Internationalized Domain Names: Overview of ICANN Activities

1
Internationalized Domain Names Overview of
ICANN Activities

• Masanobu Katoh, Chair, IDN Committee
• Director, ICANN Board
• CDNC-CNSG-MINC IDN Joint MeetingBeijing, China
  October 19-20, 2001

2
IDN Working Group

• Formation Melbourne meeting, resolution 1.39
• Members Auerbach, Campos, Cerf, Katoh
• Mission statement http//www.icann.Org/committee
  s/idn

3
Mission Statement

• Working Group sees its charter as limited to
  fact finding for the purpose of educating the
  board and the ICANN community so that ICANN can
  fulfill its mission of technical management of
  Internet domain names and IP numbers. The
  working group will not set technical standards
  for IDNs.

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Activities of IDN Working Group

• Consultations
• MINC (Melbourne, 3/14/2001) AINC (Amman,
  4/1/2001)
• Surveys
• www.icann.org/committees/idn/survey-30apr01.htm
  
• Technical Questions (Survey A)
• Policy Questions (Survey B)
• Current Services (Survey C)

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Activities of IDN WG (cont.)

• Status Report Presented at Public Forum at ICANN
  Meeting in Stockholm http//www.icann.org/committ
  ees/idn/status-report-05jul01.htm
• Follow Up Questions to Surveys
  http//www.icann.org/committees/idn/follow-up-surv
  ey-05jul01.htm
• Consultations
• ChinaInet 2001 (Beijing 7/11/2001)
• Keidanren-JPNIC Workshop (Tokyo 7/13/2001)
• Montevideo Report (9/9/2001)
• http//www.icann.org/committees/idn/final-report-2
  8aug01.htm

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Survey A Technical Questions

• Two basic approaches to IDN issue
• Server side approach
• Local Encodings (BG, BIG5, DJIS) or Unicode
  transformation format (UTF-8) sent directly over
  the internet. May require server
  reconfiguration, DNS redesign
• Client side approach
• Translate local encoding or Unicode into ASC II
  compatible encoding (ACE) on the users computer

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Server Side Approach
8
Client Side Approach
9
Hybrid Approach

• Example
• RealNames Proprietary Approach- If a Microsoft
  browser determines that an IDN is not in ASCII,
  it forwards it to a RealNames server, which then
  converts it to ASCII so that it can be resolved.

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Absence of Standard

• IETF hard at work developing standard
• No ideal solution - difficult problem with
  different stakeholders
• system administrators/operators
• end users
• technologists
• IDNA (Internationalized Domain Names in
  Application) - client side approach

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Adoption of Standard

• All respondents said they would adopt IETF
  standard
• Speed of implementation depends on approach
• Standard probably will not be interoperable with
  other approaches

12
Are Test Beds a Problem?
13
Big Picture Issues

• Short-term vs. Long Term Solution?
• Are We Asking Too Much of DNS? (Identifier vs.
  Identity)

14
Survey B Policy Questions

• Strong support for IDN
• Increase Internet use by non-Latin script
  users
• May increase opportunities for
  cybersquatting

15
Cybersquatting

• Recognized as inevitable
• DRP, Sunrise periods,
• WHOIS database all invaluable tools

16
Top Level IDNs

• Global community expressing demand for top-level
  IDNs.
• ICANN will have to determine how to address the
  interests of diverse stakeholders.

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Survey C Current Services

• Some free registrations, others charge same as
  ASCII registration
• IDN.IDNIDN. gTLD IDN.ccTLD

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Current Services

• Over 1,000,000 registrations (920,000 with
  Verisign GRS)
• Some systems are live
• Both client side and server side approaches are
  in use (Verisign GRS uses client side)

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Why Are Registries/ Registrars Offering IDN
Service?

• Perceive Large Demand
• Defensive measure

20
Why Are Registrants Registering IDNs?

• Useful communication tool
• Prevention of cybersquatting

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IDN Working Group Recommendations

• ICANN Board Should
• Encourage IETF to adopt standards as quickly as
  possible
• Establish a committee to provide recommendations
  on non-technical policy issues, including
  interoperability, cybersquatting/dispute
  resolution, top level domains, consumer
  protection, and competition.

22
New IDN Committee

• At the September 10, 2001meeting in Montevideo,
  the ICANN Board passed a resolution establishing
  a new IDN Committee "to serve as a general
  coordination body for the work on policy issues
  identified in the IDN Working Group Report and
  such other policy issues that the IDN Committee
  shall identify."

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IDN Committee Process

• "The IDN Committee should seek to ensure that
  any recommendations are achieved through a
  bottom-up process, and that those recommendations
  reflect a wide range of expertise on the
  different aspects relevant to the issues"

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IDN Committee Structure

• Chaired by Director Masanobu Katoh
• ICANN President Stuart Lynn, in consultation with
  the IDN Committee Chair,"shall propose, for
  approval by the Board, representatives to serve
  on the IDN Committee from the ICANN Board, the
  Supporting Organizations, the Governmental
  Advisory Committee, and such other individuals
  who in his judgment could meaningfully contribute
  to this effort"

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Input to the IDN Committee

• "The IDN Committee is encouraged to commission
  panels of volunteer experts from different
  countries with practical experience in the policy
  issues identified in the Final Report, and
  linguistic experts (including experts in
  non-ASCII character sets and languages not spoken
  by persons active in current discussions)"

26
IDN Committee Work Plan

• The IDN Committee has been requested to present
  its initial work plan, schedule, and proposed
  budget for approval by the Board at the third
  ICANN annual meeting, to be held in Marina del
  Rey in November 2001.