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ICANN Newsletter | Week ending 8 March 2013

News from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

Announcements This Week

Consultation on Root Zone KSK Rollover

8 March 2013 | The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) Functions contract (SA1301-­12-­CN-­0035) between ICANN and the United States Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) to perform services related to certain interdependent Internet technical management functions calls for a public consultation from all interested and affected parties.

FY14 Community Travel Support Guidelines

7 March 2013 | Purpose is to give community members an opportunity to comment on or ask questions about community travel support process and guidelines.

Proposed 2013 RAA Posted for Comment

7 March 2013 | After nearly 18 months of negotiations, ICANN is posting a new version of the proposed 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) for public comment.

Proposed Modification of GNSO PDP Manual to Address the Suspension of a PDP

7 March 2013 | The Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) Standing Committee on Improvements Implementation (SCI) is recommending a modification of the GNSO Policy Development Process (PDP) Manual, which is an integral part of the GNSO Operating Procedures, to address the possible termination or suspension of a PDP.

ICANN's FY 14 Security, Stability and Resiliency Framework

6 March 2013 | In advance of the Beijing meeting, ICANN is publishing the Security, Stability and Resiliency Framework for the 2014 Fiscal Year.

ICANN President Encourages Arab Involvement In Shaping the Internet's Future [PDF, 198 KB]

6 March 2013 | Dubai, U.A.E... The President of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) says it is time for the Arab world to step up its involvement in determining the future of the Internet.

Posting of Public Interest Commitments (PIC) Specifications

5 March 2013 | In an announcement on 5 February 2013, ICANN requested that New gTLD applicants submit PIC Specifications. Beginning today, PIC Specifications submitted by applicants will be available for public review.

Uniform Rapid Suspension Procedure and Rules

5 March 2013 | An updated version of the Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS) Procedure and the URS Rules are now available for download.

Whois Registrant ID Study Webinar Invitation

4 March 2013 | You are invited to a review of the findings of the Registrant ID Study Draft Report, recently published for public comment. The webinar will cover the methodology used to compile the data and provide an analysis of the findings.

New Deadline - Call for Applicants for the Meeting Strategy Working Group: Friday 8 March 2013 - 23:59 UTC

4 March 2013 | In line with the Board resolution adopted on February the 2nd 2013, ICANN invited interested individuals to apply for Volunteer Member positions – either in representation of a Supporting Organization or Advisory Committee -- to serve on the Meeting Strategy Working Group.

Upcoming Events

7 - 11 April 2013: 46th International Public ICANN Meeting - Beijing

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Domain Name System
Internationalized Domain Name ,IDN,"IDNs are domain names that include characters used in the local representation of languages that are not written with the twenty-six letters of the basic Latin alphabet ""a-z"". An IDN can contain Latin letters with diacritical marks, as required by many European languages, or may consist of characters from non-Latin scripts such as Arabic or Chinese. Many languages also use other types of digits than the European ""0-9"". The basic Latin alphabet together with the European-Arabic digits are, for the purpose of domain names, termed ""ASCII characters"" (ASCII = American Standard Code for Information Interchange). These are also included in the broader range of ""Unicode characters"" that provides the basis for IDNs. The ""hostname rule"" requires that all domain names of the type under consideration here are stored in the DNS using only the ASCII characters listed above, with the one further addition of the hyphen ""-"". The Unicode form of an IDN therefore requires special encoding before it is entered into the DNS. The following terminology is used when distinguishing between these forms: A domain name consists of a series of ""labels"" (separated by ""dots""). The ASCII form of an IDN label is termed an ""A-label"". All operations defined in the DNS protocol use A-labels exclusively. The Unicode form, which a user expects to be displayed, is termed a ""U-label"". The difference may be illustrated with the Hindi word for ""test"" — परीका — appearing here as a U-label would (in the Devanagari script). A special form of ""ASCII compatible encoding"" (abbreviated ACE) is applied to this to produce the corresponding A-label: xn--11b5bs1di. A domain name that only includes ASCII letters, digits, and hyphens is termed an ""LDH label"". Although the definitions of A-labels and LDH-labels overlap, a name consisting exclusively of LDH labels, such as""icann.org"" is not an IDN."