Internationalized Domain Names Surveys

Background

At the ICANN Board meeting on 13 March 2001 in Melbourne, Australia, the Board established a working group and directed it "to identify the various internationalization efforts and the issues they raise, to engage in dialogue with technical experts and other participants in these efforts, and to make appropriate recommendations to the Board."

Consistent with this resolution, the working group will engage in a fact finding effort concerning three clusters of questions:

1) What are the perceived technical problems raised by internationalized domain names (IDN), what are the possible solutions, and what are the pros and cons relating these possible solutions?

2) What are the perceived legal and other policy questions raised by IDN, and what are possible solutions?

3) What IDN activities are actually underway, how extensive are they, and what bearing do they have on the technical and legal issues referenced above?

Instructions

The working group has prepared three surveys designed to obtain answers concerning these three clusters of questions:

Survey A: Technical Questions

Survey B: Policy Questions

Survey C: Current Services

Although each survey is targeted at a different sector of the Internet community (e.g., the "Current Services" survey is directed at entities which provide IDN services), the working group welcomes responses from the entire Internet community to any question on any survey. Our goal is to gather as much information from as many sources as quickly as possible.

Please provide your responses by 10 May 2001 by e-mailing them to idn-survey@icann.org. This will give the working group an opportunity to digest the information and prepare a status report for the ICANN Stockholm meeting in early June.

The working group is attempting to approach this fact-finding exercise without any preconceptions. Accordingly, please do not read any bias into the questions. We have tried to word the questions neutrally; at the same time, we feel some hard questions must be asked in order for us to get a complete picture of the situation.

Confidentiality of Submissions

Although ICANN endeavors to develop policy in an open and transparent manner, we recognize that the surveys (particularly Survey C) seek information that some responding parties will consider confidential. If you wish for a particular response to be treated confidentially, please clearly label that response "CONFIDENTIAL" and state the specific limitations you request on its use or disclosure. Responses labelled CONFIDENTIAL will be initially reviewed by ICANN staff to ensure that we are willing to treat them in the manner you request. If we are unwilling, we will contact you and we will not make use of or disclose the affected response unless you and we agree on manner in which the response may be used and disclosed.

Please let us know if you have any questions. Thank you in advance for you cooperation.