US government warns about China’s new Internet regulations

US assistant commerce secretary Larry Strickling and state department ambassador Daniel Sepulveda have published a letter warning for the fragmentation of the Internet as a result of new Chinese regulations. The Chinese government decided in March that all domain names in China need to be registered through government-licensed providers in the country. ‘Whether driven by a motivation to increase control over Internet content in China or a desire to increase the quantity of Chinese-registered domain names,’ Strickling and Sepulveda write, ‘these regulations would contravene policies that have been established at a global level by all Internet stakeholders (including Chinese).’ The letter adds that the United States does not accept ‘the exercise of aggressive authority over people’s use of the Internet or the ability of a government to prevent the world from reaching its people.’