Re: [ICANN-EU] IDN or: Are users Unicode-aware?

[Alf Hansen <aha@uninett.no>]

Thomas,

Thank you for bringing this to the rest of us.

Thomas Roessler wrote:
> 
> This message is some kind of follow-up to Mr. Schüller's web chat
> from this afternoon.  In the chat, Mr. Schüller argued in favor of
> Internationalized Domain Names.  Basically, he believes that we
> should not prescribe to people from other cultures how they are
> going to write their name, and that users in asiatic countries who
> don't speak English are about to be excluded from the net.
> 
> On the other hand, personally, I'm not convinced that IDNs are a
> good idea.  

IDNs (domain names using national character sets) IS a good idea, but
the implementation of it has to wait for the technical solution provided
by IETF. 

> Additionally, I do believe that when they will get into
> widespread use, some administrative proceudres may be needed on the
> registrars' end in order to avoid a great lot of confusion.
> 
> Here's why: Domain names are displayed to and memorized, recorded,
> and typed by human beings.  However, this is only possible if the
> human beings in question are able to read and distinguish the
> characters used.  This is nicely guaranteed with phone numbers, and
> it's kind of guaranteed with the current us-ascii character set.
> However, assuming that we are heading towards a world with
> internationalized domain names, this feature won't persist, since -
> even given correctly functioning software, which I doubt will exist
> - users are generally not Unicode-aware.  Europeans just don't read
> Arab or Chinese alphabets in general, and Chinese people won't read
> Hebrew.
> 
> This implies that domain names can't be used globally any more,
> because they can't be typed or read globally (note that phone
> numbers can).  

They MUST be used globally, and the IETF has to reach a conclusion on
how this can be achieved. It is a difficult problem, and I do not know
the solution.

> That is, domain names become close to useless as
> globally unique addresses which they, technically, still are.

Not if the IETF is able to reach a conclusion.

> 
> Nevertheless, people will happily register domain names with
> national characters in them, and note the problems they create that
> way too late.

ICANN should not open up for this until it has been proven to work
properly.

> 
> I do believe that domain registries should make sure that global
> addressibility in the DNS is preserved - and be it by forcing
> equivalent us-ascii domains upon users.

Agree. That is how it works today before IDNs are operational according
to the IETF's RFC(s).

> 
> (Note that just taking the us-ascii transcription of domain names
> may not be sufficient - the IETF IDN working group's drafts say that
> software merely MAY permit input in that transcription (I think it
> should be a MUST), and, additionally, that transcription isn't that
> much more aesthetic or memorable than a raw IPv6 address.)
> 
> Comments and flames welcome.
> 
> --
> Thomas Roessler                         <roessler@does-not-exist.org>

No flames, but comments. For now ICANN has to wait for the IETF before
IDNs are introduced in real life.

Best regards,
-- 
Alf Hansen                     Mail address:
                                 UNINETT FAS A/S
aha@uninett.no                   N-7465 Trondheim, Norway
Home page:                     Phone: +47 73 55 79 00
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