Registering.CN domain names, the Chinese ccTLD, has become a confusing thing to do of late. First CNNIC, the .CN registry, announced that registrations would no longer be accepted by individuals. But now there is confusion and talk that China will begin to accept registrations from individuals once again.
The Chinese government said in December that it would stop individuals from registering .CN domain names, reserving the ccTLD for registered businesses. Registrants would have to apply in person, not online, and produce a business license and the individual applicant’s identification, reports ZDNet.
The policy changes were an attempt to crack down on what the Chinese deemed illegal domain names, especially those responsible for pornographic, malware and spam content.
However the suggestion that changes are coming, again, have come from an official from CNNIC who told China Daily that they are drafting a regulation to allow individuals to register .CN domain names with their own identity.
“It’s a trend that individuals register their own domain names,” said Qi Lin, assistant deputy from CNNIC told China Daily.
“We are now working to check whether individual registrars’ information is true, complete and accurate, and based on this we can quicken our speed in drawing up the regulation on individual domain name registration.”
“Banning domain name registrations for individual applicants will have a negative impact on the industry because the applicants can either turn to foreign registers or apply with false information,” Qi said.
To register your .CN domain name, check out Asia Registry here.