The professional Domain 2.0 section took place at RIF+KIB 2016, one of Russia’s most important forums for and about the Russian Internet industry. The section was sponsored by the Coordination Center for TLD .RU and .РФ and brought together registrar executives, new gTLD registrars and lawyers specializing in domain name disputes. Attendees discussed domain pricing, changes in partner programs, domain space development trends, and the possible future market share redistribution.
FATID's Dmitry Burkov spoke about the history of world domains and the impact new gTLDs have had on older ones. He raised serious issues concerning the future development of DNS and promotion of IPv6. “The efforts to promote IPv6 and encryption so far have not met with success, since only eight percent of sites now use it,” he said.
Dmitry Afanasiev of the State Duma Committee for Information Policy, IT and Communications' expert council shared his experience on dealing with domain disputes and cited several relevant cases. He warned Russian companies against suing those holding foreign domain names: “When you sue a domain name owner, first consider whether a Russian court's ruling can be enforced in, for example, the state of California.” He believes such disputes can only be resolved by way of arbitration, which is particularly true of the new top-level domains.
Andrei Kuzmichyov and Anton Terekhov from the ICANN-accredited RU-Center registrar explained why their company has changed the terms and conditions of its partner program. They mentioned a revolution that is taking place on the market following the rise of new gTLDs. Fyodor Smirnov from Realtime Register weighed in on the topic, countering the view that new gTLDs have proved a game-changer for Russian registrars: “Today, new gTLDs feature 16.5 million names or 5 percent of the total. In Russia, this number is 135,000 or 1 percent of all the gTLD names. Users care more about the services we provide. What the user needs is not a domain or hosting, but a site that works. That's why a comprehensive solution should be offered.”
Alexei Steputenkov of Relcom Host spoke about the future of the .su domain: “.su has to date 120,000 registered names. Compare this to .ru and you’ll see that it's just the beginning for this domain. .su will be around for the next 30 years, so you are safe registering your name there.” He also said that adding the multi-year domain name registration option in .su is being considered.
Rounding out the section, Alexei Korolyuk from REG.RU spoke at length on domain name deregistration. He offered a few words of advice about ways to avoid having your domain name cancelled and steps to take if this happens. He also complained that 80 percent of domain names in .ru and .рф are being registered using inauthentic personal data.
Director of the Coordination Center Andrey Vorobyev ended the discussion by suggesting that professional issues should be further discussed at the closed section, which was attended by professional domainers as well as registrars and lawyers.
