Cyrillic Domains: The Introduction of .РФ Will Cause Isolation
The fight to introduce Cyrillic domains, initiated by Russia and Bulgaria, could lead to the isolation of entire segments of the internet. However, many countries, even recognizing these problems, are still lobbying for the creation of domains in national alphabets. A lengthy article about the Cyrillic domain was published.in The New York Times.
The authors of the publication assess high risks regarding the isolation of domains, in the titlewhich use, for example, the Cyrillic alphabet. This could create a kind of cyberghetto. In this case, the free internet, which implies free access to any web page located on the World Wide Web, will disappear as a concept.
The authors of the publication in The New York Times believe that the ideologists behind the use of Cyrillic domain names may be Russian intelligence agencies and the tightening of censorship in the country.
The New York Times surveyed prominent Russian internet experts, and all unanimously stated the risks of isolation and censorship associated with using Cyrillic domain names. Meanwhile, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev advocates for the use of Cyrillic domain names. Medvedev justifies this by arguing that new Russian-language domains will open the internet to many people not yet familiar with the internet. Experts coordinating the introduction of Cyrillic domains in Russia agree. They believe such domain names will expand internet penetration to provincial towns. Andrei Kolesnikov, director of the agency coordinating Cyrillic domains, commented: "Many perceive Cyrillic domains much more favorably than Latin ones. However, professionals still don't understand the advantages of Cyrillic domains."
Following Russia's lead, other countries may also use letters from their national alphabets in domain names. These include China, Japan, and Egypt.
As a reminder, ICANN authorized the use of national alphabets in domain names in November of this year.
The launch of the Cyrillic .РФ zone also means complications for owners of websites registered in the .ru zone. Owners of such websites will decide for themselves whether to register similar domain names in the Cyrillic zone. However, even if they agree to do so, they may face a number ofproblems, which the owners of such well-known web projects as the social network Odnoklassniki have already encountered.
Currently, out of 50,000 trademarks, no more than 4,000 are registered as web addresses in the .РФ zone.
Many website owners who registered in the new domain zone did so solely to protect themselves from cybersquatters and various types of fraudsters.
Despite the advantages of introducing a Cyrillic domain zone, many experts agree: the Cyrillic domain zone will pose numerous challenges that will need to be addressed by business owners, registrars, and users. The main problem is the isolation of the Cyrillic web space from the "rest of the internet."
