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Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom
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The legal basis for the center is laid down in the China Internet Domain Name Regulations of Sept.
28, 2004, which state that any person or organization has the right to register a domain name on
the first-come, first-served principle used worldwide.
Some names are blacklisted and excluded from registration, however. According to the regulations
“any of the following contents shall not be included in any domain name registered and used by
any organization or individual:
• Those that are against the basic principles prescribed in the Constitution;
• Those that jeopardize national security, leak state secrets, intend to overturn the
government, or disrupt of state integrity;
• Those that harm national honor and national interests;
• Those that instigate hostility or discrimination between different nationalities, or disrupt
national solidarity;
• Those that violate the state religion policies or propagate cult and feudal superstition;
• Those that spread rumors, disturb public order or disrupt social stability;
• Those that spread pornography, obscenity, gambling, violence, homicide, terror or instigate
crimes;
• Those that insult, libel others and infringe other people's legal rights and interests; or
• Other contents prohibited by laws, rules and administrative regulations.” 8
Various other regulations by the Ministry of Information Industry specify the mandate and the
tasks of the Internet Network Information Center in more detail, including the “CNNIC
Implementing Rules of Domain Name Registration” from 2002 9 and the “Rules for CNNIC Domain
Name Dispute Resolution Policy” from 2007. 10
The center has the full responsibility for the registration of domain names in the .cn domain and
the allocation of Internet protocols, the numbers that identify each computer connected to the
Internet. It is responsible for management of relevant data bases, for technical research and
statistical surveys. The center hosts the secretariat of the Internet Society of China, an
independent, purely Chinese organization. It is also the authorized contact for international
Internet organizations, including the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN), a private non-profit corporation that manages critical Internet resources - root servers,
domain names, and Internet protocol addresses - on behalf of the global Internet community. The
corporation was established in 1998 by the US government, based in Marina del Rey, California.
Mainland China is officially a member of the ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee but does
not participate in regular meetings while Taiwan remains a full member. However, China hosted an
official board meeting of the corporation in Shanghai in 2001. Recently, ICANN's Board Chairman,
Peter Dengath Trush, got a warm welcome in Beijing and met the Director General of the Internet
Network Information Center, Mao Wei, on Feb. 19, 2008. 11 Since 2007, the center has officially
been a member of ICANN's Country Code Name Supporting Organization.
Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan
Next to the .cn Domain there are also country code top-level domains for Hong Kong .hk
(managed by the Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation Ltd. /HKIRC with 152,000
registered domain names in 2007) 12 and for Macao .mo (managed by the Macao Network
Information Center at the University of Macao 13 with only 2,075 registered domain names in 2007).
Both registries are managed independently, have their own rules and individual policies but
operate under the same general regulations as CNNIC.