Dear All, Please note that on Wednesday, 16 September 2009 at 15:00 UTC you are invited to join a SSAC Webinar briefing on SAC 037, Display and usage of Internationalized Registration Data: Support for characters from local languages or scripts. http://gnso.icann.org/announcement/announcement-09sep09-en.htm Dave Piscitello, ICANN Senior Security Technologist, discusses the issues surrounding internationalized registration data in an upcoming webinar. Please RSVP gnso.secretariat@gnso.icann.org<mailto:gnso.secretariat@gnso.icann.org> NLT Tuesday 15 September 2009 if you would like to join so that there will be enough lines available. Call details will follow. SSAC Briefing: Display and Usage of Internationalized Registration Data Webinar provides essential background for understanding global Whois issues Many Internet applications today support characters from local languages, alphabets or scripts. This type of "internationalization" affects how information displays to Internet users, and how users submit information to applications. A recently published report on internationalized registration data (SAC037 <http://www.icann.org/en/committees/security/ssac-documents.htm> ) by the Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) explains that standard formats are defined for internationalized domain names (IDNs), but no standards exist for how contact information and other registration data can be submitted and displayed using character sets other than ASCII. Can Internet users continue to use Whois services effectively if data such as contact information, host names, sponsoring registrar and domain name status are submitted and displayed only in local languages, or in a random mix of languages ? Dave Piscitello, ICANN Senior Security Technologist, discusses the issues surrounding internationalized registration data in an upcoming webinar. In this session, Dave will brief you on: · How the use of characters from local scripts affects the Internet user experience with respect to domain name registration data submission, usage, and display. · Examples of what users may encounter today when accessing registration data via Whois or via the web · Issues related to supporting characters from local scripts in applications that registrars, registries, and other parties provide for the submission and display of domain names and registration data · How some ccTLDs collect and display internationalized registration data today · Standards that postal services use, so that they can deliver mail between countries when languages and scripts vary from sender to recipient Join us for this essential background information, to be delivered via Adobe Connect on Wednesday, 16 September, 15:00 UTC (local time conversion chart <http://101science.com/UTCzulu.html> ). Mark your calendar now, then on 16 September, simply participate as our guest by pointing your browser to http://icann.na3.acrobat.com/ssacwebinar/ . You'll come away with knowledge that enables you to make more informed decisions about international registration data and Whois. We hope you'll join us! Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you. Kind regards, Glen de Saint Géry GNSO Secretariat gnso.secretariat@gnso.icann.org http://gnso.icann.org