.ru Registration To Require Legal Papers From April 1

[engine]

.ru Registration To Require Legal Papers From April 1 [computerworld.com]

In a bid to cut down on fraud and inappropriate content, the organization responsible for administering Russia's .ru top-level domain names is tightening its procedures.

Starting April 1, anyone who registers a .ru domain will need to provide a copy of their passport or, for businesses, legal registration papers. Right now, domains can be set up with no verification -- a practice that has allowed scammers to quickly set up .ru domains under bogus names.

The changes will help Russia align its rules with international best practices, said Olga Ermakova, informational projects manager with the Coordination Center for the .ru top-level domain, in an e-mail interview. The .ru administrators care about the "cleanness" of the domain, she added. "We don't need negative content, and such content is often [created] by unknown users."

[Webwork]

I agree that there are valid reasons for creating a record somewhere of the actual identity of the registrant of a domain name.

Do some inside Russia wonder if this is also a way for "the State", or its agents, to pursue any other interests or goals, such as collecting . . revenue . . from the operators of apparently successful sites, etc.?

Unfortunately, the requirement of showing passports has a bit of an air of "Papers, please! Show me your papers!" to it. :P

Russian domain officials can be a bit scary . . intimidating.

[zdgn]

In Soviet Russia the domain registers YOU.

Sorry, just couldn't resist. ;D

[Hugene]

Not a good move IMHO. This could be used for tightening control on the web.

But then again, there are so many other top-level domains that can be registered with no state meddling.

[Nobias]

.com value will raise :)

[LifeinAsia]

In Soviet Russia the domain registers YOU.

I thought everyone in Soviet Russia owned ALL the .ru domains collectively.

[Malkovich]

During this Putin-Medvedev monarchy, more and more people get criminally persecuted for expressing opinions on blogs. Sites that allow "improper" postings are shut down. Site-owners and journalists get killed (e.g., [nytimes.com...]

Now, it would be easier to trace people, not scammers.

BTW, faked Russian passports are usually sold by subway entrances in Moscow...

[jmccormac]

I was just looking at the stats for .ru and .su ccTLDs. They are doing quite well. The .ru was at 2667660 at the end of February and the .su was at 92345. The move to what is in effect a managed registry is interesting as it definitely has an effect on the growth of a ccTLD. (As an aside, the stats for .me ccTLD are quite a surprise as the ccTLD is bigger than .name gTLD.) As for that survey of WHOIS data quoted in the article, I am not convinced of its accuracy as it is based on a very narrow sample.

Regards...jmcc

[walkman]

Over two million domains and growing means it's a nightmare, but some governments are good at keeping files :).

[graeme_p]

I doubt this will do any good, and I suspect it is a way of tightening state control in general, rather than aiming to shut down scam sites etc. Malkovich's comments confirm this.

Anyone can register a .co.uk, or lots of others, but they do not attract as many scam sites as .ru because they have law enforcement and legal systems that can react more effectively to the scams.

The changes will help Russia align its rules with international best practices

Given that the domain most popular with legitimate sites (.com,.org and a lot of the big ccTLDs) do not require such checks, it looks to me as though NOT requiring paper work is international best practice.

In fact, in my (limited) experience the less developed a country the tighter the regulation of the ccTLD (unless it gets used as a money spinning pseudo-generic).

[bill]

This sounds oddly familiar... CNNIC cracking down on .cn domains [webmasterworld.com].

[iThink]

So Russians are following the footsteps of Chinese communists.

What next? A ban on Google in Russia?

[bwakkie]

It must be an April Fools joke right?

[Rugles]

I would imagine this is being done because few people outside of Russia take anything seriously that comes from a .ru. Seriously, it was becoming a joke. If I see an email from a .ru I dont even reply, just hit the delete button.

[iThink]

If I see an email from a .ru I dont even reply, just hit the delete button.

Will this requirement of papers for domain registrations change your mindset or the mindset of people in general? I guess no.

[nomis5]

A Russian passport or any old passport?

And a "copy" of a passport will stop nothing. It will just ensure that passport officials at Sheremitevo airport in Moscow will be photocopying everyone's Russian passport and selling them for a few roubles.

A quick trip to Moscow will enlighten you to the fact that the entire (slight exaggeration, maybe) population is involved in the black market. It's part of daily life. It's a joke!

[jmccormac]

I would not be surprised to see some ccTLD registries moving back towards some kind of 'proof of entitlement' approach once the ccTLD in question has gained a critical mass of domains. Apart from the super ccTLDs like .uk, .de and .cn, ccTLD extensions don't really follow the rules of gTLD speculation.

Regards...jmcc

[Rugles]

Will this requirement of papers for domain registrations change your mindset or the mindset of people in general? I guess no.

No it won't. The die is cast, I am already jaded against everything with that tld unfortunately. I am sure I am not alone.

[LifeinAsia]

Definitely not alone. Anything with a .ru in the message (body or sender) is part of my spam filter rules.

[HuskyPup]

Anything with a .ru in the message (body or sender) is part of my spam filter rules.

I'm not saying that there is not a lot of garbage emanating from there however we do a lot of business there therefore we delete the obvious stuff directly off the mail server and let the good stuff through.

There is a lot of good and legitimate business going on, you just need to pick your way through the obvious scams etc.

[LifeinAsia]

It's doubtful that we would be doing business with someone with a .ru in the sender or body of the e-mail. For the rare chance, we have a Contact Us form and could always use our Gmail account for a continuing conversation.

Our problem is that we do a lot of business in Korea, another SPAM/scam haven. :(