[To: council[at]gnso.icann.org; liaison6c[at]gnso.icann.org] [To: ga[at]gnso.icann.org; announce[at]gnso.icann.org] [To: regional-liaisons[at]icann.org] http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-13nov07.htm ASAP: Internationalized Country Code Top-Level Domains ICANN holding briefing on IDN ccTLD fast-track process at Internet Governance Forum 13 November 2007 RIO DE JANEIRO: Getting country-code Top Level Domains up and running in scripts from local languages through a fast-track process will be explained at an information session being held at the Internet Governance Forum this Wednesday in Rio. The session, put on by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers and the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO), will provide interested governments and Internet communities with information on the work being done to get Internationalized ccTLDs — the part of the domain name after the dot — up and running as quickly as possible. "A lot of hard work has been done on IDNs — and there is a technical evaluation of their impact on the root zone going on as we speak. The next step is to develop the policies that will see the creation of new top-level domains in characters from the languages of the world," said Chris Disspain, ccNSO chair. "The goal behind the fast-track process is to find a way to represent territory identifications in their local languages in operation as ccTLDs as quickly as possible in the areas of highest need, without impacting the long term policy process for the full implementation of IDNs across the globe." The idea of an Internationalized Domain Names (IDNC) working group was put forward by the ccNSO council and approved by ICANN’s board at the Los Angeles meeting that wrapped up earlier this month. Details on the session: Date: Wednesday 14 November 2007 Time: 10:30 am to noon Location: Imperial Room "This fast-track process will really be driven by those who want to take part and get their name in their language on their Internet in their country," Disspain added. -- Glen de Saint Géry GNSO Secretariat - ICANN gnso.secretariat[at]gnso.icann.org http://gnso.icann.org