I think the issue is not a technical problem with the technical root zone, but that increasingly SSAC is considering the potential for user confusion. From a user perspective, that is a good thing. If they had done so earlier in the gTLD process, we might be in a much better position there than we are now. But yes, that is a change. Perhaps you can elaborate on how the potential problems "can be mitigated by the registry or registrars at the local level". That may help ensure that we are all talking about the same thing and perhaps provide a path forward. Alan At 28/02/2017 04:01 PM, Andrei Kolesnikov wrote:

Thank you Maureen, good report.

The origin of this story goes years back when I was representing ccTLD with (still world largest) IDN obtained by Fast Track. I know how important it is for the local market, government and end users to have an ability to use local script in domain names. The process of similarity check was in place without expectations to see a real problematic cases anyday soon. But it happened. The similar process in new gTLD project was accurately timelin'ed and works well (until the real confusion case at least). I'd like to mention RFC6912 paragraph 6 one more time. The visually confusing labels are potential problem for a registry, not to a root zone in general. With IDN ccTLD registry procedures (particularly for mentioned Greek and Cyrillic scripts) if any domain name confusion case becomes real, it can be mitigated by the registry or registrars at the local level. I recommend to support ccNSO statement with all balances and checks they've included into the document.

best regards, --andrei

2017-02-28 13:49 GMT+03:00 Maureen Hilyard <<mailto:maureen.hilyard@gmail.com>maureen.hilyard@gmail.com>: Background notes for your information - for the ALAC meeting

Maureen

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