internationalized versions of domain name top-level labels

FYI:

 

A major topic of discussion at ICANN is the introduction of "IDN TLDs"  --
internationalized versions of top-level domain (TLD) labels such as ".COM",
".NET", ".ORG", etc.  This means that in the future, a whole domain name -
both to the left and the right of the last dot - may be internationalized.
(Currently only characters to the left of the dot may be internationalized.)
Imagine ".COM" rendered in and functional in many different scripts:
Chinese, Devanagari, Japanese, Cyrillic, Tamil, etc. etc.  

 

This topic will have impact on applications.  There are also policy issues,
such as management of the various "versions" of a TLD.  

 

This topic will be discussed at the upcoming ICANN meeting in San Juan,
Puerto Rico on June 25-29, 2007.  There is currently work underway in ICANN
committees and at the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). 

 

As part of the effort, ICANN has posted a set of draft procedures describing
how IANA will manage the insertion, administration, and removal of
internationalized top-level labels in the DNS root zone. ICANN's
announcement is at: 

http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-02jun07.htm

A public comment period is open until June 22, 2007.

 

ICANN has also published a new version of its IDN Guidelines, which for the
first time makes specific reference to IDN in top-level labels. It is
anticipated to be amended and supplemented in subsequent drafts in
preparation for the release of internationalized top-level labels in the
production environment.  This document is currently open to public comment:

http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-2-11may07.htm

 

With best wishes,

--Greg Aaron

 

 

**********************************

Greg Aaron

Senior Manager, e-Commerce

Afilias

vox: +1.215.706.5700 x104

fax: 1.215.706.5701

gaaron@afilias.info 

**********************************

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