Mind.cn sold for $20,000

I haven’t seen any .cn domains sold in xx,xxx range previously and I now notice a domain sale of Mind.cn for $20,000. It was a very good domain sale for a .cn (China extension) domain. I believe it is sold to an end user. The domain, Mind.cn was sold at the Sedo domain marketplace. The domain made me think of my domain sale, Mindpedia.com for x,xxx range a few months ago.

I looked at the previous .cn domain sales and found out another two xx,xxx range .cn domain sales. They are Rugby.cn sold for $25,000 (2007) and Forums.cn sold for $10,000 (2009).

Godaddy Boots .CN Namesells

Concerned about new Chinese data collection policies, Go Daddy announced Wednesday that it will no longer allow customers to sign up for new .CN domain names. While .CN management is currently intact, Americana and global customers may ultimately vended to a third party if GoDaddy washes it hands of .CN altogether. China’s surveillance and monitoring of the Internet activities of its citizens has unsettled many human rights legislators and internet business operators.

As China changes the internet model, so may they also see declines in international traffic and online profit taking opportunities from Western consumers. The domain registrar follows recent reporting of rejection of Google data management policies inside the Asian meganation. The curtailing of sales of  .CN domain names spells the end of the open book playing field for internet domainers.

Google China: What Went Wrong?

Evidently the overarching deal terms to whatever agreement Google had with China didn’t stipulate clearly enough that Google’s brand and emechanisms would be falling under the red banner. Did China backwards engineer a Google fault or did they use proprietary technology to spark a lethal cyberattack against (American) competitors online?

     It would seem that some code originators in China are not nearly as scrupulous as the Chinese government would believe. Experts say Google has a case to proceed no matter what. Either (A) malicious hackers are so prevalent in China nobody can stop them, and hence Google can proceed unimpeded by censors, or (B) China’s Internet policy is hopelessly imperialistic given the elasticity and speed of the Internet andthe genie can’t be put back in the bottle for billions of Chinese Internet fans.

China’s unilateral policy towards Internet use is ungovernable and technically indefensible, as the last week’s hacking activity shows. If China wants to control the Internet and write dictatorial policy for the entire planet, such as altering Google engines would demand, they need to address more internal matters before presuming to articulate market forces.

No Google Flowers for China

Chinese citizens, grateful to Google for stepping up against the unholy internet filters, started leaving flowers at the China location for Google, reports say. Al-Jazeera reports that  Chinese citizens are aware they are getting shafted by Chinese government policies and are happy someone is finally standing up to Big Red. This could mean a slammed shut China market for domaining and web space enterprises. Many experts cannot predict where China’s inflexibility will take their internet presence and how citizens will react.

China Strangles Google Access, Users

China continues to pretend it isn’t strangling natural growth and internet access to its citizens; Google isn’t buying. When will China figure out that political doubletalk doesn’t equal partnership? A BBC story details the myopic projection of Chinese Internet policies as the world’s biggest Internet company threatens to walk.

China today released a statement announcing that “Internet firms are welcome to do business “according to the law”.

The statement, from Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu, is Beijing’s first response to Google’s threat to stop filtering content in China.

Google said late on Tuesday that Chinese cyber-attacks aimed at human rights activists might force it to close its Chinese operations.

Ms Jiang said the internet was “open” in China.

Google announced that it was no longer willing to censor its Chinese search engine – google.cn.

The search engine subsequently said it would hold talks with the government in the coming weeks to look at operating an unfiltered search engine within the law in the country, though no changes to filtering have yet been made.

China delimits Internet Webmaking

As befits a national government free of corruption, China today underscored its intent to censor Internet activity centered on website launches and content creation, citing prevention of child-based pornography, piracy, and fraud.

Yet transparently this seems to many to be a way for the current political establishment to elimination development of the opposition. And, ironically, these efforts to shut down sites leave the options to buy .Cn domains to foriegners.

“Individuals have also been banned from registering Web sites ending in .cn, China’s country code domain name. That domain is now limited to registered businesses.

 Although individuals can still register Web sites in other domains, such as .com and .net, the new rule “will have a negative impact on the vibrancy of the Chinese Internet,” Kenneth Jarrett, vice chairman of the communications firm APCO Worldwide’s China region, said in an e-mail message.

“Local e-mail e-commerce startups and individuals will find it difficult to apply,” he wrote.”

from the New York Times

Review ICANN policy for disputed domains…

ICANN holds that passive holding of a disputed domain name permits an unlawful inference of registration and domain use in bad faith. The other two tenets of disputed domains are that  no use of the domain name or website that connected with the domain name is occurring, and that the domain holder is not widely known by that name.

For a good example, review the complaint filed with ICANN by West Coast University against a Chinese domain owner for www.wcuedu.us. The decision marks an ICANN enforcement of these elements and domain use dynamics.

Triple two dot com earns big…

Sedo.com has sold the 3 number domain name 222.com for $49,000 USD . According to Whois history records, the web hosting communications company Blue Gravity was the past owner and the new owner is Lei Shengqiang.

Secondly, 222.com is not just any old 3 number domain. Area codes and numerology issue new meanings to such names. A Chinese buyer makes sense, especially in China’s emerging internet landscape. As China discovers its inner websurfer, new domain destinations with strong numerical associations will be in demand.

According to NameBio.com, they report 4 other NNN .com domain sales in 2009. All of those are 5 figures.

434.com $18,500 (Sedo)
414.com $11,480 (Disemails)
659.com $10,600 (Sedo)
401.com $65,100 (NameJet)

Chinese Name Checkers

Domainers continue to coalesce around the Chinese name market as well as they can. As much as international domainers and global speculators are focusing on China, a limited participation offering may not yet have fully emerged solidly. Despite visible State support, the offering seems not quite yet navigable.

Complex entry into the Chinese domain name market may spell competition and obstacles. Currently, Internet Explorer 6 is in use in China is at around the 68% mark. Chinese residents and internet users also must participate in a cultural content block, which may limite certain domain topics and website offerings to a vast extent, such as the adult market.

Burfurcated Internet China

Those looking to do business in domaining in China can scratch their heads. Amid reports that the idn.mobi agreement and press conference  just took place in China and accomplished that idn.mobi registrations will be going live in a few weeks, the unknown horizons of Chinese business frontiers loom. Billions of Chinese consumers are lurking?

Domain and internet global commerce is welcome,  but at the same time, the Chinese government requires internet filters and standard ‘policing’ webware to govern its citizen’s Internet habits and World Wide Web use. Who will the Chinese domain name customers be? Who will be the end user market for Chinese domain name development?