Re: Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) in progress

Najib, and other with IDN experience, I encourage you to send back your comments 
on IDN real issues to ICANN and the IDN groups there.

Najib Tounsi wrote:
> 
> FYI. Good News
> 
> Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) is speeding 
> up their work to introduce Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs). Icann 
> has published a call for test on this issue. see 
> http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-15oct07.htm
> 
> The tests are targeted toward 'full' IDNs, i.e. with TLDs in non-Latin 
> scripts such as Arabic, Chinese, Cyrilic, Greek and others. Among other 
> things, the tests aim essentially to
> (1) "know how the URL displays in browsers" and
> (2) "How this impacts the root zone"
> 
> I would like to add two comments:
> About the point (1), the W3C I18N WG have already carried out a series 
> of tests on how IDNs are displayed in browsers. Results are discussed in:
> http://www.w3.org/International/tests/results/results-idn-IDNs
> and
> http://www.w3.org/International/tests/results/results-rtl-idn-display  
> (for IDNs with RTL scripts)
> 
> About (2), technically there should be no problem, since IDNs are 
> converted to punicode, an ASCII equivalent string, before being sent to 
> DNS. Moreover, ICANN have already done a similar test in
> http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-4-07mar07.htm
> to be sure "for prudence"  if in presence of TLDs expressed in punicode, 
> "DNS system as a  whole do not behave differently from its normal 
> behaviour."
> 
> Yet another breaking of open doors?
> 
> Any other comment?
> 
> Best,
> 
> Najib
>