General Frolov wishes to speak with you!!

[bwhhisc]

FROM MOSNEWS:
Russian Agencies Question US Web Site’s Right to “Russia” Domain Name
Created: Feb 3, 2006 10:44 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 11:01 MSK

MosNews
A U.S.-based web site, Russiatoday.com, has been asked to provide proof it has permission from the former Soviet Union to use the name “Russia.”

RIA-Novosti news agency General Director Sergei Frolov reportedly made the demand from the Web news portal on behalf of Russia Today, an English-language satellite channel that was launched late last year, the Moscow Times reported Thursday.

An incredulous David Rothstein, head of the European Internet Network that owns Russiatoday.com, released a statement saying thousands of companies worldwide “will be quite surprised to know that they need an official stamp of approval from Moscow to use the name ’Russia.’”

Moscow said the Duma passed a law in May forbidding Russian non-state media organizations from using “Russia” in their names.

[sarcle]

Yes, a country reverse hijacking. It won't work, last time I checked America doesn't have restrictions on .com based on the term russia, and I'm sure he didn't sign an agreement when he purchased the domain.

This case may set precedence for us with our terms in Russian.

Originally Posted by bwhhisc

FROM MOSNEWS:
Russian Agencies Question US Web Site’s Right to “Russia” Domain Name
Created: Feb 3, 2006 10:44 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 11:01 MSK

MosNews
A U.S.-based web site, Russiatoday.com, has been asked to provide proof it has permission from the former Soviet Union to use the name “Russia.”

RIA-Novosti news agency General Director Sergei Frolov reportedly made the demand from the Web news portal on behalf of Russia Today, an English-language satellite channel that was launched late last year, the Moscow Times reported Thursday.

An incredulous David Rothstein, head of the European Internet Network that owns Russiatoday.com, released a statement saying thousands of companies worldwide “will be quite surprised to know that they need an official stamp of approval from Moscow to use the name ’Russia.’”

Moscow said the Duma passed a law in May forbidding Russian non-state media organizations from using “Russia” in their names.

[bwhhisc]

I found this interesting. Russia and China may both wish to attempt control certain domains and terms, particularly any that are deemed offensive. You may be able to register it, but they can surely try to block it. As mentioned in an earlier thread (by touchring), politics and religion are taboo subjects in China. I read somewhere that there are about 19,000 websites officially blocked by China that are related to its culture, and of coarse subjects that the government donesn't allow freedom of information on.

[touchring]

Enom and Sedo.com are blocked - i had to use Sedo.cn to check my clicks. Even sites that uses sedo.com dns are blocked.

I suspect that namedrive.com is banned as well - not sure if it's banned or it's a link problem.

Domain forums like dnf, idnf, namepros, idnclub are all accessible.

[thefabfive]

I was debating for a few days whether or not to register my latest Russian name in light of the the Russian government's responses. I finally decided to go ahead and register

гост.com - GOST.com - Russian Federal Agency on Technical Regulating and Metrology

Yandex is 369K, Ovt ~1013, 3.5M Page results on Google

I figure it's only a $6.99 loss if General Frolov comes a knocking. Probably the boldest domain I've registered. Do you think the Russians will seek me out and set me straight?

I know in the US there seems to be little restrictions of domain names. For example, IRS.com is registered by someone and not affiliated with the government. I guess that's where the .gov extension comes in.

[blastfromthepast]

гост could also be a misspelling for guest, or an abreviation for hotel. Don't wory about the generals. Just because the name is in Russian doesn't mean that it comes under Russian laws.

GOST is simply an abreviation for government standard.

The International Standards Organization iso.org is not getting upset at iso.com, the risk information company.

[thefabfive]

Thanks, BFTP.

I think someone who clicked on the name was also looking for Ghost so maybe I have a decent typo here.

[blastfromthepast]

Originally Posted by bwhhisc

Moscow said the Duma passed a law in May forbidding Russian non-state media organizations from using “Russia” in their names.

And recently every website has been regarded by the courts as a media organization. So if you have "Russia" domains, get ready. General Frolov wishes to speak with you.

As for russiatoday.com it looks like the Russian government owned Russia Today TV (est. 2005) has finally gotten the domain that General Frolov called about.

 

[burnsinternet]

Maybe they bought it?