ICANN APPROVES PLANS NON-LATIN-SCRIPT WEB ADDRESSES

PanARMENIAN.Net
30.10.2009 12:16 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The internet regulator has approved plans to allow
non-Latin-script web addresses, in a move that is set to transform the
online world. The board of Icann voted at its annual meeting in Seoul
to allow domain names in Arabic, Chinese and other scripts. More than
half of the 1.6 billion people who use the internet speak languages
with non-Latin scripts. It is being described as the biggest change
to the way the internet works since it was created 40 years ago.

The first Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) could be in use next
year. Plans for IDNs were first approved at a meeting in June 2008,
but testing of the system has been going on for two years.

The move paves the way for the internet’s Domain Name System (DNS) to
be changed so it can recognise and translate non-Latin characters. The
DNS acts like a phonebook, turning easily understood domain names into
strings of computer-readable numbers, known as Internet Protocol (IP)
addresses. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(Icann) said the "fantastically complicated technical feature" allowing
IDNs would represent the "biggest change" to the coding that underlies
the internet since it was invented four decades ago.

Icann said it would accept the first applications for IDNs by 16
November, with the first up and running by "mid-2010". It is likely
the majority of early non-Latin net addresses to be approved will be
in Chinese and Arabic script, followed by Russian. Some countries,
such as China and Thailand, have already introduced workarounds that
allow computer users to enter web addresses in their own language.

However, these were not internationally approved and do not work on
all computers.

"Of the 1.6 billion internet users today worldwide, more than half
use languages that have scripts that are not Latin-based," said
Icann president and CEO Rod Beckstrom earlier this week. "So this
change is very much necessary for not only half the world’s internet
users today but more than half, probably, of the future users as the
internet continues to spread."

Icann, set up by the US government, was founded in 1998 to oversee the
development of the net. Last month, after years of criticism, the US
government eased its control over the non-profit body. It signed a new
agreement that gave Icann autonomy for the first time. The agreement
came into effect on 1 October and puts it under the scrutiny of the
global "internet community", BBC reported.