Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ outlines priorities for 2019-2021 at TLDCON 2018

On September 12, the 11th International Conference of ccTLD Registries and Registrars of the CIS, Central and Eastern Europe (TLDCON 2018) opened in Jurmala, Latvia. The conference is organized by the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ with the support of the Technical Center of Internet, ICANN and NIC.LV. It brings together over 120 domain industry experts from Russia, Latvia, the United States, Canada, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Serbia and others. The main topics are domain space security, interaction between the domain industry and copyright owners, national domain development, the DNS and new technology.

Director of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ Andrey Vorobyev spoke at the plenary session that opened the conference. “TLDCON is taking place for the 11th time; for these years, the conference has picked up steam and won the trust of registrars and registries. Every year we change the location, and in 2018, TLDCON is taking place in Latvia for the first time,” he said. In his speech, Vorobyev outlined the strategy and priorities for the Coordination Center in 2019-2021.

The Coordination Center continues to formalize its relationship with the Technical Center of Internet. “The new Technical Center of Internet is part of Rostelecom Group, and naturally, we are building a new relationship. At the moment, the Russian Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media, Rostelecom and the Coordination Center signed a memorandum which regulates the relationship in the construction and development of the Russian domain infrastructure,” Vorobyev said.

In his remarks, the Coordination Center director also focused on work with competent organizations. He introduced all participants and spoke about each company’s specialization in providing cybersecurity. Vorobyev noted that the competent organizations institute makes self-regulation of the industry efficient and fast.

He also touched upon the issue of last year’s price increase for domain name registration and renewal, which, as experts believe, has affected the growth rate of the Russian domain zones .RU and .РФ. “There were other reasons for a decrease in the number of registrations: small and medium-sized businesses abandon what they do not use at the moment, including backup domain names. But overall, the trends on the market are positive, and the beginning of the new business season shows cautious growth in the number of registrations,” Vorobyev said.

Director General of the Technical Center of Internet Alexey Rogdev spoke about the transfer of the center’s functions to a Rostelecom subsidiary, how the top-level domain name register is being maintained, as well about the company’s plans for the future. “The Technical Center of Internet is the key element of the ecosystem of the national segment of the internet, and our priorities remain the same: to provide integrity, continuity, stability and sustainability of the Russian national segment of the internet and to protect the technical and technological functioning of the DNS of the .RU and .РФ domains in accordance with international standards. We will cooperate with other companies that formed a division inside Rostelecom and are responsible for the work of the internet in Russia. Besides the Technical Center of Internet, there are MSK-IX and Ngenix,” Rogdev said.

ROCIT Director Sergei Grebennikov noted the greater influence of the internet on the population and shared the results of a cyberbulling study, as well as the experience of working as a competent organization with the Coordination Center. “According to the Runet Hotline, in 2018 34 percent of users complained about illegal content, 28 percent complained about e-commerce services issues, 16 percent about phishing, and 11 percent about issues with mobile service operators,” he said. He also noted the growing influence of the internet on the population and compared it to the influence of oil and oil processing companies.

Alexandra Kulikova, ICANN Head of Global Stakeholder Engagement, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, presented the current ICANN projects and the preparations for the changing of the DNSSEC cryptographic keys. “As soon as this week, ICANN will decide on the key changing date. The decision has not been made yet, but the process has been streamlined and we know what to do in case of a force-majeure,” Kulikova said.

NIC.LV CEO Katrina Sataki welcomed conference participants in Jurmala and wished them a good event. Andrey Vorobyev congratulated the NIC.LV registry on the 25th anniversary of the .LV domain and presented a memorable gift.

TLDCON 2018 is underway; follow our updates.