Hi,

I don’t know if this is a topic that community members from the MEAC region might want to address in any way at ICANN66, however, I hope that it is one that at least merits follow-up at some point.

Internationalized domain names were meant (in part at least) to reflect the global nature of the Internet, acknowledging that not all Internet users communicate in languages based on Latin/ASCII script. It seems to me that if the DNS is truly going to reflect this; that the end-to-end process of registering a domain name needs to be available to those who do not, or are unable to communicate effectively in English, or other languages using Latin characters. A major part of this is the ability to submit gTLD registration data in local languages/scripts during the domain name registration process.

This topic is not a new one at ICANN. An Expert Working Group (EWG) on Internationalized Registration Data (IRD) had previously been formed, and published a Final Report with recommendations back in September 2015. Since this wasn’t a GNSO Policy Development Process (PDP) Working Group (WG), its recommendations did not result in new obligations on ICANN Contracted Parties.

However, the views of the IRD EWG were taken in to consideration in the GNSO Translation and Transliteration of Contact Information (T&T) PDP WG, largely due to an overlap in membership and close coordination between the two groups, which were running at the same time. Despite having a rather narrow scope of work, the T&T PDP WG produced recommendations, some of which were consistent with the findings of the IRD EWG. These can be found in the T&T PDP WG’s Final Report. These recommendations were subsequently adopted by the GNSO Council and the ICANN Board, and are now still in the process of being implemented.

Later, both of these reports were meant to provide input to the GNSO Next-Generation Registration Directory Services (RDS) to Replace Whois PDP, however, this PDP was terminated in October 2018. This PDP had a very broad scope, and a very small portion of that scope was later taken on by the GNSO Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) on the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data, however, the vast majority is meant to be addressed at some point in the future by another PDP, which will serve as a successor to the terminated Next-Gen RDS PDP. I presume that IRD is meant to be included in that effort, when it commences.

Another presumption I have is that, since the MEAC region is one that would be affected by the use of IRD during gTLD domain name registrations; that the community members from the MEAC region might be interested in seeing this someday be dealt with. I know that the topic was captured in previous minutes of meetings of the GNSO Council, but to what extent it is still on their radar, I don’t know.

Is this something that might be of interest to those subscribed to this mailing list in preparation for ICANN66? If not, perhaps at some other point in the future?

Also, for reference, some correspondence between the ICANN Board and the GNSO Council on the topic:

Letter from Steve Crocker to James Bladel on the GNSO’s consideration of policy implications of the IRD EWG’s Final Report - May 2016

Response from James Bladel to Steve Crocker on the GNSO’s consideration of policy implications of the IRD EWG’s Final Report - December 2016

Thanks.

Amr

On Aug 24, 2019, at 8:10 AM, Nadira Alaraj <nadira.araj@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear All, 

I would like to encourage the community members to propose ICANN Topics to bring attention to our  collective voice.

You don't have to be travelling to ICANN 66 in order to propose a topic. 

The ME statement for ICANN Kobe was a success in spite many of the drafting team were able to attend the meeting.  

Looking forward hearing from you,

Best wishes,

Nadira AL-Araj 

On Mon, Aug 19, 2019, 10:16 Tijani BEN JEMAA <tijani.benjemaa@topnet.tn> wrote:

Dear all,
 
Preparing for the ME Space in Montreal, the leading team Tijani Ben Jemaa, and Nadira Al-Araj would like to propose to the MEAC community the following timeline:
 

Date	Days	Action
August 19 - 30	12	Call for topics
September 2		Announcement of the selected Topic
September 2 - 13	11	Call for volunteers for the drafting team
September 16		Announcement of the drafting team composition
September 16 - 30	14	Drafting of the statement (1st draft)
September 30		Publishing of the 1st draft for comments
Sept. 30 to October 10	10	Comment period for the 1st draft of the statement
October 11 - 18	8	Drafting of the final version
October 21		Final draft published

 
We therefore call on you to propose your preferred topic to be addressed at ICANN 66 in Montreal.
 
The chosen topics should be current and of high interest at ICANN.
 
Please provide your choice before Friday 30^th August 2019 at 23:59 UTC.
Best regards

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Tijani BENJEMAA
Executive Director
Mediterranean Federation of Internet Associations (FMAI)
Telephone: +216 52 385 114
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