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Public Comment

Public Comment is a vital part of our multistakeholder model. It provides a mechanism for stakeholders to have their opinions and recommendations formally and publicly documented. It is an opportunity for the ICANN community to effect change and improve policies and operations.

Proposals for Malayalam and Tamil Scripts' Root Zone‬ Label Generation Rules

Open Date

25 September 2018 23:59 UTC

Close Date

7 November 2018 23:59 UTC

Staff Report Due

21 November 2018 23:59 UTC

Comments Closed

Report of Public Comments

View Comments

Brief Overview

Purpose: The Neo-Brahmi Script Generation Panel (NBGP) was formed by nine communities that use scripts derived from the Brahmi script. NBGP is developing Root Zone Label Generation Rules (LGR) for Bengali, Devanagari, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, Tamil and Telugu scripts. NBGP is publishing the proposals for the LGRs of these nine scripts in multiple sets, releasing proposals for scripts that share cross-script variant code points together to the extent possible. The first and the second sets are already undergoing public comment and the third set, being released now, includes the following proposals:

  1. Proposal for the Malayalam Script Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone (LGR [XML, 18 KB] and supporting documentation [PDF, 998 KB])
  2. Proposal for the Tamil Script Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone (LGR [XML, 14 KB] and supporting documentation [PDF, 1.23 MB])

As per the LGR Procedure [PDF, 772 KB], these proposals are being posted for public comment to allow those who have not participated in the NBGP to make their views known. Overlapping these comment periods, to the extent possible, will allow the community to consider these proposals in the context of each other. Based on the feedback, the NBGP will finalize each proposal for submission for integration into the Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone (RZ-LGR).

Current Status: Currently there are multiple script communities which have formed generation panels and are actively working towards developing the Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone, including Chinese, Greek, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Myanmar and Neo-Brahmi. In addition, Arabic, Armenian, Cyrillic, Ethiopic, Georgian, Khmer, Lao and Thai script GPs have already completed and submitted their LGR proposals. Except for Armenian and Cyrillic which have been deferred, the remaining six scripts have been integrated into the RZ-LGR.

Next Steps: Following the public comments and submission of the proposals with any changes to reflect the public comments, the Integration Panel (IP) will evaluate the final proposals by the NBGP for these two scripts. Any proposals successfully evaluatedwill be integrated into a subsequent version of the RZ-LGR. Remaining proposals will be sent to the NBGP with comments for further consideration and revision.

Section I: Description and Explanation

Following the Call for Generation Panels to Develop Root Zone Label Generation Rules, the Neo-Brahmi Script Generation Panel (NBGP) was formed by nine communities using scripts derived from Brahmi script. It was seated by ICANN on 26 May 2015. The NBGP has developed the Proposal for the Malayalam Script Root Zone Label Generation Rules (LGR [XML, 18 KB] and supporting documentation [PDF, 998 KB]) and the Proposal for the Tamil Script Root Zone Label Generation Rules (LGR [XML, 14 KB] and supporting documentation [PDF, 1.23 MB]), following the format prescribed in the LGR specification. Two sets of scripts have already been released for public comment earlier by NBGP: the proposals for Devanagari, Gujarati and Gurmukhi scripts (see public comment) and the proposals for Kannada, Telugu and Oriya scripts (see public comment).

The starting point for creating a script LGR for the Root Zone is the latest version of the Maximal Starting Repertoire (MSR-3). The work has been carried out following the specification of the Generation Panel's tasks, as described in the LGR Procedure [PDF, 772 KB], in particular, Section B.3 "Variant Rule Generation Procedure". These tasks are summarized in the guide on Setting up and Running a Generation Panel [PDF, 441 KB].

Each generation panel's proposals are posted for public comment. This permits those who have not participated in the generation panel to make their views known. A well-functioning public comment is a critical component of this procedure because there is no formal appeal mechanism for the RZ-LGR being developed.

The LGR Procedure [PDF, 772 KB] consists of two passes. The first pass creates a set of LGRs, each specific for a given script or writing system; this task is carried out by Generation Panels composed of people with deep experience or interest in the script, writing system, or language used by some community of Internet users. These panels submit their LGR proposals to ICANN for review by an Integration Panel. The Integration Panel consists of independent experts in DNS, Unicode and scripts, and has responsibility for the second pass. This second pass involves integrating the proposals into a unified set of LGRs for the root zone, taking into account the need for a secure, stable and reliable DNS root zone.

Section II: Background

Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone (RZ-LGR) are being developed to define a conservative mechanism to determine valid IDN TLDs and their variant labels, for stable and secure operation of the Internet's Root Zone.

Successful development of Label Generation Rules depends on having community-based Generation Panels for each script that will be used in the Root Zone. Generation Panel members are representatives of the each of the communities that use a particular script or writing system – their role is to identify the valid characters, variants and Whole Label Evaluation (WLE) rules for the given script or writing system. Each Generation Panel starts by considering the code points for the relevant script that are present in the Maximal Starting Repertoire and, based on them, develops a Label Generation Rules proposal to be used to generate TLDs for that script. In doing so, they may need to coordinate efforts with other GPs, whenever their respective scripts are closely related. These proposals are then reviewed by the community through public comment and by an expert Integration Panel for approval and integration into the LGR for the Root Zone. The details are defined in the LGR Procedure [PDF, 772 KB].

Section III: Relevant Resources

Section IV: Additional Information

Related materials can be found at the following links:

Section V: Reports