“Hello, is this the laundry? – Clowndry! Better than that, this is the Ministry of Culture” or new rules for domain registration.

Everyone knows that in the Internet there is not only the .ru domain extension, but since 2010 there is also a .рф, and since 2016 – a .рус extension.

In connection with the emergence of new domain extensions, the Coordination Center (the main organization in Russia responsible for domain registration) and domain registrars (companies that provide domains for use on a fee basis) now have an addition to their headaches.

New Cyrillic domains opened up new opportunities for the administrators (domain users). All that thanks to the fact that now you can insert obscene words in a domain name, or, simply, a website address.

According to the “Rules for Registration of Domain Names in the extensions .ru and .рф , users can not register a domain that uses words, prejudicial to the public interest, principles of humanity

and morality (in particular, words of obscene content, appeals of inhumane nature, insulting human dignity or religious feelings, etc.). ”

Despite this, Runet contains some abusive domains, since their registration is automatic. In a domain name, you can use 64 characters, which gives quite a lot of freedom for the users’ imagination.

Currently, the Coordination Center has no legal basis for deregistration (cancellation) of such domains. For now this problem is solved in such a way that a domain name is added to the stop list. This measure limits the ability to transfer the domain to another user, but not the domain operation itself.

Also, the domain can be annulled by a written decision of the head of the body that carries out operational investigation activities (“K” Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor General’s Office). These powers are provided by item 5.5 of the “Rules for the registration of domain names in the extension .ru and .рф” (hereinafter – “Rules”).

There is also a non-state domain suspension procedure. Kaspersky Labs Group-IB, the Regional Public Organization “Internet Technologies Center” (ROCIT), Ru-Cert, as well as the NP “League of Secure Internet” – signed an agreement with the Coordination Center (hereinafter – “CC”), according to which these organizations send a “motivated statement of the organization” to the CC and in accordance with item 5.7. of the Rules, CC can suspend the domain if it is used for phishing (substitution of the original site), spreading viruses or materials containing child pornography.

Alleged changes prepared by the CC will supplement the list of relevant authorities that will be able to contact the CC with a motivated request.

Historical reference:

In 2010, before launching the domain zone “.рф” a stop list of 4,000 words was prepared, which could not be registered as a domain. However, 88 of those were later rehabilitated, among these words: “профурсетка”, “зад”, “растуды”, “подсердечник” and “стеклорез” (essentially, “gold-digger”, “backside”, “to hell with that”, “diaphragm” and “glass cutter”).

In 2013, Roskomnadzor specifically appealed to the Institute of the Russian language in order to define foul language. The Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences gave an explanation that four words of the Russian language and their derivatives are considered as swearing: “The obscene designation of the male sexual organ, the obscene designation of the female sexual organ, the obscene designation of the process of copulation and the obscene designation of the woman of dissolute behavior, and all and any linguistic units formed from these words”.

Actually, the introduction to this article is derived from a widely popular Russian joke, in which the Russian counterpart of the word rhyming with “laundry” references an obscene designation of a male sexual organ; the domain name represented by this counterpart in the .рф extention was forwarding its visitors to the website of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and was recently terminated. The domain was registered to a non-existent person. It was possible to terminate the domain after the owner was requested to provide documents proving his identity. Due to the fact that no such documents were provided, the domain was terminated.

The proposals of the CC for the expansion of its domain termination powers can come in the fall of 2016.

The authors of this article evaluate these proposals as acceptable and necessary; and we would like to avoid any situations when a person wants to register a domain, referencing a glass cutter, or a diaphragm, but can not do this, as competent organizations have found that such domain names prejudicial to public interests, norms of humanity or morality.

This article was partly drawn from materials gathered from the following websites: ipclub.in, izvestia.ru