http://public.icann.org/files/Dubai-...ote_1Apr08.pdf
Internationalized Domain Names
Maintaining a stable interoperable Internet is essential, as is a global
multilingual Internet. A multilingual Internet involves very importantly
multilingual content as well as, in relation to Internet domain name system,
the Internationalized Domain Names — or IDNs. It is worth noting that
there is already considerable content in the World Wide Web that is written
in a large number of scripts drawn from the Unicode system. Domain names
are the next area for expansion.
As you know, the issue of IDNs is itself complex — and involves
many technical and policy issues that must be resolved along the way. Also,
there are many scripts and associated languages around the world that must
be accommodated in the implementation of IDNs. Not the least of these is
the Arabic script I know many of you have worked on in the few days before
this meeting, as well as in the months prior to this meeting, for example, in
relation with the IETF processes.
This has been a practical illustration of governments, country code
operators, technical and linguistic experts and others working together in a
spirit of enhanced cooperation to address a complex but important technical
challenge for the global Internet.
ICANN’s work is progressing rapidly in this area, and the increased
input and participation from this region — by both governments and country
code operators — continues to be critical to this process. All of our work
together for IDN deployment is intended to maintain global uniqueness
together with continued interoperability of the domain name system —
unique domain names with the same functionality regardless of the
geographic point of access.
I would like in particular to highlight a couple of developments in
relation to IDN technical and policy work:
First, the protocol revision effort is ongoing by technical domain
name system experts with the support of linguists around the world. They
are attempting to make a protocol available that will function for any new
scripts added to Unicode without requiring updates, and will work for all
right-to-left scripts. It also will function in a more stable and secure manner
from an end-user perspective, thus improving the way the protocol is
implemented by application developers.
Second, on the policy side, ICANN’s supporting organizations and
advisory committees have been working to develop processes for the
application and delegation of IDN TLDs in relation to the new gTLDprocess. They are also exploring a fast-track approach intended to streamline
the launch of IDN country code top level domains where they are most
needed.
This work and much more will eventually lead us to having IDN
TLDs available live in the root for production purposes. The initial
implementation must be done carefully to make sure that the outcomes are
fed back into the community. This will ensure that even after initial
deployment we can continue to work together to enhance what is ultimately
the most important aspect of this work — the end-user experience and the
usability of these new addresses in the DNS.
New gTLDs
In fulfilling its mission, ICANN is guided by four founding principles:
• To preserve the operational stability and security of the Internet,
particularly the domain name system;
• To promote competition and choice for registrants, especially in
the generic top-level domain arena;
• To achieve broad representation of global Internet communities;
• And to develop policy appropriate to its mission through bottomup,
consensus-based processes.
These principles guide ICANN in introducing competition in the
domain name market — and new generic top-level domains — or gTLDs —
have been the key tool in doing this. The year 2000 saw the introduction of
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.biz, .info, .name, .pro, .aero, .coop, .museum. Another round of gTLDs in
2004 led to the introduction of .jobs, .mobi, .cat, .travel, .asia and .tel.
So right now, there are about 20 generic top-level domains and 252
country-code TLDs supporting more than 153 million registered names in
the domain name space.
Internet users are demanding more. When the global Internet
community talks about the next billion users coming on line, they are talking
about Asia and the Middle East region. India has a population of 1.13 billion
and penetration of 5.3%. China has a population of 1.3 billion, and
penetration of 12.3%. Compare that to Europe and to Australia, both around
70% penetration.
Similarly, in the Middle East countries, with a population of about
195 million, there are now 33.5 million Internet users. According to the
International Telecommunication Union, the United Arab Emirates have
slightly more than 1.7 million people connected to the Internet, a 42.9%
penetration. Saudi Arabia’s 4.7 million Internet users amount to a 19.5%
penetration. Iran has 18 million users, a 25.6% penetration. And Syria has
1.5 million users for a 7.7% penetration.
New Internet users — especially with ICANN’s work to introduce
IDNs and new gTLDs — will overwhelmingly be using the languages of the
Middle East region and Asia. They will change the face of the Internet. You
might want to think of this phenomenon as the “Internet for the next
generation.”