The world’s most popular domain name registration company Godaddy.com, Inc. recently announced that it will halt operations in China as their response to the Chinese government requiring applicants to provide extensive personal data, including photographs of themselves.

Here’s an excerpt from their announcement:

“There appears to be a recent increase in China’s surveillance and monitoring of the Internet activities of its citizens,” said Christine Jones, general counsel for Go Daddy, at the Congressional- Executive Commission on China (CECC).

Jones said the new Chinese policies required every website owner to submit photographs, business information and individually signed forms, as well as their physical address, email address and telephone numbers.
“We didn’t want to act as an agent of the Chinese government,” Jones said. “We can’t let them be strong and us be weak all the time. We just have to stop it, and then we’ll start offering .CN domain names again.”