Chinatechnews reports that Microsoft has made the announcement that it will in the future fully support Chinese domain names in their Internet Browser Internet Explorer 7. This announcement was made at the last ICANN meeting in Morocco. It is, in the words of Microsoft's Michel Suignard a next step in a larger push for multilanguage domain names.
What is the background of this? While Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) have been in use in many regions of the world for some years, the issue is far from being resolved. It is being discussed on various levels: between technical requirements, standardisation efforts and diplomatic challenges, most importantly. In principle, there are currently three alternatives to ensure that regions that do not use ASCII-based scripts have the opportunity to access websites using their own language:
1) Client-based solutions with browser (or any application) plug-ins. This appears to be the easiest way, as it does not require any interference with Web administration, but ideally only an agreement between software producers which character mapping system should be used for each respective script. This solution can also allow for the resolution of protocol particles (e.g. http://), which often causes impediments to access for less literate users (e.g. because the writing and reading direction of the browser is different from the one used in the user’s handwriting).
2) Adoption of the IETF-developed Punycode standard. This would be the continuation of the previous steps on IDN. Punycode was introduced and is being in use for second level domains, but not yet for top-level domains. The success in terms of registration numbers is mixed, but it is interesting to see that Asian countries on average show a greater interest for the second-level IDNs that have been offered than European users, for example. Almost all TLD registries have prepared for and are using the second-level IDNs. Again, the success is mixed, with e.g. the “.org” gTLDs having already withdrawn from it, and registration numbers for many zones remaining weak.
3) Usage of DNAME Records in the DNS root zone. This approach (suggested primarily by VeriSign) would allow for a mapping of addresses of the Chinese-character version of .com to the current .com zone. This mapping would happen through the registry, and would (together with the already existing Punycode-based Chinese second level names) allow for a complete Chinese version of “.com”. It would also mean that users could access any existing domain in their own language.
The third alternative clearly provides for an increasingly important role of the registries, which would need to develop and implement the new mapping solution. It leads, however, to questions like which registry should be in charge of the mapping: should the “local” registry handle all of the mapping of, e.g. Chinese characters, or should this be handled decentralized by those registries already managing the (cc and g) TLDs?
Among the areas of interest is the long-standing trial period for pure internationalized top-level domains in China. Since 2001, Chinese TLDs have been in effect (with ca. 400.000 idn.idn addresses being registered since), while the discussions within ICANN and IETF / IAB as standardisation bodies are only very slowly moving forward. This may lead to frictions, as the lack of pure IDN names may be considered an impediment for local user’s access, in particular when it comes to efforts to connect the yet rather underdeveloped regions or citizen groups with less online experience. In mainland China, the request for third level registrations is continuously increasing. To encourage the usage of the IDN domains, the registry decided that every ASCII gets an equivalent Chinese second level for free.
A number of unresolved issues lie ahead. Neither is it clear whether a specific IDN system will be established, nor who will be the decisive factor on this. The irritation about the introduction of Chinese-character top-level domain names “中国", "公司" and 网络 in early 2006 showed that there are many stakeholders who will join the discussions on the introduction of each respective next stage of IDN. Bringing these stakeholders together and joining the discussions (also in dedicated bodies such as the Chinese Domain Names Consortium, CDNC) should be among the foremost important tasks of the regional ccTLD registries. The introduction of IDN with its many technical, but also cultural and political implications will be among the dominant topics of the forthcoming years.
Labels: Internet Governance
