Internationalized Domain Names Survey A: Technical Questions

1. What different technologies currently enable the use of non-Latin scripts as domain names?

2. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the technologies referenced in Question 1? Please give concrete examples.

3. Are there more problems relating to particular scripts? Why?

4. To the extent there are weaknesses in the technologies, what groups are working to develop solutions?

5. What are the different solutions under consideration? Which are the most promising? How much longer will it take to develop a solution that works?

6. Currently there are no accepted standards for IDN. Is this because there are competing technologies, or because the underlying problem is sufficiently difficult that a "best" solution has not yet emerged?

7. Do the existing "testbeds" and pre-registrations help or hinder the resolution of the technical issues relating to IDN? In what manner? Would the testing impact the ongoing operation of the Internet?

8. Are natural languages so complex, rich and varied that a true IDN system that responds completely to user expectations is beyond current technological capability? Can the problem be solved incrementally in a manner that does not interfere with the operation of the entire domain name system?

9. How do different technologies affect the size limitation of domain names? What, if any, are the possible solutions?

10. Do IDNs pose special problems for the technical operation of WHOIS databases? If so, what problems? What are the possible solutions?

11. Are any IDNs related technologies covered by patents or other intellectual property rights? If so, will this have an affect on the implementation of IDNs?

12. Are you participating (or have you participated in) the IETF standards process for IDN?

13. Once IETF adopts an IDN standard, how quickly will it be incorporated into applications such as browsers? Are any problems with this incorporation anticipated? What can the IETF and ICANN do to facilitate the incorporation process?

14. Will the IETF standard be interoperable with other IDN standards? What can be done to eliminate interoperability problems (assuming not all ccTLDs adopt the IETF standard)?

15. Are there other end user needs concerning IDN which need to be addressed?

16. Are there any other technical issues we should know about?