Soviet-era .su domains may be deleted by 2030
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Recently, there is news that the .su domain name from the Soviet era may be deleted in 2030, and currently there are about 100,000 related domain names facing suspension.
The .su domain name was born in September 1990, when the Soviet Union had not yet collapsed. In 1994, Russia obtained the .ru domain name, and other Soviet republics also had their own new domain names. After that, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) tried to cancel the .su domain name many times, but failed.
In 2001, in order to meet everyone's needs for free access, the .su domain name was open to registration in all regions. At that time, the registration price was quite high, with an average of $120 per domain name, which was about 6 times that of the .ru domain name. The high price was on the one hand to control the number of registrations, and on the other hand to prevent people from reselling domain names. At the end of 2006, ICANN wanted to delete and release this suffix again, but there was still resistance, and the elimination plan was deadlocked.
By January 2008, the registration price had dropped to $25, and the number of such domains had increased significantly. Today, the .su domain is managed by the Russian Public Network Development Institute, and its namespace is still open for new registrations.
On February 6, the Public Technical Identifiers (PTI), which operates the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), sent a private message to the Russian Public Network Development Institute, saying that it plans to stop using the .su domain by 2030. This is because according to the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) deactivation policy, when a country or region is removed from the ISO 3166-1 standard, its corresponding country code domain name must be deactivated after a transition period. The default transition period is five years, and the operator can apply for an extension of up to five years. The .su domain was removed from the ISO 3166-1 standard as early as 1992. Previously, ICANN postponed the deactivation because it was formulating the current formal policy.
If the process is officially launched, the .su domain name will be removed in 2030 unless the operator and PTI agree to an extension. Of course, if the policy changes, it may be retained, but this must be approved by the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO).
The deactivation of the .su domain name is particularly sensitive in the current geopolitical tensions. And the way it is handled is likely to set a precedent for other national (regional) code domain names. For example, the UK intends to transfer control of the British Indian Ocean Territory to Mauritius, which may lead to the removal of IO from the ISO list, and then the .io domain name will also face the deactivation process. However, the number of .io domain name registrations is large and it can generate a lot of income every year, which also makes its stay complicated.
For those involved in Internet management, deleting or deactivating a top-level domain name based on policy must find a balance between following policy standards, considering geopolitics, economic interests and the needs of the majority of users. Whether the future Internet domain name landscape will change due to such decisions, everyone is waiting to see.
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