ICANN|ARCHIVES

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

IDN TUTORIAL
SUNDAY 3 DECEMBER 2006
ICANN MEETING
SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL

>>TINA DAM: OKAY.

WE'RE STARTING. SO GOOD AFTERNOON, EVERYBODY, AND WELCOME TO THE IDN TUTORIAL SESSION.

YOU'LL HAVE THE PLEASURE OF LISTENING TO ME FOR ABOUT TWO HOURS UNLESS YOU WANT TO COME UP TO THE MICROPHONE.

THIS IS INTENDED TO BE AN INFORMAL SETTING, SO PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COME UP AT ANY POINT IN TIME AND JUST STOP MY PRESENTATIONS AND ASK IF THERE'S SOMETHING THAT I'M SAYING THAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND.

I HAVE STILL LEFT A COUPLE OF IDN BROCHURES.

THERE IS A GLOSSARY ON THE BACK OF SOME TERMS THAT ARE COMMONLY USED IN RELATION TO IDNS.

I'M JUST GOING TO PUT THEM UP ON THE FRONT CHAIRS HERE.

FEEL FREE TO COME UP AND GET ONE OF THOSE.

NOW, JUST A COUPLE OF PRACTICAL THINGS FOR THE REMOTE PARTICIPATION.

THERE'S A JABBER ROOM OPEN.

THE ADDRESS IS IDNQUESTIONS, AND THAT'S IDN QUESTIONS WITH AN "S" AT THE END,@JABBER.ICANN.ORG.

AND I HAVE ONE OF MY COLLEAGUES DOWN HERE ON THE FRONT ROW, FRANK FOWLIE, WHO'S ICANN'S OMBUDSMAN.

HE WILL COME UP TO THE MICROPHONE AND ASK ANY QUESTIONS THAT ARE POSTED TO THE JABBER ROOM.

AND, HOPEFULLY, WE'LL BE ABLE TO ANSWER THOSE.

I GUESS I DIDN'T REALLY INTRODUCE MYSELF.

MY NAME IS TINA DAM.

I'M WITH ICANN.

I HAVE WORKED AT ICANN FOR CLOSE TO FOUR YEARS.

I USED TO BE THE CHIEF GTLD LIAISON AT ICANN.

WHAT THAT MEANS IS I WAS THE MAIN POINT OF CONTACT -- OOPS -- MAIN POINT OF CONTACT FOR THE GTLD REGISTRIES.

NOW, IDNS WAS A PART OF THAT JOB, AND IT BECAME INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT TO THE POINT WHERE WE DECIDED TO FORM, YOU KNOW, AN IDN PROGRAM PLAN AND STAFF THAT IS DEDICATED ENTIRELY JUST TO THE TOPIC OF IDNS.

THAT HAPPENED JUST ABOUT A COUPLE OF MONTHS AGO.

SO CAN YOU GUYS ACTUALLY -- CAN YOU STILL HEAR ME.

>> IT'S CUTTING IN AND OUT.

>> IT JUST WENT OUT.

>>TINA DAM: NOW IT'S ON.

I HOPE THIS IS BETTER.

LET'S SEE.

SO I'M GOING TO TRY TO GO THROUGH, LIKE, VERY BASIC INFORMATION ABOUT IDNS, SOME GENERAL CONCEPTS, EXPLANATION OF DIFFERENT ACRONYMS AND FUNCTIONALITIES AND DEFINITIONS OF THINGS THAT ARE USUALLY USED WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT IDNS, INTERNATIONALIZED DOMAIN NAMES.

HOPEFULLY, THIS IS SOMETHING THAT YOU WILL FIND USEFUL AND WHICH WILL MAKE IT EASIER FOR YOU TO PARTICIPATE IN SOME OF THE IDN WORKSHOPS AND IDN SESSIONS THAT TAKE PLACE LATER IN THE WEEK.

SO IT IS VERY BASIC INFORMATION.

AND WE'LL TRY TO GO THROUGH THAT.

FIRST, SOME GENERAL INFORMATION IS ON THE AGENDA.

THEN WE'LL BASICALLY DO, LIKE, A FULL ROUND OF HOW INTERNATIONALIZED NAMES ARE WORKING AND HOW THAT AFFECTS USERS.

THEN WE'LL MOVE INTO SOME CONFUSABLE IDN ISSUES.

THEN WE'LL TAKE A LOOK AT SOME OF THE PROJECTS THAT ARE GOING ON BOTH WITHIN ICANN AND OUTSIDE ICANN AS THE ORGANIZATION.

WE'LL LOOK AT SOME OF THE ACTIVITIES IN SAO PAULO, AND WE'LL END UP WITH A SUMMARY.

YOU KNOW, IDNS IS KIND OF DIFFICULT TO SUMMARIZE, EVEN IN TWO HOURS.

BUT WE'LL TRY.

SO WHAT IS AN IDN? IDN STANDS FOR INTERNATIONALIZED DOMAIN NAMES.

YOU HAVE PROBABLY HEARD THAT AS MULTILINGUAL DOMAIN NAMES AS WELL.

THAT IS BASICALLY THE SAME THING.

THE ACRONYM FOR IT HAS CHANGED BETWEEN ML FOR MULTILINGUAL TOWARDS IDNS AS INTERNATIONALIZED DOMAIN NAMES A LITTLE BIT OVER TIME.

SO YOU WILL USUALLY SEE IT AS IDNS AT THIS POINT IN TIME.

INTERNATIONALIZED DOMAIN NAMES ARE BASICALLY DOMAIN NAMES THAT CONTAIN WHAT IS CALLED NONHOST NAME CHARACTERS.

HOST NAME CHARACTERS IS WHAT IS A THROUGH Z, 0 TO 9, AND A DASH.

SO IF YOU HAVE SOME CHARACTER THAT YOU USE BECAUSE YOU SPEAK A CERTAIN LANGUAGE AND YOU HAVE A CHARACTER THAT IS NOT WITHIN THE A THROUGH Z RANGE, AND YOU WANT TO PUT THAT IN A DOMAIN NAME, THEN THAT BECOMES AN INTERNATIONALIZED DOMAIN NAME.

THOSE VALID HOST NAME CHARACTERS ARE ALSO SOMETIMES REFERRED TO AS ASCII OR YOU WILL HEAR SOMETHING CALLED THE LDH RULE.

THAT STANDS FOR LETTER, DIGIT, AND HYPHEN.

AND THAT IS REALLY JUST A THROUGH Z, 0 TO 9, AND A DASH.

NOW, EVEN THOUGH YOU CAN HAVE DOMAIN NAMES WITH OTHER CHARACTERS THAN THOSE I MENTIONED, ONLY THESE KIND OF HOST NAME CHARACTERS IS WHAT THE DNS AND THE RESOLUTION OF DOMAIN NAMES CAN ACTUALLY HANDLE.

SO WHAT HAPPENS IS THAT A DOMAIN NAME THAT HAS A CHARACTER THAT IS NOT A HOST NAME OR A NON-ASCII CHARACTER IN IT WILL BE DECODED INTO SOMETHING THAT WILL BE ONLY ASCII CHARACTER.

AND SO THERE'S AN EXAMPLE THERE ON THE SCREEN.

THIS PARTICULAR EXAMPLE IS WITH THE O SLASH, WHICH IS A CHARACTER THAT'S COMMONLY USED IN DANISH, NORWEGIAN, AND FAROESE.

AND YOU CAN SEE HOW INTERNATIONALIZED DOMAIN NAMES GETS TRANSLATED INTO SOMETHING HERE THE EXAMPLE IS CALLED XN--RDGRD AND SO FORTH.

SO THAT XN-- VERSION IS WHAT THE DNS CAN HANDLE.

WHEREAS THE OTHER OPTION, WITH THE 0 AND THE SLASH IN IT IS WHAT PEOPLE WHO SPEAK DANISH, NORWEGIAN OR FAROESE CAN ACTUALLY UNDERSTAND.

WE'LL GET BACK TO THIS DISTINCTION BETWEEN WHAT IS DISPLAYED AND WHAT THE USER WOULD LIKE TO SEE VERSUS WHAT IS IT THAT THE DNS CAN HANDLE.

WE'LL ACTUALLY GET BACK TO IT A COUPLE OF TIMES.

FIRST, THOUGH, LET ME TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT DOMAIN NAMES IN GENERAL.

DOMAIN NAMES ARE NOT INTENDED TO BE GENERAL LANGUAGE EXPRESSIONS.

THAT WAS NOT WHAT DOMAIN NAMES WERE INVENTED FOR.

EVEN THOUGH DOMAIN NAMES THAT ARE NOT WORDS IN LANGUAGES ARE QUITE POSSIBLE AND VERY COMMON, TOO.

BUT DOMAIN NAMES ARE REALLY JUST IDENTIFIERS, AND IDENTIFIERS THAT WILL HELP A USER FIND OR MAKE A REFERENCE TO SOME INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET USING A SEQUENCE OF CHARACTERS, BEING IN A STRING THAT THEN WILL BE A DOMAIN NAME.

SO THE DOMAIN NAME HAS TO BE UNIQUE.

THAT IS REALLY ONE OF THE CORE FUNCTIONS OF THE DNS.

THERE WILL ONLY BE ONE OF EVERY SINGLE DOMAIN NAME OPTION OUT THERE.

WHAT THAT MEANS IS THAT IF YOU SEND AN E-MAIL TO ME OR IF YOU GO TO MY WEB SITE, YOU WILL GO TO THAT ONE WEB SITE, OR YOU WILL SEND THAT E-MAIL, AND YOU CAN BE SURE THAT IT ONLY GOES TO ME, BECAUSE I HAVE A UNIQUE NAME IN MY E-MAIL ADDRESS AND ON MY WEB SITE, AND I'M USING MY DOMAIN NAME FOR THAT.

SO SINCE DOMAIN NAMES ARE NOT GENERAL LANGUAGE EXPRESSIONS, THAT ALSO MEANS THAT NOT ALL WORDS IN ALL LANGUAGES ARE GOING TO BE AVAILABLE AS DOMAIN NAMES.

SO EVEN THOUGH WE'RE EXPANDING FROM THE A THROUGH Z AND THE DIGITS AND THE DASH INTO THOUSANDS OF CHARACTERS, THE INTERNATIONALIZED CHARACTERS, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO EXPRESS ANY WORDS YOU WANT IN YOUR LANGUAGE AS A DOMAIN NAME.

THAT IS NOT GOING TO BE POSSIBLE.

THERE WILL BE SOME LIMITS.

NOW, WITH THAT IN MIND, THE NEXT SLIDE HAS AN OVERVIEW OF INTERNATIONALIZATION.

PREVIOUSLY, WE HAD DOMAIN NAMES THAT WAS BASED ONLY ON ASCII.

YOU DID NOT SEE ANY LOCAL CHARACTERS.

YOU DID NOT SEE THE 0 SLASH, THE U UMLAUT, YOU DID NOT SEE ANY CHINESE, KOREAN, ARABIC CHARACTERS.

YOU ONLY HAD A THROUGH Z.

NOW WE HAVE ALL OF THOSE CHARACTERS AVAILABLE AT THE SECOND LEVEL OF A DOMAIN NAME.

AND WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO DO IS TO HAVE IT AT THE TOP LEVEL AS WELL, SO THAT INSTEAD OF HAVING TO TYPE, FOR EXAMPLE, IF YOU'RE -- IF YOU SPEAK CHINESE AND CHINESE IS YOUR NATURAL WAY OF EXPRESSING THINGS, SO NAVY HAVING TO USE A DOMAIN NAME THAT HAS CHINESE CHARACTERS, DOT, AND THEN THE TOP-LEVEL PART BEING SOMETHING THAT'S IN ASCII, THEN YOU CAN HAVE CHINESE CHARACTERS ALL THE WAY THROUGH.

AND IN A SIMILAR WAY, IN OTHER CHARACTER SCRIPTS THAT ARE AVAILABLE.

IDNS AT THE TOP LEVEL IS WHAT WE'RE MOVING TOWARDS.

PREVIOUSLY, WE ONLY HAD ASCII-BASED BROWSERS AND ASCII-BASED E-MAIL CLIENTS.

THAT IS SOMETHING THAT HAS CHANGED PRETTY RECENTLY.

APPLICATIONS HAVE BEEN UPGRADED.

WE NOW HAVE WEB ACCESS.

IF YOU USE, FOR EXAMPLE, OPERA, MOZILLA, OR INTERNET EXPLORER 7, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO TYPE IN OR COPY IN DOMAIN NAMES WITH INTERNATIONALIZED CHARACTERS.

SO THAT'S VERY POSITIVE.

IF YOU ASK SOME OF THE TLD REGISTRIES THAT ARE AROUND HOW THAT HAS INFECTED THEIR USERS AND THEIR MARKET, THEY'LL TELL YOU THAT AS SOON AS THE BROWSER CAPABILITIES WAS AVAILABLE, THE MARKET WAS MUCH MORE HAPPY, THE USERS WAS ABLE TO ACTUALLY USE THESE IDNS FOR SOMETHING, AND IT'S BEEN A VERY POSITIVE EFFECT.

IDN-ENABLED E-MAILS IS NOT YET THERE.

THE IETF IS CURRENTLY WORKING ON THE PROTOCOL FOR THAT.

SO THAT IS SOMETHING THAT'S UNDERWAY.

CONTENT IS SOMETHING THAT'S BEEN AVAILABLE IN MANY LANGUAGES FOR SOME TIME.

AND I'M TALKING ABOUT CONTENT ONLINE, AS IN WEB SITES.

AND THAT IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE TO EXPAND AS WELL.

SO HERE'S JUST ANOTHER EXAMPLE.

IT'S EXAMPLE.TEST.

AND YOU CAN SEE FROM ON THE SLIDE THE TWO OTHER OPTIONS I HAVE THERE.

THE FIRST ONE IS A MIXED BETWEEN IDN AT THE SECOND LEVEL AND A TEST THAT'S IN ASCII ONLY AT THE TOP LEVEL.

AS TO THE LAST EXAMPLE, IT HAS IDNS BOTH AT THE SECOND AND THE TOP LEVEL.

SO THAT'S THE DIRECTION WE'RE GOING.

IN PARENTHESIS BELOW THERE, I JUST -- AND THESE SLIDES, BY THE WAY, WILL BE AVAILABLE ONLINE.

I -- SO IN PARENTHESES, I PUT DOWN WHAT THE STORED FORM IS.

AND THE STORED FORM, AGAIN, IS WHAT THE DNS IS CAPABLE OF HANDLING.

XN-- AND A SEQUENCE OF ASCII CHARACTERS.

SO WITH ALL OF THESE THINGS CHANGING, WHAT WE'RE AIMING AT IS WHAT YOU OFTEN HEAR REFERRED TO AS AN INTERNATIONALIZED INTERNET.

AND SOMETIMES THAT IS A LITTLE BIT MISTAKEN TOWARDS JUST DOMAIN NAMES.

BUT AS YOU'LL SEE, THERE IS A LOT OF OTHER THINGS THAT ARE REALLY IMPORTANT FOR US TO MOVE FORWARD WITH AN INTERNATIONALIZED INTERNET, NOT JUST DOMAIN NAMES, BUT DOMAIN NAMES IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF THAT.

NOW, INTERNATIONALIZATION OF THE INTERNET REALLY MEANS THAT THE INTERNET IS EQUALLY ACCESSIBLE FROM ALL LANGUAGES AND SCRIPTS.

NOW, KEEP IN MIND STILL THAT IT'S NOT ALL WORDS IN ALL LANGUAGES THAT IS GOING TO BE USABLE.

BUT WE NEED TO HAVE MORE EQUAL ACCESSIBILITY.

THERE IS SOME CONTROVERSY ABOUT HOW IMPORTANT THE DOMAIN NAMES REALLY ARE WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT INTERNATIONALIZATION.

IT'S IMPORTANT THAT WE HANDLE THEM RIGHT, BUT THERE ARE SOME DISCUSSIONS ABOUT WHETHER DOMAIN NAMES ARE REALLY TYPED INTO BROWSERS OR HOW THEY'RE USED.

WOULD IT BE OKAY ONLY TO HAVE SEARCH CAPABILITIES? OR SHOULD WE REALLY HAVE THE DOMAIN NAMES INTERNATIONALIZED AS WELL? PART OF THIS DISCUSSION HAS TO DO WITH THE FACT THAT DEALING WITH INTERNATIONALIZING DOMAIN NAMES CAN BE QUITE A TECHNICAL AND POLITICAL AND POLICY-ORIENTED CHALLENGE.

THERE ARE AGREEMENTS THAT E-MAIL ADDRESSES ARE IMPORTANT.

IF THE E-MAIL ADDRESS IS IMPORTANT, WE NEED TO HAVE THE DOMAIN NAMES.

THERE ARE AGREEMENTS THAT URLS THAT YOU READ, FOR EXAMPLE, IN A NEWSPAPER NEED TO BE USABLE BY LOCAL COMMUNITIES.

AND WHEN I SAY "USABLE," I MEAN, FOR EXAMPLE, IF YOU READ SOMETHING, THEN YOU NEED TO BE ABLE TO TAKE THAT AND REPLICATE IT IN YOUR BROWSER, FOR EXAMPLE, AND LOOK THAT WEB SITE UP, IF IT'S A WEB SITE.

IF YOU CAN'T DO THAT, THEN IT'S NOT USABLE.

AND WE'LL GET INTO SOME EXAMPLES OF CONFUSIONS THAT MAY MAKE THAT DIFFICULT.

>>FRANK FOWLIE: FROM THE (INAUDIBLE) THE WEB ADDRESS TO JOIN THE ONLINE.

>>TINA DAM: SURE.

SO WE WERE TOLD THAT THE JABBER ROOM HAD SOME PROBLEMS WITH THE ADDRESS.

SO I'M GOING TO PUT IT UP THERE IN CASE THE WEB CAM IS ON THE SLIDE.

IT'S IDNQUESTIONS@JABBER.ICANN.ORG.

ALL RIGHT.

ALL RIGHT.

SO WHY DO WE REALLY NEED THIS? WHY DO WE NEED IDNS? AND THAT IS A TOPIC THAT'S BEEN DISCUSSED A LOT OVER THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS.

I THINK -- I DON'T WANT TO SPEND TOO MUCH TIME ON IT.

I THINK IT'S PRETTY CLEAR, ESPECIALLY SINCE WE'RE IN A LOCATION WHERE THE PRIMARY LANGUAGE IS PORTUGUESE, AND PORTUGUESE IS USING CHARACTERS THAT ARE NOT PART OF THE ASCII SET, A THROUGH Z.

SO AS THE INTERNET HAS BEEN USED MORE AND MORE ACCESSIBLY AND IN OTHER REGIONS, IT BECOMES IMPORTANT FOR PEOPLE TO ACTUALLY USE DOMAIN NAMES IN THEIR LOCAL CHARACTER SETS.

WHEN WE TALK ABOUT INTERNATIONALIZATION, IT'S REALLY A MEANING FOR LOCALIZATION.

SO I'M NOT TRYING TO SAY THAT WE NEED TO INTERNATIONALIZE THE INTERNET SO THAT EVERYBODY CAN USE ALL SCRIPTS IN ALL LANGUAGES.

MOST PEOPLE WILL ONLY USE AND HAVE KNOWLEDGE OF A FEW SCRIPTS AND A FEW LANGUAGES.

AND THE INTERNET NEEDS TO BE ACCESSIBLE FOR THEM.

IT HAS TO DO WITH LOCATION AND INTERESTS.

SOME COUNTRIES WILL USE MULTIPLE LANGUAGES.

OTHER REGIONS OF THE WORLD WILL ONLY USE ONE.

AND, YOU KNOW, SOME LANGUAGES ARE SPOKEN NOT JUST IN ONE COUNTRY, BUT ACROSS DIFFERENT REGIONS.

SO IT'S -- WE'RE REALLY TALKING ABOUT A LOCALIZED MEAN.

BUT BECAUSE THE INTERNET IS WORKING GLOBALLY AND THAT IS ONE OF THE BIGGEST STRENGTHS OF THE INTERNET, WE HAVE TO ACTUALLY INTERNATIONALIZE IT AND TAKE ALL THOSE CHARACTER SETS INTO CONSIDERATION.

SECURITY AND STABILITY IS ONE OF THE PRIMARY FOCUSES AS THIS WORK IS MOVING AHEAD.

WE WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT THE INTERNET KEEPS WORKING THE WAY THAT IT DOES RIGHT NOW.

AND AS I SAID BEFORE, WHAT THAT MEANS IS, IF YOU SEND ME AN E-MAIL, IT DOESN'T MATTER WHERE YOU ARE LOCATED IN THE WORLD; YOU CAN BE SURE THAT EITHER YOU'LL GET AN ERROR OR THAT E-MAIL WILL GO TO ME.

SO... -- AND THAT'S JUST AN E-MAIL EXAMPLE.

THE SAME THING GOES WITH ANY OTHER APPLICATION THAT USES DOMAIN NAMES. AND THAT SECURITY IS SOMETHING THAT WE CAN'T SACRIFICE IN EXPANDING THE USE OF THE INTERNET.

AH.

SO I THOUGHT I WOULD JUST TAKE A LITTLE BIT OF TIME SHOWING YOU HOW DOES THIS REALLY WORK.

BECAUSE I THINK THIS IS PRETTY IMPORTANT FOR THE UNDERSTANDING OF IDNS AND HOW IDNS ARE BEING DEVELOPED.

SO THIS PARTICULAR EXAMPLE HAS TO DO WITH THE RESOLUTION PROCESS OF A DOMAIN NAME.

AND IF YOU -- AS I GO THROUGH IT, IF YOU THINK ABOUT REGISTRATION OF DOMAIN NAMES, THEN THAT TAKES PLACE IN EXACTLY THE SAME KIND OF PROCESS.

SO IF WE HAVE A USER WHO TYPES IN IN A WEB BROWSER, FOR EXAMPLE, AN ADDRESS THAT CONTAINS IDNS OR IDN CHARACTERS, AND THE EXAMPLE UP THERE UNDER DOT TEST, WHICH, OBVIOUSLY, DOES NOT EXIST, THEN WHAT NORMALLY HAPPENS IS THAT THE REQUEST FOR THAT ADDRESS IS SENT OFF TO THE LOCAL SERVER.

IN CASE OF IDNS, SOMETHING ELSE HAPPENS FIRST.

IDNA IS THE PROTOCOL FOR IDNS.

AND IT'S A CLIENT-BASED PROTOCOL, WHICH MEANS THAT IT SITS OUT THERE AT THE CLIENT.

SO IT WILL SIT AT YOUR LAPTOP.

IF YOU OPEN YOUR BROWSER AND YOU TYPE THIS IN, THE PROTOCOL WILL BE IMPLEMENTED IN WHATEVER BROWSER APPLICATION IT IS THAT YOU'RE USING.

SO YOU TYPE IT IN.

WHAT HAPPENS IS, FIRST, AT THE BROWSER LEVEL STILL, IT GETS CONVERTED TO CODEPOINTS.

NOW, EACH CHARACTER THAT YOU FIND THAT ARE USABLE ON COMPUTERS WILL HAVE A CODEPOINT ASSOCIATED WITH IT.

AND THIS IS HOW COMPUTERS CAN SEE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DIFFERENT CHARACTERS.

IT WILL GO THROUGH SOME CASE FOLDING, NORMALIZATION, AND A FILTER, WHICH ARE SOME TECHNICAL THINGS THAT HAPPEN TO THIS DOMAIN NAME IN ORDER TO PREPARE IT FOR THE DNS TO ACTUALLY BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND IT.

THE LAST STEP THAT HAPPENS IS THAT IT WILL BE CONVERTED INTO PUNYCODE IS THAT XN-- VERSION.

THAT PUNYCODE VERSION IS WHAT'S BEING SENT OFF TO THE LOCAL SERVER FROM THE END USER CLIENT.

AND FROM HERE ON, BECAUSE THIS IS NOW IN ASCII CHARACTERS, A THROUGH Z, THE DIGITS AND THE DASH, AND THE DNS CAN ACTUALLY HANDLE THAT, SO AFTER THAT, YOU WILL HAVE A COMPLETELY NORMAL LOOKUP OF THAT DOMAIN NAME.

SOMETIMES IT WILL GO ALL THE WAY UP TO THE ROOT SERVER.

OTHER TIMES, IT WILL JUST BE THE LOCAL SERVER GIVING YOU THE RESPONSE.

THAT KIND OF DEPENDS ON WHAT KIND OF INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER YOU HAVE IN PLACE.

BUT, IN ANY EVENT, WHAT HAPPENED AT THE END IS THAT YOU GET RETURNED TO YOUR COMPUTER THE I.P. ADDRESS OF THIS PUNYCODE VERSION OF THE DOMAIN NAME FOR THAT WEB SITE.

SO I HOPE IT'S, YOU KNOW -- I DON'T KNOW IF THERE'S ANY QUESTION AT THIS POINT.

BUT I HOPE IT'S CLEAR THAT EVERYTHING THAT HAS TO DO WITH THE DNS AND HOW THE DNS IS FUNCTIONING AND LOOKING UP A DOMAIN NAME AT THE DIFFERENT SERVERS WILL TAKE PLACE IN THIS PUNYCODE VERSION OF THE STREAM THAT THE DNS CAN UNDERSTAND.

THE USER, ON THE OTHER HAND, IS WHERE YOU WILL SEE THE IDN PART OF THE DOMAIN NAME.

ANY QUESTIONS SO FAR?

ALL RIGHT.

SO IDNA, AS I SAID, IS THE ACRONYM FOR THE IDN PROTOCOL.

THIS WAS DEVELOPED WITHIN THE IETF, AND IT WAS PUBLISHED IN JUNE 2003.

AND SINCE THEN, WE HAVE HAD SOME EXPERIENCES WITH IMPLEMENTATIONS AT REGISTRIES AND IMPLEMENTATIONS AT BROWSERS AND OTHER APPLICATION PROVIDERS.

IDNA STANDS FOR INTERNATIONALIZED DOMAIN NAMES IN APPLICATION.

AND I HOPE THE EXAMPLE I SHOWED YOU BEFORE, WITH A WEB BROWSER, SHOWS YOU THAT IT'S IN THE APPLICATION THAT THE DOMAIN NAME IS ACTUALLY DECODED INTO OR TRANSLATED, IF YOU WANT TO CALL IT THAT, INTO AN ASCII STRING THAT CAN BE USED.

NOW, FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE INTERESTED IN A LOT OF TECHNICAL DETAILS ABOUT HOW THIS PROTOCOL IS WORKING, THERE ARE SOME DIFFERENT RFCS LISTED.

AND THOSE ALL TOGETHER DESCRIBE HOW THAT PROTOCOL IS WORKING.

IN ADDITION TO THAT, IT'S -- THE PROTOCOL IS CURRENTLY BEING REVISED.

AND ONE OF THE REASONS FOR THAT IS THAT WHEN IT WAS DEVELOPED AND PUBLISHED, IT WAS BASED ON WHAT IS CALLED UNICODE VERSION 3.2.

NOW, UNICODE IS REALLY JUST THIS TABLE OF CHARACTERS.

SO, LIKE, ON ONE SIDE, YOU HAVE ALL THE LOCAL CHARACTERS, LIKE THE 0 WITH THE SLASH AND ANY OTHER CHINESE, KOREAN, ARABIC CHARACTERS.

AND ON THE OTHER SIDE, YOU HAVE THE CODEPOINTS THAT ARE ASSOCIATED WITH IT.

NOW, THE UNICODE WORKS IN A WAY THAT CHARACTERS ARE BEING CONTINUOUSLY ADDED TO IT.

SO THERE WILL ALWAYS BE NEW VERSIONS OF UNICODE AVAILABLE.

AND WE ARE RIGHT NOW UP TO UNICODE 5.0 AS THE CURRENT STANDARD.

AND THAT MEANS THAT SINCE THE PROTOCOL WAS BEING DEVELOPED, THERE HAS BEEN MORE CHARACTERS ADDED THAT OBVIOUSLY NEEDS TO BE AVAILABLE IN DOMAIN NAMES.

SO THE IETF TOOK UP A GREAT WORK AND A VERY COMPREHENSIVE WORK IN TERMS OF TAKING A LOOK AT HOW CAN WE CHANGE THIS PROTOCOL INTO SOMETHING THAT ALSO WORKS IN 5.0.

AT THE SAME TIME, THEY ALSO TOOK A LOOK, THE ENGINEERS TOOK A LOOK AT ARE THERE ANY OTHER FUNCTIONALITY ISSUES WITH THE PROTOCOL, IS THERE SOMETHING THAT CAN BE DONE BETTER? AND WE'LL GET BACK TO THAT A LITTLE BIT LATER IN THE PROGRAM FOR TODAY.

OKAY.

SO I WANT TO GO BACK TO THIS DISPLAYED FORM AND THE STORED FORM.

SO THE UNICODE FORM OR THE PUNYCODE FORM.

BEFORE WE HAD IDNS, WHAT YOU REGISTERED IN A THROUGH Z CHARACTERS WAS ALSO THE DOMAIN NAME THAT WAS STORED AND USABLE IN THE DNS.

SO WE HAVEN'T REALLY -- USERS, ANYBODY WHO HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH DECISIONS ON HOW REGISTRATIONS TAKE PLACE AND SO FORTH, HAVE REALLY NOT BEEN USED TO THE FACT THAT THERE IS TWO DIFFERENT FORMS OF A DOMAIN NAME.

THERE USED TO BE JUST ONE.

SO -- SO THIS, OBVIOUSLY, NOW HAS CHANGED.

AND WE NEED TO TAKE CARE OF THAT AND MAKE SURE THAT ADEQUATE POLICIES ARE IN PLACE FOR IT.

NOW, THE EXAMPLE I HAVE UP ON THIS SLIDE IS IN ARABIC CHARACTERS.

AND AS YOU CAN SEE, THE XN-- VERSION THERE DOESN'T REALLY HAVE ANY MEANING.

AT LEAST IT DOESN'T REALLY HAVE ANY MEANING TO ME.

NOW, IF YOU PUT IT INTO THE PROTOCOL AND CHANGE IT BACK INTO THE UNICODE CHARACTERS, OBVIOUSLY, IT WILL.

BUT JUST THE XN-- AS YOU LOOK AT IT DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING.

THAT'S JUST THAT EXAMPLE.

BECAUSE THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS.

XN--GIBBERISH IS ACTUALLY A VALID STRING THAT DECODES INTO SOME ARABIC CHARACTERS THAT ARE LISTED UP THERE.

I DON'T SPEAK ARABIC, SO I REALLY DON'T HAVE, LIKE, A PERSONAL WAY OF KNOWING WHETHER THIS ACTUALLY MEANS SOMETHING.

BUT I'VE BEEN TOLD THAT THIS SPECIFIC SEQUENCE OF ARABIC CHARACTERS DOESN'T REALLY MEAN ANYTHING.

SO THAT EXAMPLE WOULD PROBABLY NOT CAUSE ANY PROBLEMS.

HOWEVER, THERE ARE OTHER THINGS THAT MIGHT CAUSE PROBLEMS.

IT COULD BE THAT THERE WOULD BE XN--TRADEMARK WITH SOME VERSION OF A TRADEMARK.

AND THAT'S A PROBLEM.

THIS IS SOMETHING THAT'S NOT INTENTIONAL.

THIS IS PURELY COINCIDENTALLY THE WAY THAT THE PROTOCOL IS WORKING.

AND IT'S NOT SOMETHING THAT WE WISH WOULD EVER HAPPEN.

NOW, THE LAST PART ON THIS SLIDE I THINK I ALREADY MENTIONED, BUT LET'S JUST RESTATE IT.

THE XN-- PREFIX IS SOMETHING THAT WE CALL PUNYCODE.

IT DESIGNATES A SYSTEM THAT WE CALLED PUNYCODE.

WHAT IT REALLY DOES IS THAT IT INDICATES TO AN APPLICATION THAT THIS LABEL NEEDS TO BE DECODED BACK INTO UNICODE BEFORE IT'S DISPLAYED TO THE USER.

SO THE INTENTION WAS THAT USERS WOULD NEVER SEE THIS XN-- VERSION, AND IF THEY NEVER SEE THAT, THEN IT REALLY DOESN'T MATTER WHAT'S IN THERE.

BUT THERE ARE SOME EXCEPTIONS TO THAT AS WELL.

AND THAT HAS TO DO WITH HOW THE IDNA PROTOCOL IS IMPLEMENTED BY APPLICATION PROVIDERS.

AND THAT'S A REALLY IMPORTANT CASE THAT IT'S DONE IN THE RIGHT WAY SO THAT WE MAKE SURE THAT THE USERS ARE SHOWN THE ACTUAL UNICODE VERSION OF A DOMAIN NAME AS OPPOSED TO THE PUNYCODE, WHICH, IN SOME CASES, MEANS SOMETHING DIFFERENT THAN WHAT THE DOMAIN NAME REALLY IS.

NOW, OTHER THAN THAT, IF YOU'RE A USER, ALL YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW IS WHAT NAME IT IS YOU WANT TO REGISTER.

AND THE TLD REGISTRIES ALL SUPPLY LISTS OVER THOSE CHARACTERS THAT THEY MAKE AVAILABLE UNDER THEIR TLD.

THEY'LL USUALLY DO THAT IN UNICODE.

SO IT'S SOMETHING VERY USABLE FOR LOCAL COMMUNITIES.

AND THE REGISTRIES WILL ALSO HANDLE ALL OF THE ENCODING THAT TAKES PLACE FROM THE UNICODE VERSION AND INTO THE PUNYCODE, THE XN-- VERSION.

SO YOU NEED TO KNOW WHAT KIND OF NAME IT IS YOU WANT TO REGISTER, AND THEN YOU CAN GO AND SEE IF DIFFERENT REGISTRIES MIGHT MAKE THAT AVAILABLE.

NOT ALL REGISTRIES WILL MAKE ALL CHARACTERS IN THE WORLD AVAILABLE.

AND THAT IS USUALLY BECAUSE THERE MIGHT BE SOME CONFUSIONS AROUND CHARACTERS USED DIFFERENTLY IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES.

SO THERE WILL BE SOME LIMITATION INITIALLY, AND WE'LL TAKE A LOOK AT THAT LATER AS WELL.

BUT IF YOU ARE A USER OR YOU'RE DEALING WITH USERS, IT IS PROBABLY VERY USEFUL TO CONSIDER, HOW CAN THIS NAME, THIS IDN NAME, REALLY BE USED.

SO IF YOU HAND ME A BUSINESS CARD AND IT HAS KOREAN CHARACTERS ON IT, I DON'T SPEAK KOREAN, AND I DON'T REALLY HAVE AN EASY METHOD ON MY LAPTOP TO TYPE IN KOREAN CHARACTERS.

SO IT DOESN'T REALLY WORK FOR ME.

I WON'T BE ABLE TO ENTER YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS.

NOW, MOST PEOPLE IN NON- -- THAT USE THE NON-ALPHABETIC SCRIPT, YOU WILL SEE IT WILL HAVE THE LOCAL CHARACTERS, CHINESE OR KOREAN ON ONE SIDE, AND THE LATIN, ASCII VERSION ON THE OTHER SIDE.

SO THAT'S A WAY TO GET ACROSS THAT.

THERE ARE MANY OTHER ISSUES.

WHAT IF YOU ARE SITTING IN A WEB CAFE SOMEWHERE IN A COUNTRY WHERE THE KEYBOARD THAT IS AVAILABLE FOR YOU HAS, YOU KNOW, DIFFERENT SET OF CHARACTERS AND YOU CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO USE THAT? WELL, THEN YOU NEED TO FIND A WAY TO GO TO SOME SOFTWARE THAT WILL -- OR MAYBE SOME ONLINE WAY OF HELPING YOU TYPE IN THE CHARACTERS YOU ACTUALLY WANT TO TYPE IN.

NOW, THIS IS SOMETHING THAT GOES BOTH WAYS.

SO I HOPE YOU CAN IMAGINE THAT IDNS ARE REALLY IMPORTANT, BECAUSE THERE ARE PEOPLE IN LARGE PARTS OF THE WORLD RIGHT NOW THAT ACTUALLY DON'T HAVE ACCESS TO THE LATIN WAY OR THE ASCII CHARACTERS A THROUGH Z OF ENTERING NAMES.

SO WE NEED TO KEEP THAT IN MIND.

BUT THERE IS PRACTICAL LIMITATIONS, AND THERE PROBABLY ALWAYS WILL BE.

THE LAST LINK DOWN THERE ON THAT SLIDE IS JUST A LINK TO AN EXAMPLE OF WHERE YOU CAN DO THIS ENCODING BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN UNICODE AND PUNYCODE.

SO IF YOU HAVE A NAME THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE AND SEE IF IT WORKS, THEN YOU CAN ENTER IT THERE, AND YOU'LL GET THE XN-- VERSION.

THE TLD REGISTRIES ARE ALSO MAKING THESE TOOLS AVAILABLE, SO I THINK YOU CAN GO TO EITHER ONE OF THEM THAT HAVE IDNS IMPLEMENTED.

OKAY. SO THE NEXT SLIDE IS ABOUT LANGUAGES AND SCRIPTS. AND THIS IS QUESTIONS THAT I USUALLY -- THIS IS AN AREA WHERE WE USUALLY GET A LOT OF QUESTIONS AND CONFUSION. SO I HOPE -- I HOPE THIS IS GOING TO HELP.

THERE ARE AROUND 5,000 TO 7,000 LANGUAGES IN THE WORLD ACCORDING TO THOSE LINGUISTS THAT ARE CONSIDERED MAKING THE BEST GUESSES. BETWEEN 100 AND 200 OF THOSE ARE THE ONES THAT ARE MAINLY USED. AND WHEN I SAY "MAINLY USED," IT DOESN'T MEAN I DON'T THINK THE REST AREN'T IMPORTANT. WHAT WE WANT TO DO IS MAKE AS MANY OF THEM AS AVAILABLE AS POSSIBLE. BUT JUST TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA ABOUT THE MAGNITUDE OF WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT.

THERE IS AN RFC3066 THAT DISCUSSES LANGUAGES IN MORE DETAIL AND IT HAS INFORMATION AROUND HOW CAN YOU TAG -- WHAT KIND OF TAGS ARE AVAILABLE FOR DIFFERENT LANGUAGES AND SO FORTH, IF THAT'S SOMETHING YOU ARE INTERESTED IN.

AN EXAMPLE OF LANGUAGES: ARABIC, GREEK, PORTUGUESE, AND OF COURSE MANY OTHERS.

NOW, SCRIPT ON THE OTHER HAND -- LANGUAGE IS WHAT I SPEAK; RIGHT? SO I SPEAK ENGLISH.

SCRIPT, ON THE OTHER HAND, IS HOW YOU WRITE DOWN YOUR LANGUAGE. AND UNFORTUNATELY, THE EXAMPLES OF HOW SCRIPTS USUALLY ARE NAMED ARE SOMETIMES OVERLAPPING WITH THE LANGUAGES.

SO IF YOU HEAR SOMEBODY TALK ABOUT GREEK IN RELATION TO IDNS, YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW IF THAT PERSON IS TALKING ABOUT THE LANGUAGE GREEK OR THE SCRIPT GREEK, BECAUSE THERE IS A DIFFERENCE ON THAT.

OTHER EXAMPLES OF SCRIPT THAT I LISTED ARE ARABIC, CYRILLIC, HAN, AND THERE IS MANY OTHERS. BUT THERE IS AN OVERLAP IN TERMINOLOGY THERE, AND IT'S IMPORTANT TO KEEP THE DIFFERENCE IN IT.

OF ALL THE IDN WORKSHOPS WE HAVE HAD, THERE HAS ALWAYS BEEN SOME CONFUSION ABOUT LANGUAGES AND SCRIPTS. BUT COMPUTERS DO NOT UNDERSTAND A LANGUAGE. THEY DON'T KNOW THAT IF YOU SIT IN FRONT OF YOUR LAPTOP AND, AGAIN, IF YOU TYPE SOMETHING INTO A BROWSER OR AN E-MAIL ADDRESS, THE COMPUTER DOES NOT REALLY KNOW THAT YOU HAD A SPECIFIC LANGUAGE IN MIND WHEN YOU WERE TYPING SOMETHING IN. ALL IT KNOWS IS WHAT CODE POINT IS ASSOCIATED WITH THESE CHARACTERS YOU ARE TYPING. AND CHARACTERS CAN -- FROM ONE SCRIPT CAN BE USED ACROSS MANY LANGUAGES. AND WE'LL GET INTO MORE DETAIL ABOUT THAT.

SO, THESE ARE REALLY JUST DEFINITIONS THAT I'M GOING THROUGH, AND PLEASE JUST RAISE YOUR HAND AND COME UP AND STOP ME IF I AM GOING TOO FAST OR IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS. AND IT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE IT.

FRANK, YOU HAVE TO ANYBODY ON THE JABBER ROOM? NO, NO.

>>FRANK FOWLIE: JUST ONE PERSON WHO LEFT.

>>TINA DAM: WELL, THAT'S OKAY.

>>FRANK FOWLIE: SAY HI TO JOHN KLENSIN.

>>TINA DAM: HE IS NOT HERE.

>>FRANK FOWLIE: BUT HE WAS ON.

>>TINA DAM: JOHN KLENSIN IS ONE OF THE GUYS -- THERE IS A QUESTION.

>> (INAUDIBLE) XN DASH DASH URL (INAUDIBLE).

>> HELLO. IF YOU KNOW -- IF YOU DON'T KNOW -- YOU DON'T HAVE THE KEYBOARD OR YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO TRANSLATE THAT SCRIPT, YOU CAN WRITE THE XN DASH DASH TO GET TO THE -- THAT URL? UNDERSTOOD?

>>TINA DAM: YEAH, THAT WILL WORK.

SO IF YOU -- IF YOU HAPPEN TO KNOW THE PUNYCODE, THE XN DASH DASH VERSION OF YOUR DOMAIN NAME, AND YOU ARE AT A WEB CAFE WHERE THE KEYBOARD IS DIFFERENT THAN WHAT YOU ARE USED TO AT HOME, BUT IT HAS THE XN DASH DASH AND ASCII VERSIONS AVAILABLE, THEN YOU CAN TYPE THAT INTO A BROWSER AND IT WILL WORK.

>> IT'S A BIT OF A TRICK BUT IT WORKS.

>>TINA DAM: IT WORKS. IT DEFINITELY WORKS. THAT IS WHAT THE DOMAIN NAME IS. THAT IS WHAT IS STORED IN THE DNS AND YOU WILL GET A RESOLUTION ON IT.

IT'S HARD BECAUSE THE XN DASH DASH VERSION IS OFTEN SOME COMPLICATED MIX OF CHARACTERS. AND IT'S OFTEN VERY LONG.

>> IS THAT FOUR BYTES FOR LETTER? OR FOR EACH CODE?

>>TINA DAM: NO, I DON'T THINK IT IS.

>>DAVE PISCITELLO: (INAUDIBLE).

THERE'S SOMETHING CALLED STRING PREP, AND STRING PREP TAKES THE CHARACTER THAT IS -- THAT WOULD BE THE NATIONAL OR LOCAL CHARACTER AND IT GENERATES A CORRESPONDING SET OF CHARACTERS THAT ARE LETTER DIGIT HYPHEN COMPATIBLE, OR SEVEN-BIT ASCII COMPATIBLE.

AND SO THERE'S AN ALGORITHM THAT ACTUALLY GENERATES THAT, THAT USES A BIT MAPPING. SO IT'S NOT NECESSARILY GOING TO BE ONE-TO-ONE PER CHARACTER OR YOU ARE NOT GOING TO GET A LONGER STRING OR SHORTER STRING IN EITHER DIRECTION. IT'S JUST AN ALGORITHM.

IN THE IDN SPECS THERE IS SOMETHING CALLED STRING PREP, SO YOU WOULD WANT TO LOOK AT THAT TO SEE HOW IT IS COMPOSED.

>>TINA DAM: SO WHAT YOU GET IS, YOU KNOW, FIRST OF ALL, A DIFFERENT LENGTH OF THAT DOMAIN NAME. SO IT COULD BE SOMETHING THAT'S REALLY LONG. I THINK THE SHORTEST IDN -- I DON'T ACTUALLY KNOW IF IT IS. BUT ONE CHINESE CHARACTER, FOR EXAMPLE, WOULD CORRESPOND TO SEVEN CHARACTERS IN THE XN DASH DASH VERSION, THE PUNYCODE FORM.

SO YOU GET SOMETHING THAT'S DIFFERENT. AND IT COULD BE COMPLICATED. BUT IT DEFINITELY WORKS. IT WOULD WORK THAT WAY.

>>ADAM PEAKE: CAN I ASK A QUESTION. SO WILL -- HELLO, IT'S ADAM. ARE YOU NOT SCRIBING? ADAM PEAKE IS MY NAME. IS THERE SORT OF A REVERSE DNS LOOKUP THEN, SO IF I COULD CUT AND PASTE THE KOREAN STRING THAT I COULDN'T TYPE, COULD I CUT AND PASTE THAT INTO A SORT OF REVERSE DNS EQUIVALENT AND GET THE HYPHEN DASH DASH EQUIVALENT BACK AND THEN TYPE -- IT'S GETTING RATHER CONVOLUTED IN TERMS OF A QUESTION, BUT DO YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN? SO YOU WOULD CUT AND PASTE THE KOREAN INTO AN EQUIVALENT OF SOME KIND OF REVERSE DNS LOOKUP WHICH WOULD THEN GIVE YOU THE ASCII STRING BACK, WHICH YOU COULD THEN COPY INTO YOUR BROWSER.

>>TINA DAM: SO THAT'S AN INTERESTING IDEA. I DON'T NECESSARILY KNOW HOW YOU WOULD FEEL IF YOU HAD TO DO THAT EVERY TIME YOU HAD TO ENTER A DOMAIN NAME IN A WEB BROWSER.

IT WOULD WORK IF THE COPYING AND PASTING OF THOSE CHARACTERS ACTUALLY WORK ON THE COMPUTER YOU ARE SITTING ON BECAUSE THAT'S A DIFFERENT PROBLEM.

NOW, ON MY COMPUTER, I HAVE ACTUALLY SET IT UP SO IT CAN HANDLE ALL OF THESE DIFFERENT SCRIPTS, BUT YOURS MIGHT NOT. AND WHATEVER OTHER PLACE YOURS DO, BUT WHATEVER OTHER PLACE YOU MIGHT BE USING A COMPUTER, IT MIGHT NOT NECESSARILY BE SET UP TO HANDLE THOSE CHARACTERS. SO EVEN IF YOU TRY TO COPY AND PASTE IT BETWEEN DIFFERENT APPLICATIONS, YOU MIGHT NOT GET WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR.

BUT YOU COULD. SO THERE'S A LOT OF NOISE, MEHMET. WELL, MAYBE IT'S JUST ME.

ALL RIGHT. SO WE'RE MOVING TO -- WAS THERE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? NO.

SO WE'RE MOVING TO UNICODE AND ASCII, AGAIN.

SO UNICODE IS JUST ONE OF MANY CHARACTER ENCODING SYSTEMS THAT ARE BEING USED RIGHT NOW. IT HAPPENED TO BE THE ONE THAT THE IDN PROTOCOL IS BASED ON.

IT HAS DIFFERENT WAYS OF REPRESENTING CHARACTERS. THAT MAKES IT NOT COMPLETELY ADEQUATE FOR HANDLING IDNS. IT MAKES IT DIFFICULT FOR THE ENGINEERS TO FIND A WAY TO HAVE AN ALGORITHM THAT ACTUALLY DOES THIS TRANSLATION INTO PUNYCODE IN A STANDARD MANNER.

IF YOU WANT TO LOOK MORE INTO THAT, I HAVE PUT IN SOME RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SOME READING MATERIAL ON A COUPLE OF TECHNICAL REPORTS, AND ALSO IN RFC 4690 THAT HAS SOME DETAILS ABOUT THAT.

>>FRANK FOWLIE: JOHN KLENSIN HAS -- SORRY.

JOHN KLENSIN HAS SENT A NOTE IN IN RESPONSE TO ADAM'S QUESTION SAYING: NOT IN THE DNS, BUT YES. AND THAT THERE ARE SEVERAL WEB SITES ON THE NET THAT CAN DO THAT, AND HE COULD PASS ALONG A LITTLE PROGRAM, IF REQUESTED.

>>TINA DAM: GREAT. THANKS.

SO, JOHN, IF YOU CAN HEAR WHAT I AM SAYING, YOU CAN GO AHEAD AND SEND THAT TO ME AND I'LL ADD IT TO THE SLIDES AS AN APPENDIX TO THESE SLIDES, AND WE CAN POST THAT ALL TOGETHER AND PEOPLE WILL HAVE ACCESS TO THAT. SO THANK YOU FOR THAT.

NOW, THE DNS IS USING A DIFFERENT ENCODING SYSTEM THAN UNICODE, AND YOU MIGHT WONDER, WELL, WHY? WHY DIDN'T IT JUST USE UNICODE? BECAUSE THEN THIS TRANSLATION INTO PUNYCODE AND SO FORTH MIGHT NOT EVEN BE NECESSARY.

AND THE ANSWER IS REALLY SIMPLE, THAT UNICODE DID NOT EXIST WHEN THE DNS WAS DEVELOPED.

SO IT WAS JUST NOT AN OPTION. AND THERE HAD TO BE A CHOICE MADE TOWARDS WHAT KIND OF CHARACTERS CAN WE USE IN DOMAIN NAMES, AND THE CHOICE FELL ON ASCII.

THE DNS IS USING SOME ENCODING SYSTEM THAT'S CALLED ACE, A-C-E, AND THAT IS ONE ASCII-COMPATIBLE ENCODING.

ASCII STANDS FOR AMERICAN STANDARD CODE FOR INFORMATION INTERCHANGE.

THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT ENGLISH OR AMERICAN CAN BE -- OR ALL WORDS IN THAT LANGUAGE CAN BE REPRESENTED IN DOMAIN NAMES BACK BEFORE WE HAD IDNS. IT WAS JUST A CHOICE THAT HAD TO BE MADE.

NOW, PUNYCODE, THE XN DASH DASH FORM, IS THE ACE, THAT ENCODING THAT IS USED FOR IDNS. SO THAT'S WHERE IT'S COMING FROM.

AND THIS IS WHAT YOU SAW BEFORE WHEN I TALKED ABOUT THE DISPLAY FORM, THAT IS THE UNICODE FORM, AND THE STORED FORM THAT IS IN PUNYCODE, OR IN ASCII.

SO I THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD TIME TO TAKE A QUICK LOOK AT THE AGENDA TO SEE HOW FAR WE ACTUALLY MADE IT.

I HOPE THAT BY NOW IT'S PRETTY CLEAR HOW DOMAIN NAMES WITH INTERNATIONALIZED CHARACTERS ARE WORKING, HOW THEY ARE SET UP, AND WHAT PUNYCODE IS AND SO FORTH. THAT'S BASICALLY THE FIRST CIRCLE OF THE GENERAL INFORMATION THAT I GAVE.

THE SECOND HALF OF MY PRESENTATION IS GOING TO BE ABOUT EXAMPLES OF SOME ISSUES, AND THEN AGAIN, WE'LL GO INTO SOME DIFFERENT PROJECTS THAT ARE ONGOING, WHICH YOU WILL HEAR MORE ABOUT ON WEDNESDAY IN THE WORKSHOP THERE.

AND A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE ACTIVITIES HERE AND FORWARD.

SO IF THERE IS ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT ALL OF THE GENERIC, GENERAL INFORMATION THAT WE HAVE GONE THROUGH, THIS WOULD BE A REALLY GOOD TIME.

OKAY. SO WE HAVE SEVERAL DIFFERENT KINDS OF ISSUES THAT HAS TO DO WITH USERS POTENTIALLY GETTING CONFUSED.

WE HAVE SOMETHING THAT RELATES TO THE SAME SCRIPT, BUT DIFFERENT LANGUAGES ISSUES.

AND HERE IS AN EXAMPLE. AND I GUESS I KIND OF HAVE TO APOLOGIZE ABOUT BRINGING UP EXAMPLES THAT ARE IN SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES, BUT I AM FROM DENMARK, AND IT'S REALLY JUST EASIER TO BRING UP SOMETHING THAT YOU HAVE GROWN UP WITH AND KNOW FAIRLY WELL.

SO THIS IS A NAME OF A PERSON IN DANISH, SWEDISH AND NORWEGIAN. YOU CAN SEE ON MY SLIDE THERE THAT IT COULD BE WRITTEN WITH AN O OR WITH THE O SLASH OR WITH THE O WITH THE TWO DOTS OVER. AND IT'S REALLY CONSIDERED THE SAME.

I THINK YOU CAN GO AND ASK ANYONE ON THE STREET IN DENMARK, SWEDEN OR NORWAY AND ASK THEM IF THEY THINK THESE THREE NAMES ARE THE SAME AND THEY WILL SAY YES.

BUT IT'S NOT ALWAYS THAT THE O AND THE O SLASH AND THE O WITH THE DOTS ARE CONSIDERED TO BE EQUAL. SOMETIMES IT HAS TO DO WITH WHERE THOSE CHARACTERS ARE PUT IN A STRING OR IN A WORD. SO YOU REALLY CAN'T MAKE ANY GENERIC RULE AT A PROTOCOL LEVEL FOR HOW TO TREAT THESE THREE CHARACTERS. YOU CAN'T JUST SAY THEY SHOULD ALWAYS BE THE SAME, BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT.

AND THAT IS WHY WE NEED SPECIFIC RULES AT THE TLD REGISTRY LEVEL.

SO IF ONE OF THE CCTLD REGISTRIES IN SCANDINAVIA, WHEN THEY IMPLEMENTED IDNS, THEY WOULD MAKE A RULE ABOUT WHEN THEY WOULD WANT TO SEE THINGS BEING EQUAL AND WHEN NOT.

SOME OF THESE TLD REGISTRIES HAVE SUBMITTED SOME TABLES INTO IANA. IANA HAS THIS REPOSITORY THAT WILL TAKE IN THESE LISTS OF CHARACTER TABLES THAT SHOWS VARIANTS OF HOW A TLD REGISTRY -- FIRST OF ALL, WHICH CHARACTERS THEY MAKE AVAILABLE, AND, SECONDLY, IF THERE'S ANY VARIANTS OF IT.

AND WE NEED TO HAVE MORE TLD REGISTRIES SUBMIT THEIR TABLES IN THERE, BECAUSE THIS IS REALLY A GOOD WAY TO DISPLAY THESE LISTS OF CHARACTERS IN A SINGLE LOCATION. SO IF YOU GO TO IANA.ORG, THERE WILL BE A REPOSITORY AVAILABLE THERE TO SEND THAT IN.

IF YOU ARE MORE USER ORIENTED AND YOU WANT TO SEE WHAT THE DIFFERENT REGISTRIES ARE DOING AND WHAT KIND OF CHARACTERS THEY ARE ALLOWING, YOU KNOW, YOU CAN OBVIOUSLY -- THEY WOULD SHOW IT ON --

(POPPING NOISE).

>>TINA DAM: WE'RE STILL ON. WOW.

THEY WILL SHOW IT ON LIST ON THEIR WEB SITE IN MOST CASES, BUT YOU CAN ALSO GO TO THE IANA REPOSITORY TO SEE SOME GENERIC OVERVIEW OF IT.

THE EXAMPLE I HAVE THERE IS IN .SE, AND THAT IS IN SWEDEN, AND THE TABLE IN SWEDEN DISPLAYS THAT, FOR EXAMPLE, THE LETTER U WITH THE TWO DOTS ON IT IS REFERRED TO IN SWEDISH AS A GERMAN Y AND IT IS CONSIDERED TO BE A VARIANT OF THE LEFT Y. NOW, WHAT THAT MEANS IS IF YOU WANT TO MAKE A REGISTRATION UNDER .SE AND YOU WANT THAT CHARACTER IN THERE, IT'S CONSIDERED THE SAME AS A Y. SO IF THERE IS ALREADY THAT NAME REGISTERED WITH A Y IN IT, THEN YOU CAN'T HAVE IT WITH THE U WITH THE TWO DOTS OVER.

FRANK.

>>FRANK FOWLIE: A COMMENT WITH RESPECT TO ADAM'S QUESTION EARLIER THAT THE UNICODE IDN COULD BE CUT AND PASTED INTO AN ADDRESS'S BROWSER LINE.

>>TINA DAM: AND I THINK WE SAID THAT IT CAN, BUT SOMETIMES WHEN YOU COPY AND PASTE BETWEEN APPLICATIONS, YOU -- YOU KNOW, YOU MIGHT COPY INTO AN APPLICATION THAT CANNOT HANDLE THOSE CHARACTERS.

IF YOU ARE USING AN IDN-CAPABLE BROWSER, THEN THAT CAN HANDLE IT. BUT, YOU KNOW, YOU NEVER KNOW FOR SURE WITH ALL APPLICATIONS. YOU KNOW FOR SURE IF THE BROWSER IS IDN CAPABLE, IT CAN, BUT NOT ALL ARE CAPABLE OF DOING THAT.

IN ANY EVENT, SO THESE ARE EXAMPLES OF VARIANTS THAT THE DIFFERENT TLD REGISTRIES WILL DECIDE ON HOW THEY DEVELOP THEIR POLICIES AROUND SO THAT IT MAKES SENSE AND IT WORKS FOR USERS IN THEIR COMMUNITY. AGAIN, YOU GO TO IANA.ORG, AND AT THE BOTTOM LEFT OF THE MAIN PAGE THERE YOU WILL SEE A LINK TO THE REPOSITORY.

THERE IS SOME OTHER ISSUES, SAME LANGUAGE BUT MULTIPLE SCRIPTS. WHAT THIS MEANS IS THERE ARE SOME LANGUAGES IN THE WORLD THAT CAN BE EXPRESSED BY USING MULTIPLE SCRIPTS.

FOR EXAMPLE, EASTERN EUROPEAN AND CENTRAL -- OKAY, BEFORE I MOVE ON, THERE IS ANOTHER QUESTION.

FRANK.

>>FRANK FOWLIE: I AM PAID BY THE QUESTION, BY THE WAY.

THE .SE REGISTRY DOESN'T MAKE THAT EQUATION U WITH TWO DOTS OVER TOP AND Y ARE DIFFERENT LETTERS FOR THE PURPOSES OF DOMAIN REGISTRATION.

>>TINA DAM: SO IN THAT CASE, I SAID SOMETHING WRONG AND I APOLOGIZE. MAYBE I HAVE COPIED IT WRONG DOWN -- DOWN IN THE WRONG WAY.

SO SORRY ABOUT THAT.

I'LL TRY TO MAKE A CORRECTION TO THAT AS WE GET THE SLIDES POSTED.

THERE YOU GO. IT'S NOT ALWAYS EASY.

IN ANY EVENT, SO THERE ARE SOME LANGUAGES -- FOR EXAMPLE, IN EASTERN EUROPE AND IN CENTRAL ASIA -- THAT CAN BE EXPRESSED IN CYRILLIC OR LATIN CHARACTERS. THERE ARE SOME THAT CAN BE EXPRESSED BOTH IN ARABIC AND LATIN CHARACTERS. AND THEN THERE ARE LANGUAGES THAT ARE WRITTEN BY USING A COMBINATION OF SCRIPTS, AND A COUPLE OF EXAMPLES ARE UP THERE.

SO WHAT THAT MEANS IS THAT THE SAME WORD IN THE SAME LANGUAGE CAN BE EXPRESSED IN DIFFERENT WAYS. AND IN SOME OF THESE, THERE WILL BE A CHOICE AROUND A SPECIFIC WORD, EVEN THOUGH THE GENERAL LANGUAGE CAN BE EXPRESSED WITH DIFFERENT CHARACTER SETS. THERE WILL BE A CHOICE THAT SPECIFIC WORDS IN THERE CAN EXPRESS JUST USING A SINGLE SCRIPT.

AND SOME ARE HE CAN PRESSED BY MIXING SCRIPTS. AND THAT CAN CREATE SOME PROBLEMS. WHAT THE RESULT REALLY IS OF THAT IS HOW WE DEFINE A SCRIPT IS REALLY IMPORTANT AND SENSITIVE WHEN IT COMES TO IDNS. WE NEED TO MAKE SURE THAT IT'S DONE IN A VERY CLEAR MANNER THAT WORKS FOR ALL OF THESE DIFFERENT CASES.

NOW, THAT LEADS ME TO THE LAST SET OF ISSUES THAT I WANTED TO LIST HERE, AND THAT IS A VISUAL CONFUSION ISSUE.

AND THE EXAMPLE HERE, I THINK, IS FAIRLY WELL-KNOWN. PAYPAL.COM WHERE THE SECOND CHARACTER IS A CYRILLIC SMALL A. AND IF YOU LOOK AT THE SLIDE THERE YOU PROBABLY CAN'T SEE IT IS A CYRILLIC A. THE CYRILLIC A LOOKS A LOT LIKE THE LATIN A, ALTHOUGH THE CYRILLIC A HAS A DIFFERENT CODE POINT THAN THE LATIN A, AND SO IF YOU HAVE JUST PAYPAL IN LATIN CHARACTERS IT WILL BE DIFFERENT THAN A PAYPAL WHERE THE "A" IS A CYRILLIC CHARACTER. THE COMPUTER WILL UNDERSTAND THAT AS TWO DIFFERENT NAMES. IT HAS DIFFERENT CODE POINTS IN UNICODE AS WE TALKED ABOUT.

NOW, THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE ANYMORE, BECAUSE -- TO MAKE REGISTRATIONS LIKE THAT, BECAUSE THE IDN GUIDELINES ARE SAYING YOU CANNOT MIX SCRIPT WITHIN ONE LABEL. YOU HAVE TO USE ONE LABEL AND ONE SCRIPT.

AND THEN AGAIN, THERE ARE SOME EXCEPTIONS TO THAT. SO JAPANESE, FOR EXAMPLE, WAS ONE OF THOSE LANGUAGES THAT ARE USING DIFFERENT SCRIPTS TO REPRESENT THAT LANGUAGE. AND THESE SCRIPTS HAVE TO BE MIXED IN ORDER FOR THE JAPANESE LANGUAGE TO MAKE SENSE. AND THAT IS ALLOWED AS -- EXAMPLES LIKE THAT ARE ALLOWED IN THE GUIDELINES AS EXCEPTIONS BUT THE GUIDELINES SPECIFICALLY ARE WRITTEN AROUND MAKING SURE THAT THESE KINDS OF MIXING CONFUSABLE ISSUES WILL NOT EXIST.

NOW, I'M SAYING THAT DON'T EXIST. THAT OBVIOUSLY WILL ONLY TAKE PLACE IF IT IS A TLD REGISTRY THAT IS FOLLOWING THESE GUIDELINES. AND RIGHT NOW THE GUIDELINES ARE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE GTLDS, AND NOT FOR THE CCTLDS, BUT IT'S BEING MOVED TOWARDS BEING A GENERAL BEST CURRENT PRACTICE FOR ALL TLD REGISTRIES.

ALL RIGHT. SO THE OTHER EXAMPLE I HAVE IS LOOKING AT A SPECIFIC CCTLD. AND JUST TO MAKE IT COMPLETELY CLEAR, THERE IS NOBODY WHO ASKED FOR THIS AT ALL. I'M JUST -- IT'S JUST AN EXAMPLE THAT WAS MADE UP AT SOME POINT IN TIME.

NOW, THE RUSSIAN CCTLD IS .RU. BUT THE CYRILLIC R AND U LOOK LIKE -- IT LOOKS LIKE THE LATIN P AND Y. LOOK AT THE SLIDE AND YOU WILL SEE WHAT I MEAN.

NOW, THE CYRILLIC R AND U THERE HAVE DIFFERENT CODE POINTS THAN THE LATIN P AND Y. SO EVEN THOUGH THEY LOOK A LOT OF SAME, THE COMPUTER WILL TREAT THEM DIFFERENTLY, JUST LIKE THE CYRILLIC A AND THE LATIN A ARE DIFFERENT. THEY JUST LOOK THE SAME.

NOW, THE PY IN LATIN IS ACTUALLY THE CCTLD FOR PARAGUAY, SO THEY PROBABLY WOULDN'T BE TOO HAPPY IF YOU WOULD SEE ADVERTISEMENT OF DOMAIN NAMES THAT ENDED IN WHAT LOOKS LIKE IT'S PY BUT IT'S REALLY THE CYRILLIC R AND U.

SO OBVIOUSLY WE CAN'T HAVE CONFUSIONS LIKE THAT.

IF YOU SEE AN ADVERTISEMENT ON THE SIDE OF A BUS AND YOU THINK WHAT YOU ARE SEEING IS PY AND YOU ARE THINKING PARAGUAY, BUT IT REALLY IS CYRILLIC R AND U, AND IT'S RUSSIA, THEN WE HAVE A PROBLEM.

SO RUSSIA, AGAIN, DID NOT ASK FOR THIS. IT'S JUST AN EXAMPLE TO SHOW YOU HOW THINGS CAN BE VISUALLY CONFUSABLE. AND WHEN WE TALK ABOUT DETERMINING WHICH LABELS SHOULD BE THE INTERNATIONALIZED VERSIONS OF COUNTRY CODE TOP LEVEL DOMAINS, WE NEED A PROCESS THAT MAKES SURE THIS VISUAL CONFUSION DOES NOT EXIST.

SO GENERAL OVERVIEW OF ALL THESE USER CONFUSION ISSUES. IT'S NOT SOMETHING THAT WE DIDN'T KNOW BEFOREHAND. IT EXISTED BEFORE WE HAD IDNS. IDNS ARE JUST EXPANDING OR INCREASING THE NUMBER OF PROBLEMS THAT CAN TAKE PLACE.

YOU WILL KNOW THAT IN ASCII THE DIGIT 1 AND THE LOWERCASE L LOOK VERY MUCH THE SAME, AND DOMAIN NAMES CAN LOOK CONFUSINGLY SIMILAR IF YOU HAVE THOSE CHARACTERS IN IT.

THE DIGIT ZERO AND THE UPPERCASE O TO SOME EXTENT ALSO LOOK VERY SIMILAR. SOMETIMES IT HAS TO DO WITH WHAT KIND OF FONT YOU ARE USING.

AND SO WE ALREADY HAD THIS PROBLEM.

IDNS REALLY MAKES US GO FROM THE 64 ASCII CHARACTERS TO TENS -- AND ACTUALLY I THINK TENS OF THOUSANDS OF CHARACTERS THAT ARE AVAILABLE IN UNICODE, AND THIS CREATES MORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR CONFUSION AND MORE OPPORTUNITY FOR FRAUD, AND THAT IS SOMETHING THAT WE NEED TO TRY TO PREVENT.

SO THIS IS JUST A QUICK SUMMARY TO HOPEFULLY -- YOU KNOW, IT'S A LONG SESSION, AND I APPRECIATE THE FACT THAT SOMETIMES IT'S A LITTLE BIT COMPLICATED TOPIC.

SO LET'S SEE IF THIS GETS US BACK ON TRACK. SO WE HAVE LOOKED AT SOME OF THE MAIN ISSUES, OR AT LEAST SOME OF THE ISSUES THAT HAS TO DO WITH HOW THE DOMAIN NAMES ARE USED AND USABILITY OF THEM FOR END USERS. AND SO YOU MIGHT BE SITTING THERE THINKING, WHAT ABOUT THE SOLUTIONS TO ALL OF THIS?

AND SOME OF IT IS -- SOME OF IT IS ALREADY SOLVED, AND SOME OF IT IS UNDER WAY.

SOME OF IT IS BEING SOLVED BY PROTOCOL ADJUSTMENTS. WE TALKED ABOUT THE IDNA PROTOCOL BEING UNDER REVISION. SOME OF IT HAS TO DO WITH THE WAY THAT WE WANT TO EXPAND THE IDN GUIDELINES, WHICH IS THE SET OF REQUIREMENTS FOR HOW YOU IMPLEMENT IDNS.

SOME OF IT HAS TO DO WITH HOW YOU IMPLEMENT REGISTRY POLICIES THAT WORK AT THE TIME OF REGISTRATION.

AND THEN THERE WILL ALSO BE SOMETHING LEFT. AND IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT THAT WE SPEND SOME TIME EDUCATING USERS, OUR MARKET COMMUNITY TO MAKE SURE THEY UNDERSTAND THAT THERE ARE RISKS FOR SOME ADDITIONAL CONFUSION OUT THERE.

SO THAT TOOK ME ON TO PRETTY MUCH THE LAST SEGMENT OF THE PRESENTATION, AND THAT HAS TO DO WITH AN IDN PROGRAM PLAN THAT'S IN PLACE.

THIS IS SOMETHING THAT'S FAIRLY NEW WITHIN ICANN. IT HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED SO THAT WE HAVE A MUCH MORE TRANSPARENT AND DETAILED LOOK AT WHAT KIND OF ISSUES NEEDS TO BE SOLVED AND WHERE THEY SHOULD BE SOLVED. IT DOESN'T MEAN THAT ICANN IS IN CONTROL OF ALL OF THIS. IT JUST MEANS WE ARE TRYING TO SET SOMETHING UP WITHIN THE ICANN COMMUNITY, AND SOMETIMES ALSO OUTSIDE THE ICANN COMMUNITY THAT WILL HAVE AN EFFECT ON WHAT HAPPENS INSIDE.

THE MAIN GOAL OF THIS PROGRAM PLAN IS THAT WE WILL BE ABLE TO INSERT INTERNATIONALIZED TOP-LEVEL LABELS IN THE ROOT ZONE.

WHAT'S NEW ABOUT IT IS WE HAVE ICANN STAFF THAT IS DEDICATED TO HELPING WORK ON IDN ISSUES. WE'RE USING, SO FAR, SOME OF THE EXISTING TECHNICAL POLICY AND IANA STAFF THAT YOU WILL MEET AROUND AT THE MEETING HERE.

AND THEN WE'RE LOOKING AT HIRING FOR SOME NEW POSITIONS AS WELL.

AGAIN, I SAID IT BEFORE, BUT REALLY THE KEY THING TO KEEP IN MIND WITHIN THIS PROGRAM AS WE MOVE TOWARDS INTERNATIONALIZED DOMAIN NAMES IS TO KEEP EVERYTHING SECURE AND STABLE AND MAKE IT CONTINUE WORKING IN THE RIGHT WAY. AND IF THERE'S TOO MUCH OF ALL OF THIS USER CONFUSION THAT I GAVE YOU SOME EXAMPLES ON, THEN THAT IS NOT CONSIDERED SECURE AND STABLE, SO WE HAVE TO FIND SOLUTIONS TO ALL OF THOSE THINGS.

SO THERE ARE A COUPLE OF MAJOR THINGS GOING ON RIGHT NOW PRIMARILY ON THE TECHNICAL SIDE WHEN WE TALK ABOUT IDNS.

ONE IS THAT THERE IS SOME TESTINGS GOING ON. THE TECHNICAL TESTINGS HAS TO DO WITH MAKING SURE THAT -- HOW THE DNS IS WORKING AND RESPONDING TO ALL OF THESE PUNYCODE LABELS IS ACTUALLY WORKING THE RIGHT WAY.

FIRST, WE'RE GOING TO DO THAT IN A LABORATORY SETTING, AND THAT'S UNDERWAY.

AND LATER, WE'LL MOVE THAT INTO SOMETHING THAT'S A LITTLE BIT BROADER AND TAKES INTO CONSIDERATION APPLICATIONS AND USER INTERFACES AS WELL. BUT SO FAR, THIS IS REALLY ONLY LOOKING AT HOW THE ROOT IS HANDLING THIS.

SO THERE ARE SOME DIFFERENT TIMELINES THERE IN TERMS OF HOW THE LABORATORY TESTING IS GOING ON.

IF YOU HAVE PARTICIPATED IN ANY OF THE IDN WORKSHOPS THROUGHOUT THIS YEAR YOU KNOW THERE HAS BEEN DIFFERENT DISCUSSIONS ABOUT SHOULD THIS BE USED BY NS RECORDS, SHOULD IT BE USED BY DNAME RECORDS OR SHOULD WE HAVE ANY NEW TYPE OF RECORDS. THESE ARE RESOURCE RECORDS FOR HOW TLDS ARE HANDLED CURRENTLY.

RIGHT NOW, IF YOU INSERT A TOP-LEVEL DOMAIN IN THE ROOT SERVER, YOU DO THAT BY AN NS RECORD. DNAME HAS NOT BEEN USED FOR THAT EVER.

SO THAT HAS BEEN SPLIT UP INTO TWO PARALLEL RUNNING TASKS. AND IN PARTICULAR, FOR EXAMPLE, POLICY AREAS ARE TAKING A CLOSER LOOK AT WHETHER FUNCTIONALITY THAT'S SOMETHING LIKE THE DNAME RESOURCE RECORD WILL BRING ALONG, IF THAT'S REALLY SOMETHING THAT'S NECESSARY.

SO THESE THINGS ARE RUNNING IN PARALLEL. BUT IN ANY EVENT, AS RECENTLY AS SEPTEMBER, ICANN RETAINED AUTONOMICA, WHICH IS A SWEDISH COMPANY, TO PERFORM SOME LABORATORY TESTING. AND THIS TEST HAS TO DO WITH THE ROOT SERVERS AND THE RESOLVER SOFTWARE PACKAGES.

AND THAT IS ALL THAT'S BEING TESTED THERE. THERE IS NO APPLICATION TESTING, NO TESTING OF BROWSERS OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT AT ALL. JUST AT THE ROOT LEVEL.

THERE IS AN IDN PAC, WHICH IS THE PRESIDENT'S ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON IDNS, WHICH HAVE BEEN WORKING TOWARDS MAKING RECOMMENDATIONS TO ICANN ON HOW TO PERFORM THESE TESTS, AND THEY ALSO HAVE AGREED ON A METHOD FOR HOW TO SELECT THE STRINGS THAT ARE BEING USED FOR THIS TEST.

SOME OF THE TESTS ARE ALREADY UNDERWAY, AND WE'RE EXPECTING TO PROVIDE YOU WITH SOME DETAIL ABOUT HOW THE TEST IS DESIGNED, LET YOU ACTUALLY REPLICATE THE TEST IF YOU HAVE A TEST FACILITY AT YOUR OFFICES AND SEE IF YOU GET THE SAME RESULTS AS WE DO. AND THEN WE'LL PUBLISH THESE ONLINE FOR PUBLIC REVIEW.

AND ALL OF THAT SHOULD HAPPEN WITHIN THE NEXT, PROBABLY, FEW DAYS IN NOT MAYBE THE NEXT FEW WEEKS.

NOW, A LITTLE BIT ABOUT HOW WE SELECTED THESE STRINGS.

WE WANTED TO CHOOSE SOMETHING THAT DIDN'T REALLY MAKE ANY SENSE. SO WHEN THIS PAPER COMES ONLINE, YOU WILL SEE THAT WE SELECTED THE STRING OF HIPPOPOTAMUS, AND THEN WE INSERTED THE TWO DIGITS ONE AND EIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF IT, SO IT'S HIPPO18POTAMUS. AND THEN WE BASICALLY DID SOME TRANSLATIONS INTO DIFFERENT SCRIPTS OF THAT STRING.

SO WE HAVE USED RIGHT TO LEFT, LEFT TO RIGHT WITH SOME SHAPING PROPERTIES AND SO FORTH, AND ALSO NON-ALPHABETIC SCRIPTS. AND THAT GAVE US A LIST OF UNICODE STRINGS THAT NEEDED TO BE TESTED, AND THEN WE BASICALLY DID A UNICODE TO PUNYCODE CONVERSION OF THAT AND HANDED IT OVER TO THE TEST FACILITIES. AND SO THAT'S WHAT THEY ARE USING.

NOW, THE -- JUST BECAUSE WE REALLY COULDN'T WAIT IN TESTING IT ALL THE WAY THROUGH TO THE APPLICATION, WE DID AN INITIAL TEST IN OCTOBER UP IN STOCKHOLM AND IT WAS CONDUCTED IN A DOT MUSEUM LABORATORY ENVIRONMENT, AND WHERE WE TOOK THE SWEDISH VERSION OF HIPPOPOTAMUS AND INSERTED THE DIGIT 1 AND 8 AND TRIED IT OUT WITH A COUPLE OF BROWSERS. AND I KNOW IT'S A LITTLE -- IT'S PROBABLY A LITTLE BIT -- A LITTLE WAY TO SEE UP THERE BUT WHAT YOU ACTUALLY SEE IS HTTP COLON SLASH SLASH MUSEUM DOT, AND THEN A VERY LONG LIST OF CHARACTERS THAT CONSTITUTE THE TOP-LEVEL DOMAIN.

WE WANTED TO TRY IT OUT IN THE EXTREME CASE WITH THE 63 CHARACTERS THAT ARE THE LIMIT THAT ARE AVAILABLE FOR DOMAIN NAME LABELS.

AND IT WORKED. AND IT WORKED GREAT.

SO WHAT THAT MEANS IS THAT THE SOFTWARE THAT WAS USED FOR THIS PARTICULAR LABORATORY SETUP CAN HANDLE THESE PUNYCODE STRINGS.

SO THAT'S A PRETTY GOOD RESULT.

NOW WE NEED TO TRY IT OUT AT A MUCH BROADER SCALE WITH ALL THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF SOFTWARE THAT ROOT SERVERS ARE RUNNING AND ALL THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF SOFTWARE THAT THE RESOLVERS ARE RUNNING. ACTUALLY, I DON'T THINK YOU CAN DO EVERYTHING THAT THE RESOLVERS ARE RUNNING BUT YOU CAN CHOOSE THE MOST POPULAR ONES.

NOW, WHEN WE TRIED IT OUT IN A COUPLE OF BROWSER, THERE WAS ONE THAT GAVE A POSITIVE RESULT AND THERE WAS ONE THAT GAVE AN ERROR.

AND AT FIRST WE THOUGHT THAT THAT PROBABLY WAS BECAUSE THAT PARTICULAR BROWSER OR APPLICATION PROVIDER HAD IMPLEMENTED THE IDN PROTOCOL IN THE WRONG WAY OR MADE SOME ERROR AT SOME POINT.

BUT WE FOUND OUT THAT IT WASN'T, AND IT WAS ACTUALLY A BUG IN THAT SYSTEM THAT THEY ALREADY HAD LISTED, AND IT'S BEING CORRECTED.

SO IT HAD AN IMPLICATION FOR HOW IDNS WERE RESOLVED, BUT IT WASN'T DIRECTLY RELATED TO HOW THE PROTOCOL IS IMPLEMENTED.

NOW, AS WE MOVE FORWARD AND AS SOON AS THE LABORATORY TESTS ARE DONE, WE NEED TO MOVE INTO SOMETHING PREDEPLOYMENT, SOMETHING WHERE WE CAN TEST APPLICATION SOFTWARE, SOMETHING WHERE THE REGISTRIES CAN TEST THEIR DIFFERENT PROTOCOLS AND SO FORTH.

THE INITIAL IDEAS ON HOW TO DO THAT ARE ON THE WAY.

WE TALKED ABOUT INTRODUCING DOT TEST TRANSLATED OR TRANSLITERATED INTO VARIOUS SCRIPTS.

AND THE REASON WHY WE WANT DOT TEST AGAIN IS TO MAKE SURE THAT IF THIS IS SOMETHING THAT'S SEEN BY END USERS, THEY KNOW THAT IT'S REALLY JUST FOR TESTING PURPOSES AND IT'S NOT REAL PRODUCTION.

WHAT KIND OF SCRIPTS THAT WILL BE USED IN THAT TEST IS SOMETHING THAT WE NEED TO CONSULT WITH THE COMMUNITY AND WITH YOU ABOUT.

SPECIFICALLY HERE IN SAO PAULO, THE PRESENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR IDNS WILL HAVE THE PLANS FOR HOW TO DO THAT AS THEIR MAIN POINT OF -- TOPIC FOR THEIR DISCUSSION.

AND THEN, OF COURSE, AS THIS HAS TO DO WITH MANY PARTS OF THE TECHNICAL COMMUNITY, IT'S ALSO SOMETHING THAT HAS TO BE DISCUSSED WITH THEM, IN PARTICULAR, THE ROOT SERVER OPERATORS, BEFORE ANYTHING IS MOVED FORWARD.

BUT JUST, IN GENERAL, THAT'S THE DIRECTION THINGS ARE GOING.

NOW, I WANTED TO TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT SOME PROTOCOL REVISIONS THAT I'VE MENTIONED A COUPLE OF TIMES THAT ARE GOING ON.

NOW, IT'S IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO KNOW THAT THIS IS NOT SOMETHING THAT'S RUN BY ICANN OR DIRECTED BY ICANN IN ANY SENSE.

THIS IS HANDLED THROUGH THE IETF, AND THEY'RE DOING A TREMENDOUS JOB IN LIFTING THESE REVISION THINGS THAT ARE ONGOING RIGHT NOW.

SOME OF THE THINGS THAT HAS TO DO WITH THIS REVISION, AS I SAID, HAD TO DO WITH MOVING FROM UNICODE 3.2 TO 5.0, WHERE THERE IS MANY MORE CHARACTERS AVAILABLE.

BUT IT ALSO HAS TO DO WITH LOOKING AT THE FUNCTIONALITY AND SEEING IF THERE IS SOMETHING THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE BETTER.

SO ONE OF THE CHANGES THAT ARE BEING DISCUSSED RIGHT NOW, AND IT'S NOT DECIDED UPON, BUT IS BEING DISCUSSED WITHIN THE IETF, IS THAT THE PROTOCOL, INSTEAD OF BUILDING ON EVERYTHING IN UNICODE WITH THE EXCEPTION OF, LIKE, A FEW CHARACTERS THAT ARE USED ELSEWHERE IN THE DNS AND HAS A DIFFERENT MEANING, IT SHOULD BUILD ON AN INCLUSION-BASED MODEL.

NOW, WHAT THAT MEANS IS THAT, FIRST OF ALL, WE DON'T HAVE TO UPDATE THE PROTOCOL EVERY TIME THAT THERE IS NEW CHARACTERS INSERTED INTO UNICODE OR EVERY TIME WE GET A NEW VERSION OF UNICODE.

WITHIN THIS INCLUSION-BASED MODEL, THERE WILL BE A PROCESS SO THAT IF YOU ARE USING CHARACTERS RIGHT NOW THAT ARE NOT IN UNICODE OR THAT ARE NOT IN THIS INITIAL INCLUSION-BASED VERSION OF CHARACTERS THAT WILL BE AVAILABLE, THEN YOU'LL HAVE A PROCESS BY WHICH YOU CAN GET THEM IN THERE.

AND THAT, OF COURSE, IS TO AVOID SOME OF THOSE CONFUSIONS AND SECURITY ISSUES THAT I SHOWED YOU SOME EXAMPLES ON.

NOW, I MENTIONED RFC 4690 SEVERAL TIMES.

AND THAT IS THE BASIC FRAMEWORK FOR DISCUSSIONS ON HOW TO MOVE FORWARD ON IDNS.

IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT THE PROTOCOL, SO IT'S RECOMMENDED READING FOR EVERYBODY INTERESTED IN THAT.

IT HAS A LOT OF DIFFERENT EXAMPLES FOR THINGS THAT CAN BE COMPLICATED.

IT HAS RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ICANN THAT WE, AS STAFF, ARE GOING TO TAKE A LOOK AT AND FIND THE BEST WAY TO MANAGE THAT.

ANY RECOMMENDATIONS COMING OUT OF, FOR EXAMPLE, THE IAB OR THE IETF IS SOMETHING THAT ICANN STAFF, OF COURSE, TAKES VERY SERIOUSLY, AND SO WE'LL DO OUR BEST TO GET THOSE THINGS MOVING FORWARD AS WELL.

SOME OF IT WAS DISCUSSED -- WELL, HAVE BEEN DISCUSSED A COUPLE OF TIMES AND EARLIER TODAY AS WELL.

IT HAS TO DO WITH WHAT KIND OF DISPUTE MECHANISMS DO WE NEED TO HAVE IN PLACE WHEN WE SUDDENLY HAVE A MUCH BROADER RANGE OF CHARACTERS AVAILABLE IN DOMAIN NAMES.

WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT THE WHOIS TO MAKE SURE THAT THAT CAN BE CAPABLE OF DISPLAYING INFORMATION THAT BOTH IS, YOU KNOW, REALLY WHAT IS REGISTERED, BUT ALSO WITHOUT MAKING IT TOO COMPLICATED FOR USERS TO LOOK AT.

YOU KNOW, SHOULD IT DISPLAY UNICODE AND PUNYCODE? OR, YOU KNOW -- THERE'S DIFFERENT QUESTIONS AROUND THAT.

SO RFC4690 IS REALLY THE LATEST AND A VERY GOOD DOCUMENT TO GO THROUGH.

ASSOCIATED WITH RFC4690, THERE IS THREE INTERNET DRAFTS.

SO IF YOU'RE REALLY INTERESTED IN THE TECHNICAL PART OF THE REVISION OF PROTOCOLS, YOU KNOW, THERE'S THREE DRAFTS LISTED HERE THAT YOU SHOULD TAKE A LOOK AT.

AND EVERYTHING THAT'S ONGOING WITH THAT IS SOMETHING THAT WE'LL GET A STATUS REPORT ON FROM JOHN KLENSIN, WHO IS ONE OF THE ENGINEERS WORKING HARD IN THE IETF AND THE IAB ON MAKING SOME OF THESE THINGS WORK FOR USERS.

THE IDN WORKSHOP IS ON WEDNESDAY THIS WEEK.

IT'S FROM 5:30 TO 7:30.

SO THERE WILL BE SOME MORE DETAILS AROUND THAT THERE.

AND THAT LEADS ME TO THE LAST PART AROUND NEW THINGS WITHIN ICANN.

IDN OUTREACH AND COMMUNICATION FOCUS.

AND THIS IS REALLY JUST A LIST TO SHOW YOU SOME EXAMPLES.

WE'RE TRYING TO DO A LOT IN TERMS OF HAVING STAFF PARTICIPATING IN VARIOUS EVENTS THAT HAS TO DO WITH IDNS AROUND THE WORLD, BASICALLY.

WE'VE MADE AN RSS FEED AVAILABLE FOR IDN COMMUNICATIONS SO THAT YOU CAN -- YOU DON'T HAVE TO ALWAYS COME BACK AND CHECK AT OUR WEB SITE.

I KNOW THAT CAN BE A LITTLE BIT ANNOYING.

SO YOU CAN JUST SUBSCRIBE TO THE RSS FEED.

AND IF ALL YOU WANT TO KNOW FROM US IS IDN COMMUNICATIONS, YOU CAN GET JUST THAT.

WE'VE MADE AN ONLINE CALENDAR AVAILABLE FOR IDN EVENTS.

AND THERE'S NOT -- THERE'S NOT TOO MANY EVENTS LISTED ON IT SO FAR.

BUT THE INTENTION IS TO MAKE -- TO GATHER INFORMATION FROM YOU AND FROM THE COMMUNITY, IN GENERAL, AROUND WHAT KIND OF EVENTS ARE BEING PLANNED THAT HAS TO DO WITH IDNS SO THAT YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN CHOICES AS TO, YOU KNOW, WHICH ONES ARE EASIER FOR YOU TO PARTICIPATE IN COMPARED TO OTHERS.

AND WE HAVE A NEW STAFF TEAM ON TO TAKE CARE OF -- TO TAKE CARE OF COMMUNICATIONS.

AND THEY'RE REALLY TRYING THEIR BEST TO COME UP WITH SOME CREATIVE IDEAS AROUND GLOSSARIES AND END USER EXPLANATIONS AND SO FORTH.

IF YOU HAVE ANY GOOD IDEAS, YOU KNOW, WE'RE ALWAYS AVAILABLE TO TAKE INPUT ON THAT.

AND THEN WE END UP WITH SAO PAULO.

SO WHAT'S GOING ON HERE THIS WEEK? THERE IS A LOT.

I MEAN, PRETTY MUCH ANY SUPPORTING ORGANIZATION, ADVISORY COMMITTEE, WORKING GROUP, CONSTITUENCY WILL HAVE IDN ON THEIR AGENDA.

THERE'S THIS TUTORIAL THAT I HOPE YOU FIND USEFUL.

AND I'LL BE AROUND ALL WEEK, IF YOU WANT TO CATCH ME AND HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR ANYTHING YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT IDN-RELATED.

THERE'S A WORKSHOP ON WEDNESDAY.

THE PRESIDENT'S ADVISORY COMMITTEE WILL BE MEETING WHILE WE'RE HERE.

AND THERE IS TONS OF IT.

TWO LINKS THERE.

ONE IS WHERE ALL OF THE IDN INFORMATION IS GATHERED ON THE ICANN SITE.

THE OTHER ONE IS A LINK TO THE SAO PAULO IDN AGENDA.

SO IF YOU GO TO THE GENERAL AGENDA FOR SAO PAULO AND YOU CLICK ON THE IDN LINK THERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE AGENDA, YOU'LL FIND AN OVERVIEW OF THE AGENDA FOR WEDNESDAY.

BUT YOU'LL ALSO FIND A LIST OF DOCUMENTS.

SOME OF THEM ARE THE ONES THAT I'VE MENTIONED HERE.

BUT RECOMMENDED READING MATERIAL IF YOU WANT TO GO DEEPER INTO THE DETAILS OF IDNS.

AND THAT'S PRETTY MUCH ALL I HAD.

SO WE HAVE, I THINK, HALF AN HOUR LEFT IF THERE'S ANYBODY THAT HAS ANY QUESTIONS.

IT'S ALWAYS DIFFICULT TO SEE IF PEOPLE ARE JUST RUNNING OUT OF THE ROOM OR IF THEY WANT TO ASK QUESTIONS.

>>BOB HUTCHINSON: I'M BOB HUTCHINSON.

I HAVE A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS.

IS THERE ANY TESTING THAT'S BEING DONE AROUND DOMAIN NAME USAGE IN FTP, FOR EXAMPLE?

>>TINA DAM: THAT'S A GOOD QUESTION.

AND THAT WAS SOMETHING THAT WAS ACTUALLY ASKED TO ME EARLIER TODAY.

WHEN WE MOVE FROM THE LABORATORY TESTING THAT DOESN'T HAVE TO DO WITH ANY APPLICATION AT ALL AND OUT INTO THE APPLICATION SPACE, I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT THAT WE MAKE SURE THAT WE TEST AS MANY APPLICATIONS AS POSSIBLE THAT USE DOMAIN NAMES.

>>BOB HUTCHINSON: PARTICULARLY ABOUT THE BROWSER.

>>TINA DAM: YEAH.

SO THAT HASN'T BEEN DONE YET, BUT THAT WILL BE PART OF THAT TESTING WHEN WE MOVE OUT INTO THE APPLICATION SPACE.

>>BOB HUTCHINSON: IT SEEMS THAT THERE'S BEEN SOME THOUGHT, ADDITIONAL THOUGHT, ABOUT IDN.IDN.

AND IS THERE A PLACE WHERE WE CAN GET BETTER INFORMATION ABOUT WHAT THE THINKING IS ABOUT IDN.IDN AND PUNYCODE AND SO ON, SO FORTH USAGE AND WHAT THE POLICIES WILL BE IN THAT AREA?

>>TINA DAM: SO THERE'S NO -- SO WHEN YOU SAY "IDN.IDN," WHAT THAT MEANS IS INTERNATIONALIZED LABELS AT THE TOP LEVEL OF A DOMAIN NAME.

>>BOB HUTCHINSON: CORRECT.

>>TINA DAM: THERE'S NO POLICIES AVAILABLE YET.

BOTH THE GNSO FOR THE GENERIC NAMES SUPPORTING ORGANIZATION, AND THE CCNSO WHICH IS THE EQUIVALENT FOR THE COUNTRY CODE NAMES SUPPORTING ORGANIZATION, HAVE SET DOWN WORKING GROUPS THAT SPECIFICALLY TARGETS THAT TOPIC IN TERMS OF DEVELOPMENT OF POLICIES.

SO IF YOU WANT TO SEE SOME OF THE INITIAL REPORTS, I KNOW THAT THE GNSO, IF YOU GO TO GNSO.ICANN.ORG, YOU CAN FIND SOME OF THE INITIAL REPORTS AROUND WHAT KIND OF POLICY ISSUES ARE THERE THAT NEEDS TO BE CONSIDERED.

I KNOW THAT CCNSO IS WORKING TOWARDS THE SAME DIRECTION.

I DON'T THINK THEY YET HAVE ANY DOCUMENTATION UP THERE.

BUT, YOU KNOW, I WOULD BE PREPARED TO SAY THAT I'M WRONG.

>>BOB HUTCHINSON: THANK YOU.

>>TINA DAM: IS THERE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? YEAH.

>> PETER VAN ROSTE: GOOD AFTERNOON.

MY NAME IS PETER VAN ROSTE FROM CENTR.

LET ME FIRST OF ALL CONGRATULATE IANA.

AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED, VERY SUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN THIS VERY DIFFICULT ISSUE.

I HAVE ONE QUESTION, AND THIS IS SOMETHING THAT I KEEP ON HEARING FROM THE CENTER COMMUNITY AS WELL.

IS THERE A REPOSITORY OF ANY STATISTICAL INFORMATION, SOME CONCRETE FACTS ON THE USE OF IDNS SO FAR? AND IF SO, CAN YOU ALSO MAKE SURE THAT THAT IS PUBLISHED WHEN YOU PUBLISH YOUR PRESENTATION?

>>TINA DAM: SO STATISTICS ON THE NUMBER OF IDNS BEING USED RIGHT NOW.

I DON'T HAVE ANY ON THE TOP OF MY HEAD.

IT'S A REALLY GOOD IDEA.

I'LL TAKE IT DOWN AS A TASK TO TRY TO SEE IF I CAN CONVINCE SOME OF THE TLD REGISTRIES TO MAYBE GIVE THAT INFORMATION, AND WE CAN POST IT ON THE ICANN WEB SITE IN SOME COMMON AREA.

THE ONE THING THAT ALL OF THE ONES THAT I'VE TALKED TO RECENTLY OF ALL OF THE TLD REGISTRIES, THE ONE THING THEY'VE TOLD ME IS THAT AS SOON AS INTERNET EXPLORER VERSION 7 CAME OUT AND SAID, "WE'RE GOING TO BE ABLE TO HANDLE IDNS," AS SOON AS THAT HAPPENED, THE NUMBER OF REGISTRATIONS AND ALSO THE NUMBER OF RENEWAL OF REGISTRATIONS WAS PICKED UP.

AND, TO ME, WHAT THAT MEANS IS THE COMMUNITY IS LISTENING TO WHAT'S GOING ON, USERS ARE LISTENING TO WHAT'S GOING ON.

AND IF THEY SEE THAT APPLICATIONS ARE MAKING IT POSSIBLE FOR THEM TO USE THEIR DOMAIN NAME, WELL, THEN THEY'LL KEEP RENEWING IT AND USING IT.

I THINK E-MAILS IS GOING TO BE THE NEXT BIG STEP ON THAT SO THAT IT'S NOT JUST THE WEB BROWSERS, BUT E-MAIL CLIENTS THAT WILL WORK ON IDN DOMAIN NAMES AS WELL.

BUT I DON'T HAVE ANY STATISTICS TO SHARE WITH YOU.

I THINK IF YOU CATCH ANY ONE OF THEM REGISTRIES THAT ARE HERE THAT HAVE IMPLEMENTED IDNS, I'M SURE THEY'LL BE HAPPY TO SHARE SOME STATISTICS WITH YOU.

>> STEVEN LANG: HI.

OKAY.

MY NAME IS STEVEN LANG.

I WONDER IF YOU COULD JUST TALK TO US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT SOME OF THE CHALLENGES WORKING WITH IDNS IN AFRICAN LANGUAGES AND AFRICAN CONTINENT.

>>TINA DAM: I DON'T THINK THAT I JUST ON THE TOP OF MY HEAD CAN PULL OUT SOME EXAMPLES OF IT.

BUT SOME OF THE CHALLENGES WITH AFRICA IS THAT THERE IS A HUGE AMOUNT OF LANGUAGES SPOKEN.

NOT ALL OF THEM ARE AVAILABLE IN WRITTEN FORM, AND NOT ALL OF THEM ARE AVAILABLE IN UNICODE.

SO IF YOU -- SO IF YOU GO -- IF YOU COME FROM THAT PERSPECTIVE, WHAT YOU NEED IS TO MAKE SURE THAT THE CHARACTERS YOU'RE USING IN YOUR LANGUAGE, FIRST OF ALL, NEED TO BE ABLE TO BE WRITTEN DOWN.

AND THEN YOU NEED TO GET THEM INTO UNICODE BEFORE THEY CAN BE USED IN INTERNATIONALIZED DOMAIN NAMES.

SO THAT'S THE -- I GUESS THAT'S THE MOST COMPLICATED PART FOR THAT REGION.

NOW, OF COURSE, THERE ARE SOME CHARACTERS USED IN THE AFRICAN LANGUAGES THAT ARE IN UNICODE.

I BELIEVE -- YOU KNOW, I'LL HAVE TO LOOK IT UP.

I DON'T WANT TO MENTION ANY EXAMPLES, BUT I BELIEVE THAT SOME OF THEM WERE INTRODUCED BETWEEN UNICODE 3.2 AND UNICODE 5.0.

AND IF THAT IS THE CASE -- AND THERE IS OTHERS, OTHER LANGUAGES AND SCRIPTS THAT ARE INTRODUCED AT THAT -- WHEN THAT -- IN THAT UPDATE AS WELL.

IF THAT IS THE CASE, THEN THEY WON'T WORK IN THE PROTOCOL IN THE WAY THAT THE PROTOCOL IS IMPLEMENTED RIGHT NOW.

BUT THAT IS WHAT THE REVISION IS ALL ABOUT.

SO I THINK THAT THAT'S PRETTY MUCH ALL.

THERE WAS A COUPLE OF PRESENTATIONS IN THE ICANN MEETING IN MARRAKECH.

I DON'T THINK THEY SPECIFICALLY WENT INTO DETAILS WITH THE AFRICAN IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES.

THERE WERE SOME FROM THE MIDDLE EAST.

I'M NOT TRYING TO SAY WHICH PARTS BELONGS TO AFRICA, BUT THERE ARE SOME PRESENTATIONS ON THERE.

SO IF YOU GO TO ICANN.ORG AND CLICK ON THE MEETINGS LINK THERE ON THE LEFT-HAND SIDE, YOU CAN GO INTO THE MARRAKECH, MOROCCO MEETING ARCHIVE AND FIND, YOU KNOW, AT LEAST A COUPLE OF PRESENTATIONS FROM THAT REGION.

IS THERE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS?

SO I'M -- JUST PRACTICAL INFORMATION.

USUALLY WHEN WE HAVE OPEN FORUMS LIKE THIS AND YOU ASK QUESTIONS, WE ASK YOU TO WALK UP TO THE MICROPHONE.

AND IT'S MY FAULT, I DIDN'T ASK YOU TO DO THAT.

THE REASON FOR IT IS REALLY THAT THE FOUR SCRIBES DOWN HERE THAT USED TO BE TWO ARE HAVING A REALLY HARD TIME IN GETTING YOUR NAMES LISTED INTO THE RECORD.

SO IF YOU COULD STOP BY THEM AS SOON AS WE'RE DONE AND THEN MAKE SURE THAT THEY HAVE YOUR NAME, THAT WOULD BE GREAT.

ANY OTHER QUESTIONS?

AND IT LOOKS LIKE THERE'S NOT.

SO I'LL JUST SAY THANK YOU FOR LISTENING IN, AND I HOPE IT WAS HELPFUL.

AND PLEASE COME BACK TO THE IDN WORKSHOP ON WEDNESDAY AS WELL.

THANKS.

[ APPLAUSE ]