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ICANN POLICY UPDATE | Volume 12, Issue 6 – July 2012

PDF Version [871 KB]

http://www.icann.org/en/resources/policy/update

CONTENTS:

Across ICANN

  1. Participation and Engagement Highlights from ICANN 44
  2. Issues Currently Open for Public Comment

ccNSO

  1. Bahrain Joins ccNSO
  2. Your Resource for All ccNSO Prague Meeting Materials
  3. Community Wiki on Hiatus
  4. One Territory, One Vote Proposal
  5. ccNSO Considers Opening Tech Day Planning Committee to Entire Community

GNSO

  1. Progress on RAA Negotiations
  2. Preliminary Issue Report Published on Protection of International Organization Names in New gTLDs
  3. Board Wraps Up GNSO improvements Effort

ASO

  1. Issues Active in the ASO

At-Large

  1. At-Large Project and Policy Achievements
  2. ALAC Policy Statement Update

SSAC

  1. Issues Active in the SSAC

GAC

  1. Where to Find GAC Information

Read in Your Preferred Language

ICANN Policy Update is available in all six official languages of the United Nations. Policy Update is posted on ICANN's web site and available via online subscription. To receive the Update in your Inbox each month, visit the ICANN subscriptions page, enter your e-mail address, and select "Policy Update" to subscribe. This service is free.

ICANN Policy Update statement of purpose

Send questions, comments and suggestions to: policy-staff@icann.org.

Policy Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees

Address Supporting Organization ASO
Country Code Names Supporting Organization ccNSO
Generic Names Supporting Organization GNSO
At-Large Advisory Committee ALAC
Governmental Advisory Committee GAC
Root Server System Advisory Committee RSSAC
Security and Stability Advisory Committee SSAC

Across ICANN

1. Participation and Engagement Highlights at ICANN 44

Remote Participation

On-site attendance at ICANN's 44th Public Meeting in Prague reached a new record with 1821 registrants. This high level of in-person attendance was also reflected in remote participation numbers with 3499 Adobe Connect connections that is less than last two meetings.

Following graphs provide some further details about the services provided at ICANN 44:


Adobe Connect Connections Graph

 

MP3 Streaming Statistics by Meeting
Language English Spanish French Other Total MP3
Cartagena 1489 223 61 0 1773
San Francisco 2403 518 444 0 3365
Singapore 2417 316 1026 338 4097
Dakar 1666 1177 341 8 3192
San Jose 1497 395 563 81 2536
Prague 1238 136 130 48 1552

Newcomers' Lounge

There were 243 first-time attendees at ICANN 44, with 124 second-timers and 22 individuals returning for their third meeting.

The Newcomers' Lounge was open from Saturday, 23 June, to Wednesday, 27 June, and had 154 visits. Eighty-seven percent of the lounge visitors were satisfied with the service they received.

About 80 people attended the Sunday Newcomers' Track Sessions and of those, 93 percent found the sessions to be helpful.

Other

In Prague, the community and the ICANN Board's Public Participation Committee (PPC) discussed the Public Comment system as implemented by 1 January 2012. It was also discussed at the ATRT session the same week. Using the received feedback, the Senior Director of Participation and Engagement is working towards possible improvements in the system under the guidance of the PPC.

As part of the new Fiscal Year 2013 Budget, the ICANN Board approved a pilot program offering training and orientation to incoming SO/AC Leadership to take place at ICANN 45 in Toronto in October 2012. The Senior Director of Participation and Engagement is working with the ICANN Academy Working Group on input to this pilot program.

Staff Contact

Filiz Yilmaz, Senior Director, Participation and Engagement


2. Issues Currently Open for Public Comment

Numerous public comment periods are currently open on issues of interest to the ICANN community. Act now to share your views on such topics as:

Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy Part C Policy Development Process Initial Report. Recommendations for change to registrant policy and Form of Authorization, among other suggestions. Reply period closes 25 July 2012.

ICANN Board Conflicts of Interest Review - Independent Expert Report. A team of independent international experts reviewed ICANN's conflicts of interest and ethics frameworks. Reply period closes 28 July 2012.

Security, Stability & Resiliency of the DNS Review Team (SSR RT) Final Report. The final report focusing on ICANN's management of its SSR functions describes areas where the organization is performing well, and areas where improvement is needed. Comment period closes 30 July 2012.

Proposed Modifications to GNSO Operating Procedures. Should a new section to the GNSO Operating Procedures be added that outlines a procedure for a consent agenda as well as updates the GNSO Council Voting Results Table to bring it in line with the GNSO voting thresholds in the ICANN Bylaws? Comment period closes 30 July 2012.

Request for Community Input on Formulation of 2013-2016 Strategic Plan. Provide input and feedback on goals and objectives for ICANN's activities from 2013 to 2016. Reply period closes 30 July 2012.

DRAFT - ICANN Language Services Policy and Procedures. Staff seeks to formalize policies and procedures for translation, simultaneous interpretation, teleconference interpretation, transcription (of recorded sessions) and RTT (real-time-transcription, also known as scribing). Reply period closes 1 August 2012.

.name Registry Agreement Renewal. Verisign's proposed agreement for renewal of the 2007 .name Registry Agreement. Comment period closes 2 August 2012.

ICANN's FY 13 Security, Stability and Resiliency Framework. This document, published annually, describes ICANN's role in the ecosystem and operational priorities in security, stability and resiliency of the Internet's unique identifiers. Reply period closes 3 August 2012.

DRAFT Statement of ICANN's Role and Remit in Security, Stability and Resiliency of the Internet's Unique Identifier Systems. In response to a review team's findings, ICANN asks for feedback on a draft statement of its role and remit in relation to the security, stability and resiliency of the Internet's unique identifier systems. Reply period extended to 31 August 2012.

For the full list of issues open for public comment, plus recently closed and archived public comment forums, visit the Public Comment web page.


ccNSO

3. Bahrain Joins ccNSO

ccNSO Logo

At a Glance

The country code operator for Bahrain (.bh) was approved as a member of the ccNSO.

Recent Developments

The ccNSO Council approved Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), the ccTLD operator of .bh. Bahrain is located in the Middle East. It is an archipelago in the Persian Gulf, east of Saudi Arabia.

There are now a total of 133 ccNSO members.

Next Steps

The ccNSO continues to welcome all ccTLDs that wish to become members!

Background

Since the beginning of 2012, nine new members joined the ccNSO. It now counts 133 members.

More Information

Staff Contact

Gabriella Schittek, ccNSO Secretariat


4. Your Resource for All ccNSO Prague Meeting Materials

At a Glance

All ccNSO Prague Meeting Materials can now be found on one web page.

Recent Developments

The ccNSO Secretariat has prepared a page where all ccNSO related material from the Prague meeting is gathered. This includes presentations, transcripts, the meeting highlights overview and the meeting evaluation results.

More Information

Staff Contact

Gabriella Schittek, ccNSO Secretariat


5. Community Wiki on Hiatus

At a Glance

Hibernation of ccTLD community wiki

Background

At its meeting on 4 October 2011 the ccNSO Council decided to launch a six-month trial period for a ccTLD community wiki space, with the plan to evaluate the project at the Prague meeting. The space was initially populated by ICANN staff and meant to serve as an interactive and exclusive tool for the community.

Recent Developments

Since the launch, the activity on the wiki space has been very low. In late May an evaluation survey was sent to the ccTLD community. The survey confirmed the low interest to keep the wiki. At the Prague meeting, Kristina Nordström reported to the Council on the recent developments and survey results and recommended to place the wiki in hibernation.

Next Steps

At the Prague meeting the ccNSO Council unanimously decided to place the ccTLD wiki in hibernation with the possibility to resume the project in the future.

Staff Contact

Kristina Nordström, ICANN staff


6. One Territory, One Vote Proposal

At a Glance

IDN Working Group will propose one vote per territory at inclusion of internationalized domain name (IDN) ccTLD in the ccNSO.

Recent Developments

At its meeting in Prague, the IDN ccPDP Working Group agreed to recommend to the ccNSO community that as part of inclusion of IDN ccTLD's in the ccNSO, formal voting will be based on one vote per territory. A territory is defined as those listed in the International Organization for Standardization's 3166 Standard.

Next Steps

The WG will prepare its final report based on the consensus position and submit it to the IDN ccPDP Issue Manager.

Background

The Working Group's purpose is to report on changes to Article IX and relevant Annexes in the ICANN Bylaws to include IDN ccTLD's as full members in the ccNSO on equal footing as the current members (ASCII ccTLDs).

More Information

Staff Contact

Bart Boswinkel, ccNSO Policy Advisor


7. ccNSO Considers Opening Tech Day Planning Committee to Entire Community

At a Glance

ccNSO Tech WG to explore expansion of Tech Day meeting.

Recent Developments

At the suggestion of the Tech WG, the ccNSO Council has requested ccNSO Tech WG to explore opening up the Tech Day program committee as a joint community committee involving in particular the GNSO and SSAC.

Next Steps

The ccNSO Tech WG will undertake this exploration and report back in due course on a suggested path forward.

Background

The ccNSO Tech WG is chartered to provide the ccTLD community with advice and to share information on the technical and operational aspects of running a ccTLD. As part of its mandate it has organized the ccNSO Technical Workshops at every ICANN meeting since December 2006, sometimes in cooperation with other groups. Presentations at Tech Day vary from sharing operational experiences on introduction of DNSSEC to Intrusion Detection and Mitigation. Tech Day meetings are open to all ICANN meeting attendants.

More Information

Staff Contact

Bart Boswinkel, ccNSO Policy Advisor


GNSO

8. Progress on RAA Negotiations

Key Issues of Whois Validation and Data Retention issues Explored

At a Glance

In Prague, a series of documents published by ICANN staff and the Registrar Negotiation teams on the RAA was published for review by the ICANN community, highlighting the significant progress made to date, but noting key issues where differences remain.

Background

In Dakar (October 2011), the ICANN Board directed negotiations on the RAA to commence immediately. The negotiations have included evaluation of recommendations from law enforcement representatives and a joint GNSO/ALAC RAA Drafting Team, as well as other topics that would advance the twin goals of registrant protection and DNS stability. The ICANN Board also requested the creation of an Issue Report to undertake a GNSO policy development process as quickly as possible to address remaining items suited for a PDP. The Registrars Stakeholder Group and ICANN are currently in active negotiations on proposed amendments to the RAA.

Recent Developments

In advance of the Prague meeting, ICANN published a series of documents to inform the ICANN community of the status of the negotiations. These documents included a unified document [PDF, 244 KB] prepared by ICANN staff to reflect how the law enforcement-related recommendations might be implemented in the RAA for the purposes of discussion at the Prague Meeting. Because this unified document did not reflect a negotiated document that is acceptable to the parties, additional documents were published by Registrars to reflect their views of the status of the negotiations and noting areas of agreement or disagreement.

In the Prague Update on the RAA Negotiations Session, participants shared their views on several of the key negotiation issues still pending, including, various approaches to Whois Validation and registrant data retention issues. This feedback is valuable as the negotiation teams attempt to conclude the negotiations prior to the Toronto Meeting.

More Information

Staff Contact

Margie Milam, Senior Policy Counselor


9. Preliminary Issue Report on the Protection of International Organization Names in New gTLDs Published

At a Glance

The GNSO Council requested a Preliminary Issue Report on the protection of names and acronyms of certain international organizations in the top and second levels of new gTLDs including, International Government Organizations (IGOs), and Non-Governmental Organizations such as the Red Cross/Red Crescent (RCRC) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Recent Developments and Next Steps

In response to the GNSO Council's request in its 12 April motion, staff published the Preliminary GNSO Issue Report on the Protection of International Organization Names in new gTLDs [PDF, 565 KB] and opened a public comment forum on 4 June 2012.

The primary objectives of the Preliminary Issue Report are to:

  • Define the type of organizations that should be evaluated in any related Policy Development Process (PDP) recommending additional protections for international organization names at the top and/or second level of new gTLDs.
  • Describe how a PDP – if initiated, could be structured to analyze whether ICANN should adopt policies to protect the names of such organizations at the top and/or second level.

In light of these objectives, the Preliminary Issue Report provided the following recommendations:

  • The GNSO Council should consider whether or not to initiate a PDP as an approach to develop any additional policy advice in response to Board requests on additional protections for the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement, the IOC and IGOs.
  • If a PDP is initiated the Report suggested that:
    • The scope be limited to IGOs and international organizations that are not-for-profit and are protected by treaties and national laws in multiple jurisdictions;
    • The Council consider the minimum required timeline and work load issuesrelated to completing a PDP, and that additional resourcesmay be necessary to develop recommendations relevant to the types of protection at the top and/or second level in a timely fashion.

In addition to these preliminary recommendations, the Preliminary Issue Report included background information, community input received to date, and a summary of currently available protections at both the top and second levels. The Preliminary Issue Report also provided a list of suggested issues to explore in a PDP if one is initiated:

  • Establishing a definition of international organizations
  • Quantifying the entities to be considered for special protection
  • Examining the scope of protections under international treaties/laws for the Red Cross/Red Crescent and IOC names
  • Distinguishing between the Red Cross/Red Crescent and IOC organizations from other international organizations
  • Establishing an objective set of criteria to determine which international organizations would qualify for any special protections

The Preliminary Issue Report also encouraged community comment on whether a PDP should be focused on additional protections for: (i) only international organizations that are not-for-profit AND are afforded unique protections under international treaties or national laws in multiple jurisdictions, and/or (ii) all international governmental organizations.

The Reply Comment period closed on 16 July 2012. Staff is currently reviewing the submitted comments and will publish a public comment summary report, after which the Final Issue Report will be published taking into account the public comments, and submitted to the GNSO Council for consideration on whether to initiate a PDP.

More Information

Staff Contact

Margie Milam, Senior Policy Counselor


10. Board Wraps-Up GNSO improvements Effort

At a Glance

The ICANN Board has formally acknowledged the extensive community work in implementing the GNSO improvements recommendations.

Recent Developments

At the ICANN meeting in Prague, the ICANN Board formally recognized four years of hard work by the community. In Resolution 2012.06.23.11, the Board acknowledged "the outstanding accomplishments of the GNSO Improvements Program and recognize[d] the positive effects of the structural, operational, and process improvements successfully implemented within the GNSO over the past four years." The Board thanked the GNSO Council, the Steering Committees, Work Teams, volunteers, and staff members "who invested considerable time, effort, and commitment toward achieving the original vision of the Board Governance Committee." The Board said it looks forward to "continued improvement in the GNSO."

Next Steps

A small number of final implementation efforts will be managed by the staff, and the community will look toward the start of a new review period some time next year. These efforts include:

  • Coordinating broader community outreach efforts;
  • Developing a series of written materials to promote skills development for the GNSO Council, prospective chairs of Working Groups and members of the community who may wish to participate in Working Groups; and
  • Coordinating with interested GNSO Stakeholder Groups and Constituencies to assist with web presence and content maintenance, organizational record keeping and maintaining member contact information.

Background

The GNSO is the primary engine in the ICANN community for fashioning, recommending changes, and making modifications to generic top-level domain policies. At its core, the objective of the GNSO review process has been to identify ways to improve the inclusiveness and representativeness of the GNSO's work while increasing its effectiveness and efficiency.

The multi-year GNSO review process was guided by several key objectives, including:

  1. maximizing the ability for all interested stakeholders to participate in the GNSO's processes;
  2. ensuring recommendations can continue to be developed on gTLD "consensus policies" for Board review, and that the subject matter of "consensus policies" is clearly defined;
  3. ensuring policy development processes are based on thoroughly-researched, well-scoped objectives, and are run in a predictable manner that yields results that can be implemented effectively; and
  4. improving communications and administrative support for GNSO objectives.

The GNSO Improvements approved by the Board, and implemented by the GNSO community and ICANN staff over the past several years have focused on five main areas:

Adopting a Working Group Model: A working group model should become the focal point for policy development and enhance the policy development process by making it more inclusive and representative, and – ultimately – more effective and efficient.

Revising the PDP: The GNSO's policy development process (PDP) needs to be effective and responsive to ICANN's policy development needs. It should be brought in-line with the time and effort actually required to develop policy, and made consistent with ICANN's existing contracts.

Restructuring the GNSO Council: The Council should move away from being a legislative body concerned primarily with voting towards becoming a smaller, more focused strategic entity, composed of four broad stakeholder groups, with strengthened management and oversight of the policy development process.

Enhancing Constituencies: Constituency procedures and operations should become more transparent, accountable and accessible.

Improving Communication and Coordination with ICANN Structures: There should be more frequent contact and effective communication between the GNSO Council, GNSO constituencies and the members the Council elects to the Board, and among the Chairs of the GNSO, other Supporting Organizations (SOs) and Advisory Committees (ACs)

More Information

Staff Contact

Rob Hoggarth, Senior Policy Director


ASO Logo

ASO

11. Issues Active in the ASO


At-Large

12. At-Large Project and Policy Achievements

At a Glance

Representing all five regions, 31 At-Large community members attended ICANN's public meeting in Prague in June. These representatives included ALAC members, officers of the five Regional At-Large Organizations (RALOs), representatives of At-Large Structures (ALSes), At-Large Liaisons, At-Large Delegates to NomCom, At-Large representatives on the Whois and SSR of the DNS Review Teams, and representatives of the At-Large community.

These representatives of the At-Large community participated in 21 formal meetings as well as several ad hoc meetings to develop policy comments and statements.

Recent Developments

Among the many policy and process-related issues discussed during their meetings, there were several the Chair of ALAC highlighted in his report.

Completion of the ALAC/At-Large Improvements Project

  • The ALAC/At-Large Improvements Taskforce submitted the ALAC/At-Large Improvements Implementation Project Final Report [PDF, 916 KB] to the Structural Improvements Committee (SIC) for review. The SIC has requested that the Board review the Final Report during the Board's next Meeting.
  • The Final Report outlines the activities and accomplishments of the ALAC and At-Large in completing this project. Specifically, it highlights the steps made by At-Large Improvements Work Teams and the At-Large Improvements Implementation Taskforce toward the full implementation of the ALAC/At-Large Improvements Recommendations.
  • As illustrated in the Appendix of the Final Report, the At-Large Improvements Implementation Project Taskforce has completed the implementation of the Recommendations and Action Items. This completion consists of concluding finite activities or allocating responsibility to bodies of the ALAC and At-Large community, including the ALAC Executive Committee, At-Large Working Groups and Regional At-Large Organizations and their individual At-Large Structures, for activities requiring continuing monitoring and oversight. 

ALAC 10-Year Anniversary Event

  • The ALAC and the At-Large community commemorated the 10-year anniversary of the ALAC (2002-2012) in Prague. This event consisted of a panel of former ALAC Chairs, including Jacqueline Morris and Cheryl Langdon-Orr, the current Chair, Olivier Crépin-Leblond, and "ALAC historian" Wolfgang Kleinwächter. The panelists discussed the challenges and opportunities they faced during their terms as ALAC Chair, the achievements of the ALAC, and their vision for its future. ICANN Chairman of the Board, Steve Crocker, and ICANN's new CEO, Fadi Chehadé, also spoke. The event included a slide show, a question and answer period and concluded with cocktails. See the Sights and Sounds of the ALAC 10-Year Anniversary Event.
  • In the years since its inception, the ALAC has significantly increased its contribution to the ICANN policy development process in terms of both quality and quantity of statements (no statements in 2002, 40 statements in 2011, and 15 statements between January and April in 2012) submitted to the Public Comment Period. The ALAC has created over 15 active Working Groups and Sub-Committees that contribute toward the ALAC's policy development. The ALAC contributed to the formation of the five Regional At-Large Organizations (RALOs), which are also celebrating their five-year anniversaries. In terms of outreach and capacity building, the ALAC has also successfully held an At-Large Summit in 2009 and has more recently held RALO capacity building sessions and General Assemblies during ICANN Meetings.
  • The ALAC 10-Year Anniversary Event in Prague was the start of a number of commemorative activities through the end of the year.

ALAC Statement on the Draft – ICANN Language Services Policy

  • The ALAC voted to adopt a Statement on the Draft-ICANN Language Services Policy on 28 June. In its Statement, the ALAC noted its appreciation of the considerable work that has gone into the preparation and presentation of the DRAFT – ICANN Language Services Policy and Procedures document, as a next step in the evolution of these essential services to a global multistakeholder organization. The Statement addressed specific issues related to interpretation and translation of particular interest to the At-Large community. Appended to the Statement was a specific review and comments on the draft Language Services Policy prepared by LACRALO.

ALAC Statement on the Public Comment Solicitation for FY13 Community Travel Support Guidelines

  • The ALAC voted to adopt a statement on the FY13 Community Travel Support Guidelines. The ALAC thanked ICANN for the continued travel support, as it is essential for At-Large to carry out its mandate. However, the Statement made three points:
    • The concept of re-purposing the funding allocated to 10 regional leaders towards regional assemblies has repeatedly been rejected by the ALAC for very well documented reasons. Having regional leaders present at all ICANN meetings is absolutely necessary for the At-Large to be effective. Moreover, it is incorrect to state that this is how the regional participation in Dakar and Costa Rica were funded. In both cases, separate funds were made available. These obsolete references in both sections 3 and 5 should be removed.
    • Regarding how regional assemblies or summits should be funded, the ALAC is in on-going dialogue with senior ICANN financial management. This is documented in section 6 on Special Requests.
    • Regarding the concept of At-Large only requiring support during its "startup," it has always been clear to all of those actually involved in At-Large that to withdraw travel support would effectively kill the any semblance of At-Large and ALAC effectiveness. It is true that some have proposed lower or no funding, but that concept has never been implemented, nor should it be if ICANN wants to have the input of the world's Internet user community.

ALAC Statement on the ICANN Board's Closed Session on 23 June 2012 to Adopt the Draft .com Renewal Agreement

  • The ALAC voted to adopt a statement on the ICANN Board's Closed Session on 23-June-2012 to Adopt the Draft .com Renewal Agreement. In this Statement, the ALAC expressed its disappointment with the Board's decision to meet in a closed session on Saturday 23 June to adopt the draft .com renewal agreement. ICANN staff had placed this topic on the Public Forum agenda well before the start of the 44th ICANN Meeting and the .com renewal item remained on the public forum topic list after the Board voted to adopt the draft .com renewal agreement. Although the ALAC was aware that the .com agreement was on the Board's agenda, the ALAC said it was not aware of the intent to approve the agreement at its closed session.
  • The ALAC comment is not with regard to the merits of the Board's action nor on the content of the .com agreement. ALAC stated that the process followed by the Board is objectionable at a time when ICANN is subject to increased scrutiny. According to ALAC, to give the impression that the Board is interested in additional community comments, but then make a decision five days earlier is not appropriate. ALAC said, it is imperative that the Board hold itself to the highest standards of transparency and accountability that it is mandated to uphold.

Statement of the ICANN African Community on the Low African Participation in the Applications for New gTLDs

  • The ALAC took particular note of, and gave the highest compliments to, the timely preparatory work of the African ICANN community (AfriICANN and AFRALO) on the Statement of the ICANN African Community on the Low African Participation in the Applications for New gTLDs (Declaration de la Communaute Africaine d'ICANN sur la Faible Participation de l'Afrique aux demandes de Nouveaux gTLD [PDF, 388 KB]).
  • The statement noted the low participation of African participation in the request for new gTLD applications, recognized that this may increase the digital divide, and included recommendations for ICANN, the African private sector, African accredited Registrars, and African civil society.

More Information

Staff Contact

Heidi Ullrich, Director for At-Large


13. ALAC Policy Statement Update

At a Glance

The At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) continues its high rate of preparing Statements in response to ICANN public comments periods. During June, the ALAC adopted seven statements, including three during the 44th ICANN Meeting in Prague. Topics of the ALAC Statements ranged from the Draft Statement of ICANN's Role and Remit in Security, Stability and Resiliency of the Internet's Unique Identifier Systems to the ICANN Services Policy and Procedures draft document. The ALAC is currently preparing five other statements.

Recent Developments

The ALAC statements submitted in June are:

More Information

Staff Contact

Heidi Ullrich, Director for At-Large


SSAC

14. Issues Active in the SSAC


GAC

15. Where to Find GAC Information

At a Glance

ICANN receives input from governments through the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC). The GAC's key role is to provide advice to ICANN on issues of public policy, and especially where there may be an interaction between ICANN's activities or policies and national laws or international agreements. The GAC usually meets three times a year in conjunction with ICANN meetings, where it discusses issues with the ICANN Board and other ICANN Supporting Organizations, Advisory Committees and other groups. The GAC may also discuss issues between times with the Board either through face-to-face meetings or by teleconference.

More Information

Staff Contact

Jeannie Ellers, ICANN staff

update-jul12-en.pdf  [871 KB]

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."