As you may have heard, over the past week there have been some regulatory actions taken in China with regards to the availability of certain top-level domains, including a directive spelling out which names would be available for registration going forward. My colleagues and I have read through the directive, and we are studying it to understand what this will mean for the ongoing registration of new .org domains, and the re-registration of .org domains in China.
We are speaking with key contacts in China to get clarification, and I wanted to share with you what we have learned so far.
Our most careful read of the Directive is that it is clearly aimed at registrars established within the People’s Republic of China, and does not appear to apply to registrars that are located outside of the physical boundaries of China.
Our understanding is that .org sites should continue to resolve for users in China. If our information is correct, customers with .org domains should see no change in accessibility for users in China.
We will issue updates as we learn more.
Brian Cute
CEO, Public Interest Registry