ICANN Corporation allowed Verisign, which manages domain zones .COM and .NET, to introduce additional verification procedure when domain names are registered, reports Domain Incite. This procedure will only affect registrars and registrants from China. According to Chinese laws, citizens and companies have a right to register any domain names. However, they can use them only if the authorities approve it. In particular, it requires identifying the registrant as well as checking whether the domain name contains any words forbidden by the law.
The additional procedure introduced by Verisign is the introduction of the Verification Code Extension System. This code will be sent to the registrant after Chinese government checks and approves the usage of the registered domain name. Usage of the domain is possible only after the code has been entered. It should be pointed out that the introduction of this procedure is not ICANN's requirement. This is the initiative of Verisign, which last year became one of the first registries that received the permission from Chinese government to conduct business in the country. Chinese market is extremely important for Verisign; this is why the company decided to comply with the strict requirements of Chinese legislation.
As mentioned above, the additional procedure will only affect the Chinese market. However, observers point out that Verisign's decision creates a precedent and shows that it is possible technically to introduce limitations on usage of domain names by specific people and organizations. Therefore, there are no guarantees that other countries prone to strict Internet censorship won’t apply this mechanism in the future.
