ICANN will be discussing the use of non-Latin-based characters for domains this week at its International Public Meeting in Seoul.
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — At its 36th International Public Meeting, happening this week in Seoul, South Korea, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (www.icann.org) board of directors is set to review a historic measure that could bring about “Internationalized Domain Names” before the end of the year.
One of the main features of IDNs is that they allow the use of non-Latin-based characters for entire Internet addresses, which will be a significant development for regions in Asia, the Middle East, and other areas where languages that don’t use Latin script are used, according to ICANN.
“This is an extremely important meeting for ICANN, since the IDN program is moving one step closer to reshaping the global Internet landscape,” ICANN president and chief executive officer Rod Beckstrom said in a statement. “In Seoul, we plan to move forward to the next step in the internationalization of the Internet, which means that eventually people from every corner of the globe will be able to navigate much of the online world using their native language scripts.”
Some of the other major issues to be raised at the Seoul meeting includes the Affirmation of Commitments signed by the US government, which endorses ICANN’s rapid adoption of IDNs and helps guarantee that the organization is globally accountable.
Not associated with any specific country, generic top-level domains are also being discussed. Under a new developing program, the number of gTLDs will eventually be expanded from its current list of 21 to include almost any word, in almost any language. The third draft of a proposed “Applicant Guidebook,” which spells out the rules and procedures of applying for a new gTLD, has just been published, and the Seoul meeting will give participants the opportunity to discuss the latest draft.
Finally, Internet security concerns will be raised as the threat to the domain name system constantly increases. The Seoul meeting will provide an opportunity for security experts to share updates on DNS Security following the major threat posed by the Conficker worm several months ago, which was met with an unprecedented collaboration between ICANN and top security experts from Microsoft, Symantec and dozens of other companies, software vendors and organizations, helping to preserve the security and stability of the Internet.
