59th General Assembly of the Council of European National Top-Level Domain Registries (CENTR), in which the delegation of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ took part, came to a close. During the Assembly, elections for the positions on CENTR’s Board of Directors took place and Irina Danelia, Deputy CEO of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ, was elected for another two years. She joined the Board of Directors for the first time in 2016.
“CENTR is a unique community with a wide area of expertise that members of the Association share with each other through different mechanisms: General Assembly meetings, workshops, studies and reviews. During my term I will rely on the principles that were the basis of CENTR’s success and determined the leading positions of the Association in creating a stable global domain industry. I will continue to listen attentively to opinions of all CENTR members and will apply all my energy to create work atmosphere based on trust and mutual benefit in CENTR”, said Irina Danelia after the elections.
One of the main topics of CENTR’s 59th General Assembly was tackling illegal content online. Members highlighted the role that registries of country-code top-level domains can play in this process. General Manager of CENTR Peter Van Roste made a presentation about this issue. In his speech he talked about the main principles, on which CENTR’s work in this area is based. “We are certain that information security and trust online are the key conditions that allow the Internet to remain a platform for innovation, creativity and economic possibilities. This being said, registries of ccTLDs, while supporting an infrastructure that is extremely important for the entire economy, do not manage content themselves and cannot determine whether it violates any laws. We need to approach fighting against illegal content in stages with respect for all fundamental rights and freedoms. This should be accompanied by publication of open and transparent regulation rules”, said Peter Van Roste. He also noted the interest of CENTR members in close cooperation with law enforcement of their countries and within their zone of responsibility.
A lot of attention in the report was paid to WHOIS data accuracy. According to the speaker, if the data in WHOIS is incorrect, then CENTR members will do their best to improve their accuracy and make amendments in the terms of agreements. Peter Van Roste paid special attention to the acute problem of domain name elimination: “CENTR admits that elimination of a domain name has far more extensive consequences than restricting access to a website; this is why application of this procedure should be very well thought out and all circumstances taken into account. In some cases, if the regulations of the country allow it, registries of top-level domains can eliminate domains without a court order.” The speaker highlighted that an essential part of eliminating a domain name is public notification of authorities on this fact, because secret notification of authorities is considered unacceptable.
“We see that our position towards tackling illegal content, and also phishing, bot-nets and malware is almost identical to the European. Our close cooperation with CENTR and the work of our representative at the Board of Directors of the Association plays a major role here”, said Andrey Vorobyev, CEO of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ, about the results of CENTR's 59th General Assembly.
