and inward looking.

https://www.chinafile.com/conversation/where-chinas-internet-headed

 

[TRY]

This is what I was saying in this thread in January and February of 2016 @Kate @JB Lions @Brandingtheweb.com


Where Is China’s Internet Headed?

A ChinaFile Conversation


China’s Internet population is huge, at 700 million-plus users, yet only 52 percent of the overall population. It’s poised for yet more growth. But China’s Internet is also at the nexus of an extraordinary experiment: to see how great an extent cyberspace, that great tool for openness and connectedness, can also be used as a tool for control, for curation, and for autarky.

Lu Wei was merely the face of China’s cyber control. Whether in his role as a Vice President of the state news agency Xinhua, or in his position as Vice Mayor of China’s capital, Beijing, or in his most recent roles as Deputy Director of the Propaganda Department and Director of the State Internet Information Office, he was the classic apparatchik: executing tough policies with gusto but without much apparent personal lofty strategic planning beyond the accumulation and use of power.

It is possible that Lu’s ambition has now come back to bite him—certainly Lu has many enemies and many who have been offended by his manner and his actions over the years. That matters not to cyber policy—that was never personal to Lu.

I think given all we have seen since the 18th Party Congress, China’s Internet policy has been—and will be—personal to Xi Jinping, an extension of his need for control, for caution, for personal trusted networks, and for nativism.

In Xu Lin (Lu’s successor as Internet Czar), Xi Jinping has appointed someone he knows, he trusts, and he has worked with—someone who will make Internet policy even tighter and tougher.

Tighter and tougher: these may not be words that intellectuals, journalists, or foreigners want to hear. But to Xi, they are vital.

With the economy no longer powering automatic legitimacy to the Party, Xi needs to shore up the instruments of control to ensure that the natural discontents and grumblings that accompany slowdowns, layoffs, restructurings, and reforms stay quiet, stay disconnected, and stay confined.

In happier economic times, the Internet was a useful escape valve for pressures and discontents, where commentators could trade jokes and barbs on Weibo and a cyberclass of discussion could swell up.

The times are different.

To Xi’s eyes, the Internet brings only dangers and unwelcome influences.

Much safer to control it, limit it, restrict it.

The question is whether the strategy will work.

My money is on yes, for the medium term.

Those who need access to the world beyond the restricted Chinese Internet can still get at it through VPNs, though they too are often restricted and usually frustrating. Chinese Internet companies fill most needs for most users. Chinese language information and entertainment sites abound with content. Innovation and experimentation take place in a Chinese way within a Chinese world. That may not be ideal, but it is still a huge market and a growing one.

The upcoming Wuzhen Internet Summit in November will be a chance for China to focus more on how to govern the Internet and to seek global allies. U.S. or European observers often forget that China is not alone in its fear of a free Internet.

There are, of course, many in China who grumble about the restrictions—but they tend to be exactly the same people who grumble about the rest of the state of the country and Party anyway, so to Xi they can be easily dismissed.

As long as Xi remains in power and remains convinced of the need for a top-down, controlled society, China’s Internet will be in his image—restricted, rule-based, and inward looking.

https://www.chinafile.com/conversation/where-chinas-internet-headed

Good thing I own ChineseStore.us

 

[Chris Rice]

Good thing I own ChineseStore.us

I haven't read much about .us but it seems like an undervalued and often ignored extension. If I was going to invest in a ccTLD it would probably be .in or .us.

 

[joro001]

I commented a while back on this thread.

To the OP all I will say is this. You started this thread late Jan 2016 and ever since then prices and demand for more speculative .com/.net etc. in China has fallen like a stone. Could of course be a coincidence but the timing of the long and sustained crash in china started when it did and there's no end in sight almost half a year later. Yes highly liquid 2l/3l.coms are still selling well (even 3l.coms have crashed hard in many cases) but everything else has all but fallen apart.

Whether the OP has merits or not I think everyone is now well aware of the risks of investing in Chinese speculative investments.

Just my two cents, each to their own!