On 6 March 2012, the RBC press center hosted a round table discussion “Children’s Internet in Russia 2012-2018”, which was co-sponsored by the Coordination Center for TLDs RU/РФ and the “Smart Internet” Foundation. Participants in the round table discussed creation of children Internet space, ways to ensure information and moral safety of children and teens, as well as issues regarding delegation of top-level domain .ДЕТИ by ICANN.
“By its concept, the Internet is a platform for free thinking, creativity and development, but in practice it often turns out that the network becomes some kind of craal with lush grass and shepherds. And our mission is not only to protect a young person from illicit content but to shield him or her from joining the herd and preserve his/her personality,” began his presentation Vladimir Mamontov, Director of the “Smart Internet” Foundation. Andrey Kolesnikov, the CC’s CEO, dropped the news to the attendees that an application for delegation of top-level domain .ДЕТИ will be submitted shortly to ICANN. The overall cost of registration, launch and subsequent support of the domain in next 3 years will amount to USD 1,000,000. It will take ICANN 9 months to review the application and another 3 months - to delegate the domain, so the envisaged date of launch of the new TLD is the spring of 2013.
Alexey Gusev, Deputy Head of the Department “Young Professionals” of the Agency of Strategic Initiatives, reminded the audience that the initiative to create the specialized domain .ДЕТИ in Russia had been approved on the very top, with Vladimir Putin, Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, having expressed his support of the idea at a meeting of the ASI Board of Trustees in October 2011. “Our Agency is committed to support all key socio-economic projects and domain .ДЕТИ is ideologically close to us, as – it aims at bolstering human capital,” enunciated A. Gusev.
Ilia Peresedov, Executive Director of the “Smart Internet” Foundation, noted that registration of domain .ДЕТИ will form a development of both the domestic and global scale. “We are set to create a separate children Internet and we will accomplish this goal,” said he. Popularity of .ДЕТИ will tell on development of technologies too. I. Peresedov believes that the creation of a special “children-friendly” versions of common Internet browsers will be quite justified. Information environment which will engulf children from an early age on (future users of domain space .ДЕТИ, according to its organizers, will age between 6 and 14) will help the younger generation to develop their own moral landmarks and correctly perceive versatile information obtained from the “Adult Internet”.
