The Tver Region hosted a conference by the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ, ‘On the Internet Aboard a Boat,’ which featured discussions about the influence of the country-code domains .RU and .РФ on the development of the Russian internet. Experts from the Coordination Center presented a new electronic procedure for assigning domain names and discussed the legal aspects of domain registration, the pros and cons of the permanent blocking of websites, the future of Big Data governance and the distributed storage system for domain name information. Participants in the conference also discussed the development of new top-level domain names in Russia, specifically, the new ones launched as part of the ICANN program New gTLD (ДЕТИ, .MOSCOW/.МОСКВА, .TATAR, .РУС, .YANDEX and others).
The conference also featured a roundtable discussion dedicated to new Russian domain names and the influence of domain name registration in .RU and .РФ. on the Russian internet. The discussion was attended by Director of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ Andrey Vorobyev, the center’s Deputy Director for Legal Affairs Sergei Kopylov, expert of the center’s department of registrars and users Lyubov Vidanova, Technical Center of Internet Director Alexei Platonov and expert of the Smart Internet Foundation Viktoria Bunchuk.
Andrey Vorobyev presented the latest statistics on the development of Russian domain names. He also spoke about the contribution of accredited registrars to Russian internet development. Lyubov Vidanova then talked about how registries help registrars grow and develop and what is being done to encourage competitiveness among registrars and to improve the quality of services. Sergei Kopylov said the Coordination Council currently comprises five committees with well-known experts on the Russian internet. Four of the committees began operating in late 2015 through early 2016, and some results of their work can now be reviewed. He also spoke about the legal aspects of the domain network .
Alexei Platonov spoke about the development of the Russian internet infrastructure after the signing of a memorandum on the development of the Russian segment of the internet. It was signed in February 2016 during the section ‘Cybersecurity of Critical Infrastructure’ at the 2016 Cyber Security Forum. It was signed by three organizations responsible for the infrastructure of the Russian internet addressing system: the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ, the Technical Center of Internet and MSK-IX. Another issue addressed by Alexei Platonov was the import substitution of software used to maintain Russian domain name registers.
Viktoria Bunchuk focused on Smart Internet Foundation social and educational projects, aimed at improving the digital literacy of children and teenagers, including the .ДЕТИ domain names and the Positive Content contest.
The conference was timed to coincide with the RELARN-2016 21st conference of representatives of regional research and educational networks, and coordination center experts took part in RELARN discussions. The center’s director, Andrey Vorobyev, chaired a roundtable discussion on boosting the development of positive content for children and youth on the internet. He and Viktoria Bunchuk spoke about the Study the Internet, Govern It project for schoolchildren. The educational interactive project teaches students about the structure of the internet, the main IT services and online security. The project also features a mobile training app and an annual online contest where students can show off their web literacy and compete for the champion title and prizes.
