RIGF-2011 has opened

On 12 May 2011, the 2nd Russian Internet Governance Forum opened in Expocentr Krasnaya Presnya. The event is co-hosted by the Coordination Center for TLD .RU and the RF Ministry of Telecommunications and Mass Media.

Igor Schegolev, the RF Minister of Telecommunications and Mass Media, opened the Forum. In his presentation he emphasized the importance of the Russian Internet Governance Forum. "Expansion of the Internet dictates harmonization of interests of all Internet stakeholders,” – said the Minister. And the forum, stressed Mr. Schegolev, solves the critical task of uniting them in order to discuss and address key issues of Internet governance in Russia, and worldwide.

The Minister noted that Russia has to date created a unique practice of Internet governance, which can be of interest and useful for foreign colleagues. "We stand for the free development of the Internet and do not intend to impose any strict total control over the functioning of the Internet in Russia," - said Mr. Schegolev. Referencing to the structure of the Internet regulation worldwide, the Minister asserted that any national regulation would be plausible only when the model of interaction between all the stakeholders engaged in Internet governance would be employed on an international scale.

At the plenary session of the Forum, addresses were given by Mikhail Grishankov, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Security; Peter Dengate Thrush, Chairman of the Board of ICANN; Alexander Ntoko, Head of Corporate Strategy Division of ITU; Alexander Turkot, Vice President of the Skolkovo Foundation; Markus Kummer, ISOC Vise President of Public Policy; Natalya Kasperskaya, Chairperson of the Board of Director of the CSC “Kaspersky Lab”, General Director of InfoWatch;  Jovan Kurbalija, Director of Diplo Foundation; and Marina Nikerova, Chair of the CC’s Board.

Peter Dengate Thrush noted a huge role which Russia has played lately in the Internet governance and called on the Russian Internet-community to take a pro-active stance in this process. Mikhail Grishankov focused on the Internet security and the need for a reasonable control of it. Alexander N’toko outlined prospects for a rapidly unfolding global partnership between major international organizations dealing with modern telecommunications. Alexander Turkot spoke of prospects of Russia's innovation project Skolkovo and the prospective registration of another Russian domain created specifically for the project -.SKOLKOVO. Markus Kummer reckoned that the Internet owes its success as a vital social and economic tool, first of all, to a unique model of development and engagement. “Co-governance has made the Internet what it is now. Without the engagement of a wide range of stakeholders combined with an open and transparent cooperation it is unlikely that the Internet will flourish for the benefit of all,” – stressed Mr. Kummer. Natalya Kasperskaya spoke about opportunities the Internet provides for businesses, as well as threats it poses for them. "The Internet is a pervasive medium, and this has its pros and cons," – said she.

Jovan Kurbalija proceeded with the theme of interaction between users and the Internet environment: “All modern Internet services are already employing cloud technology, although their users at times do not know about this,” – he told RIGF-2011 participants.

At the close of the session the audience congratulated Marina Nikerova on having been nominated for the ICANN Board. "Today, Internet governance actually is governing our lives," - she said. "And everything else will depend on how efficiently we implement Internet governance."

It is not incidental that the opening of the 2nd RIGF fell on 12 May: a year ago, – on this very day of 12 May 2010 the IANA introduced the entry about Cyrillic domain .РФ into its root servers. Practically each participant in the plenary sessions referred to that development in their addresses and congratulated not only the Coordination Center for TLD .RU, but the whole Russian Internet community.

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