Government to Shut Down Unregistered Private Web Sites on July 1

July 1, 2005

According to Xinhua, the Chinese government announced on June 24 that: "The Chinese Ministry of Information Industry (MII) has decided to temporarily close down all domestic Web sites that fail to register with local telecommunications authorities before June 30."

According to Xinhua, the Chinese government announced on June 24 that: "The Chinese Ministry of Information Industry (MII) has decided to temporarily close down all domestic Web sites that fail to register with local telecommunications authorities before June 30." The Xinhua report, available in English and Chinese, cited MII officials as saying that Web sites that the government shuts down will have 10 days to register with local telecommunications authorities. Some local governments have, however, already begun shutting down Web sites. For example, government controlled media reported on June 4 that the following day Tianjin authorities would issue notices to Tianjin Mobile, Tianjin Liantong, Tianjin Net, and other telecommunications operators and Internet service providers to temporarily stop access services to over 1,000 Web sites that had not completed registration procedures.

The Chinese version of the article also warns Internet users that they may be shut down in a kind of "guilt by association" effect: "the 30 percent of Web sites that have not carried out ICP [Internet content provider] registration procedures will not only suffer death in the flood of shut downs, but will also 'implicate nine generations of their family' and risk causing those Web sites that have already registered to be shut down." This discussion is apparently a reference, noted in earlier Chinese media reports, to the fact that many Web sites use "virtual hosting," where several sites share a single IP address. Chinese authorities appear indifferent to the issue, and have left it to companies using virtual hosting to ensure that their systems do not include any unregistered Web sites.

In addition to requiring Web sites to register with the MII, some large cities in China, such as Beijing and Guangzhou, are forcing Web sites to register with public security authorities, citing stipulations in the Measures for the Administration of Security Protection of Computer Information Networks with International Interconnections.

As part of the registration process, the MII is requiring anyone that posts news on their Web site to provide proof that they have been authorized by the Chinese government to post news on the Internet.