Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) Yale A2K2 Conference New Haven, USA April 27, 2007 Ram Mohan [email protected] Building a Sustainable Framework.

Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs)

Yale A2K2 Conference

New Haven, USA

April 27, 2007

Ram Mohan [email protected]

Building a Sustainable Framework For A Multilingual Internet

April 27, 2007 Yale Access 2 Knowledge ConferenceRam Mohan

Agenda

• Role of IDNs in Access To Knowledge• Multi-lingual Internet Basics – A special case

study in India• Current state of Technical Readiness• An IDN Policy Framework

– Basics– Technical Principles– Policy Principles


The Language Barrier Limits Access to the Internet

• The language barrier limits Internet usage

• Domain Names are the single most important way to locate resources on the Internet

• 65% of the world’s Internet users don’t speak English

• In China, 90% of Internet users prefer to access content in their local languages1

• Software applications now integrate websites/email seamlessly http://glreach.com/globstats/

1. CNNIC Statistical Survey, 2005


Technology can help

Total

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

2005 2006

Total

German IDN launch

IE7B1(27-July-05) IE7B3(29-Jun-06)

IE7B2(24-Apr-06)Additional IDNs launch

Source: PIR ICANN Reports


Utility of IDNs

• Makes the Internet more friendly to non-English speakers

• Provides more accessibility to applications like Email, FTP, etc

• It is the most effective way to popularize the use of Internet in non-English speaking communities

• Guarantees cultural diversity and protects the special interests of people in different regions

• Allows national cultures and under-represented languages to stay alive


Multi-lingual Internet Basics

• Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs)– Domain names represented in characters used in

local languages• Allows entire domain name to be represented in a

local language character set– example. 日本 , or 日本 . 日本

• These names have to…– Work everywhere– Be backwards compatible– Not break application software– Support languages appropriately


Access for India’s billion people

• Total Population 1.002 billion (2001 Census)

• 22 Official Languages– Devanagari script based (North

Indian):• Hindi, Marathi, Sanskrit,

Kashmiri, Sindhi, Nepali, Manipuri

– Dravidian script based (South Indian):

• Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Konkani

– Arabic Script Based: Urdu– Some Languages representable

in more than one script– Other script basis: Bengali,

Oriya, Gujarati, Punjabi, Assamese

• Worldwide Audience:– Hindi - 400 Million Speakers– Bengali - 200 Million Speakers– Tamil - 60 Million Speakers– Telugu - 70 Million Speakers

• Movies released in 15 languages

• Schools teach in 58 different languages

• Radio programs broadcast in 71 languages

• Newspapers publish in 87 languages

And … one Internet


Building Indian IDNs

• China has 1.6 billion Chinese language speakers … with two major scripts and shared characters with Japanese & Korean language communities

• About 12 Indian languages are based on Devanagari scripts … leading to potential variant issues

• A “many-to-many” problem for India– Multiple languages share common scripts– Multiple scripts used in multiple languages

• Other Challenges:– Bi-directional text– Multiple diacentric positioning– Word Breaking


Adequate Standards Exist

• IETF Open Standards published 2002-2004:– RFC 3490, 3491, 3492– RFC 3454– RFC 3743

• ICANN IDN Guidelines• China-Japan-Korea (CJK) common CDNC language tables

provide an example of how to build community support• Indic Scripts – standards creation effort provides new learning• Successful root server tests for IDNs at the top level in Dec 2006

Much of the “technology” & “protocol” part of internationalizing domain names is complete


Domain Name Technical Constraints Must be considered

• Normal Unicode-Punycode conversion– flod18häst .xn--flod18hst-12a

• Performance with a 63-character long TLD string– .hippo18potamushippo18potamushippo18potamushippo1

8po• Right to left, embedded characters with opposing directional

properties

• Left to right script with sophisticated shaping properties

• Non-alphabetic script


Introducing an IDN Policy Framework

• Provides clarity to IDN issues• Ensures that registries give due consideration to key

elements of IDN policies• Allow governments or other authorities to follow /

evaluate the process for IDN deployment at the ccTLD– Involvement of government / authorities at different stages of

process (e.g. List of Valid Characters, Contextual Rules, Variants)

• Provides language communities, civil society, businesses input into policy creation prior to rollout

• IDN Policies & Registry System– Policy decisions may have profound technical implications to

registry system


Founding technical principles in IDN implementation

• Build Character Inclusion Table (List of valid characters) ... governments, linguists, technologists needed

• Variant Mapping Consideration …allow only one form of character set for IDN

• Contextual Rules– Minimum & Maximum Length– Prohibited prefixes or suffixes – Potential contextual rules: prohibited character sequences

• Register and operate the Internationalized TLD in the root DNS Server in the form of IDNA Punycode


Founding policy principles in IDN implementation

1. Avoid ASCII-Squatting

2. Consult with government for Geo-political Impact of new top level domain

3. Actively solicit Language Community Input for evaluation of new IDN gTLD Strings

4. One String per new IDN gTLD

5. Limit Variant Confusion and Collision

6. Limit Confusingly Similar Strings


Founding policy principles (cont.)

7. (No) Priority Rights for new gTLD strings and new domain names

8. Approach Aliasing as a Policy matter

9. Adhere to a Single Script (ASCII exception, other restrictions)

10. UDRP sufficient for dispute resolution in new IDN TLDs


General IDN TLD Rollout Principles

• Retain global uniqueness of the TLD system– Domain names remain unique and unambiguous

• Maintain interoperability of the TLD system– Domain names work the same way regardless of the

geography it is accessed in– .भा�रत needs to point applications and users to the same

place regardless of accessing the domain from India, UK or Greece

• Promote “Future-Proof” solutions– Define Unicode characters to be allowed– Provides ability for adding new languages, new characters

far in the future• Avoid User Confusion• Promote multi-stakeholder involvement

Let’s make it happen

Ram Mohan [email protected]

Building a Sustainable Framework For A Multilingual Internet

Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) Yale A2K2 Conference New Haven, USA April 27, 2007 Ram Mohan [email protected] Building a Sustainable Framework.

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