- vip - lists.icann.org

FW: ICANN News Alert -- Report of Second String Similarity Review for бг IDN ccTLD Application Through Extended Process Similarity Review Panel (EPSRP) Released
by Fahd Batayneh Oct. 15, 2014

Oct. 15, 2014

For those interested in IDNs, Bulgaria’s Cyrillic .бг has passed string evaluation via the Extended Process Similarity Review Panel (EPSRP). The string was initially rejected due to visual similarity. Fahd Batayneh ICANN Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2014 1:39 AM Subject: ICANN News Alert -- Report of Second String Similarity Review for бг IDN ccTLD Application Through Extended Process Similarity Review Panel (EPSRP) Released <http://www.icann.org/> ICANN News Alert https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2-2014-10-14-en _____ Report of Second String Similarity Review for бг IDN ccTLD Application Through Extended Process Similarity Review Panel (EPSRP) Released 14 October 2014 As required under Final Implementation Plan for the IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process <https://www.icann.org/en/resources/idn/fast-track/idn-cctld-implementation-…> [PDF, 879 KB], ICANN releases the report <https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/epsrp-reports-2014-10-14-en> for the second string similarity review of the IDN ccTLD application for бг (A-Label: xn--90ae, Unicode Code Points: U+0431 U+0433) in Cyrillic by the Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications of Bulgaria. The report presents the finding of the independent Extended Process Similarity Review Panel (EPSRP) of the IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process. About the Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) Fast Track Process The IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process was launched on 16 November 2009. As of that date, eligible countries and territories were able to request their respective IDN ccTLD(s) through the process. Following extensive public consultations, the ccNSO Council adopted <http://ccnso.icann.org/node/38787> in April 2013 [PDF, 118 KB] the Final Report on the IDN ccNSO PDP <http://ccnso.icann.org/workinggroups/idn-ccpdp-final-29mar13-en.pdf> [PDF, 376 KB]. This work has taken into account the experiences and reviews of the IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process as well as the Governmental Advisory Committee's advice <https://gacweb.icann.org/display/gacweb/Meeting+44%3A+Prague%2C+Czech+Repub…> on the matter. On 27 June 2013, the ICANN Board approved an amendment <https://www.icann.org/resources/board-material/resolutions-2013-06-27-en#2.a> to the IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process Final Implementation Plan. The amendment implements a two-panel process for string similarity review in the IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process, and was proposed following the conclusion <http://ccnso.icann.org/announcements/announcement-14aug13-en.htm> of the IDN Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) Policy Development Process (PDP). The ICANN Board also resolved <https://www.icann.org/resources/board-material/resolutions-2013-06-27-en#2.a> on 27 June 2013 that all pending and future IDN ccTLD Fast Track applicants have the option to request evaluation by the Extended Process Similarity Review Panel (EPSRP). On 5 November 2014, ICANN published an updated Final Implementation Plan for the IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process <https://www.icann.org/en/resources/idn/fast-track/idn-cctld-implementation-…> [PDF, 879 KB] that includes the changes required for the implementation of the two-panel string similarity review process, as approved by the ICANN Board, including EPSRP for the second review based on the Guidelines for the Extended Process Similarity Review Panel <https://www.icann.org/en/resources/idn/fast-track/epsrp-guidelines-04dec13-…> [PDF, 86 KB]. In accordance with Section 4.3 of the latest version of the Final Implementation Plan for the IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process and the Guidelines mentioned, ICANN is required to publish the findings of the EPSRP within one (1) week after receiving them.

1 0

[Blog Post] Speak Up for Your Language
by Fahd Batayneh Oct. 1, 2014

Oct. 1, 2014

Friends and Colleagues, For those interested in IDNs, I would like to share with you a blog post by Sarmad Hussain; IDN Program Senior Manager at ICANN, at http://blog.apnic.net/2014/09/30/speak-up-for-your-language/. Happy reading! Thank you, Fahd Batayneh ICANN

1 0

IDN Program Updates, Meeting and Sessions @ ICANN51
by Sarmad Hussain Sept. 29, 2014

Sept. 29, 2014

Dear All, Here is a tentative list of updates, meetings and sessions by the IDN Program at ICANN51. Please feel free to share with others relevant in the community. We look forward to your participation. Regards, Sarmad IDN Program related Updates, Meetings and Sessions (Tentative) @ ICANN 51 Updated on 29 September 2014 Updates at ICANN51 Saturday: IDN Program Update to GNSO 9:45-10:15am (30 mins) Tuesday: IDN Program Update to ALAC 11:00 - 11:15am (15 mins) Tuesday: IDN Program Update to ccNSO 4:20pm - 4:35pm (15 mins) Informal Meetings at ICANN51 (Not announced publicly; to participate please email to <mailto:idntlds@icann.org> idntlds(a)icann.org) (Location will be finalized and announced on Friday to those who have shown interest to participate) Monday: Latin Community Meeting to Formulate a Latin Generation Panel 2:00-3:30pm Tuesday: Cyrillic Community Meeting to Formulate a Cyrillic Generation Panel 2:00-3:30pm Formal Sessions at ICANN51 - ALL SESSIONS ARE OPEN (will be updated in the Online Schedule) Wednesday 15 September 8:30-9:45am IDN Program Update 10:00-11:15am IDN Root Zone LGR (Workshop) IDN Program Update (time: 1hr 15 mins) 1. IDN Program - Overview and Progress - 15 mins - Sarmad Hussain 2. Maximal Starting Repertoire (MSR) - 5 mins - Marc Blanchet 3. Transitioning from MSR to LGR - 15 mins - Asmus Freytag 4. LGR Builder- A Tool for Generation Panels and the Community - 10 mins - Kim Davies 5. Community Updates on Generation Panels - 10 mins a. Need for Latin GP - Cary Karp b. Update on Arabic GP - Meikal Mumin 6. Q/A - 20 mins IDN Root Zone LGR (Workshop) - Coordination across languages and scripts (time: 1 hr 15 mins) 1. Introduction to the Workshop - Sarmad Hussain 2. Need, Limitations and Mechanisms for the Root Zone LGR - Marc Blanchet- 10 mins 3. Coordination between Chinese, Japanese and Korean Scripts - Wang Wei - 10 mins 4. Coordination between Cyrillic, Greek and Latin Scripts - Cary Karp - 10 mins 5. Coordination between Neo-Brahmi Scripts - Neha Gupta - 10 mins 6. Challenges in Addressing Multiple Languages using Arabic Script- Meikel Mumin - 10 mins 7. Q/A - 25 mins

1 0

Chinese Community Steps Forward for Chinese TLDs - Forms Generation Panel for Root Zone Label Generation Ruleset (LGR)
by Jia-Juh Kimoto Sept. 25, 2014

Sept. 25, 2014

Dear All, Please note that we have announce the formation of the Chinese Script Generation Panel on Wednesday, 24 September 2014. On behalf of ICANN, we would like to take this opportunity to thank each of the members for offering their time and expertise to volunteer for the Chinese Script Generation Panel. The announcement is on the ICANN website at: https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2014-09-24-en . Best regards, Jia Jia-Juh Yuh Kimoto IDN Program Team ICANN - Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers 12025 Waterfront Drive, Suite 300 Los Angeles, CA 90094

2 1

CENTR Survey Report - Launch and Use of IDNs (2014)
by Fahd Batayneh Sept. 16, 2014

Sept. 16, 2014

Friends and Colleagues, Please find attached CENTR's report on the usage of IDNs for 2014. The report gives an insight on the various methods of registering IDNs and the uptake of IDNs in the two regions the report covers; the Asia-Pacific and the EU regions. Thank you, Fahd Batayneh ICANN

1 0

IDN World Report 2014
by Fahd Batayneh Sept. 12, 2014

Sept. 12, 2014

I would like to bring your attention to EURid's latest IDN World Report 2014. The report was announced at the Global IGF in Istanbul during the workshop session on "Languages on the Move: Deploying Multilingualism in the Net <http://2014.intgovforum.org/event/fb98891a7f0bec7b29a01ae024d8860b#.VAgtGmN QSUM> ". You can read the announcement at http://www.eurid.eu/en/news/sep-2014/languages-move-internet-landscape, and download the report at http://www.eurid.eu/files/publ/IDNWorldReport2014_Interactive.pdf. Happy reading! Fahd Batayneh ICANN

1 0

Suggested BoF at the ICANN meeting in Los Angeles
by Cary Karp Sept. 8, 2014

Sept. 8, 2014

Considering the elements of the Latin script that can safely be included in the code point repertoire for IDN labels in the root zone is a topic of significant interest. It will be dealt with by a dedicated Latin Script Generation Panel, the formation of which is imminent. The final report of the ICANN VIP Study Group for the Latin Script <https://archive.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/latin-vip-issues-report-07oct…> provides an extensive listing of the code points that can be considered by that GP. The report also comments on a range of issues involved in collating a subset of the full Latin repertoire for any specific purpose. The report therefore has obvious potential as a seed document for the work of the GP. I would therefore like to propose a BoF early during the ICANN meeting in Los Angeles to discuss bridging the work of the Latin VIP group and the impending Latin Script GP. The BoF could also consider other key issues in extending the current ASCII repertoire into the IDN facet of the root zone, if nothing else, as a warm-up exercise for any sessions on the subject that ICANN might otherwise be planning. (BoF = “Birds of a Feather” -- an ad hoc gathering of people with a shared interest in a topic preliminary to structured action on it.) Are any other list members interested in this? /Cary

3 5

Email Address Internationalization (EAI) and Gmail
by Fahd Batayneh Aug. 6, 2014

Aug. 6, 2014

Friends and Colleagues, During the Public Forum at ICANN 50 in London, Jordyn Buchanan from Google confirmed that Gmail will support EAI on their platform by the end of this month. . by the end of this month gmail is going to be the first major mail platform with full EAI support, so you'll be able to email back and forth with gmail users at least . You can find the scribe at http://www.streamtext.net/player/carttranscript?event=SANDRINGHAM-26Jun2014. A good step forward for Universal Acceptance of IDNs. Thank you, Fahd Batayneh ICANN

5 7

Speak up for your Language! Join a Panel Today
by Jia-Juh Kimoto Aug. 1, 2014

Aug. 1, 2014

Dear Community Member, In the past, labels in the Internet's Root Zone could only contain ASCII characters. The rules for creating new top-level domain labels were simple: labels must (i) only be composed of letters (a-z) in the English alphabet, and (ii) consist of two to 63 characters. All of that is changing now. The future holds a multilingual Internet, where a user from anywhere across the world can navigate entirely in his or her native language. Be a part of this historic change! ICANN is calling for volunteers to serve on one of several panels that will define the rules for generating new top-level domain labels for the script or writing systems for their community. Join a Generation Panel today by emailing idntlds(a)icann.org<mailto:idntlds@icann.org>. Make sure to tell us the language you speak and the script or writing system you want to get involved with. Please help inform and motivate others to join as well. The goal of these panels is to support the use of Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) by determining what is a valid top-level domain label in each script or writing system. This involves answering three questions: (i) which subset of characters from the various scripts can be used to form a label[1], (ii) which of these characters (if any) may be considered confusable or variants by end users, and (iii) what are additional constraints[2] on these labels? As there is a single Root Zone, all such label generation rules for all the scripts must be merged into a single reference, which is called the Label Generation Rule-set (LGR). The ICANN community has established a procedure<https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/lgr-procedure-20mar13-en.pdf> to develop the LGR for the Root Zone. This procedure is divided into three steps: 1. The basis is a subset of Unicode code points which may be appropriate for the Root Zone and called the Maximal Starting Repertoire (MSR). 2. Communities representing various scripts (e.g., Arabic, Cyrillic, Devanagari, Greek, Chinese, Latin, Thai, etc.) are invited to organize into Generation Panels to start from the MSR and propose the label generation rules (which contains the three types of rules defined above) for their respective scripts. 3. The script-based proposals developed by the communities are reviewed by a panel of experts called the Integration Panel. Proposals that meet the criteria in the procedure<https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/lgr-procedure-20mar13-en.pdf> are integrated into the LGR by the Integration Panel. The LGR is incrementally built upon until it contains all the necessary scripts. For Step 1, ICANN recently released the Maximal Starting Repertoire (MSR-1)<https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2-2014-06-20-en>, covering 22 scripts (Arabic, Bengali, Cyrillic, Devanagari, Georgian, Greek, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Han, Hangul, Hebrew, Hiragana, Kannada, Katakana, Lao, Latin, Malayalam, Oriya, Sinhala, Tamil, Telugu and Thai) and containing 32,790 code points short-listed from 97,973 allowable code points from Unicode version 6.3. Work on additional scripts will be completed soon. Step 2 is now underway; ICANN needs your help in developing proposals to extend the Root Zone LGR to cover each of these scripts. There is a role for everyone: general script community representation as well as volunteers with knowledge of scripts, linguistics, Unicode, IDNA/DNS or policy. Volunteering is easy; just send an email to idntlds(a)icann.org<mailto:idntlds@icann.org>. Join a Generation Panel today. Help ICANN support top-level domain names in your language! With kind regards, IDN Program Team ICANN [1] Code points appropriate for labels must be letters and should be in widespread modern use. [1] For example, a label cannot be formed entirely by combining marks and must contain at least two letters ________________________________ [1] Code points appropriate for labels must be letters and should be in widespread modern use. [2] For example, a label cannot be formed entirely by combining marks and must contain at least two letters

1 0

IDN Root Zone LGR Generation Panels Workshop
by Fahd Batayneh June 25, 2014

June 25, 2014

Friends and Colleagues, Sorry for sending this out on such a late notice, but the IDN Root Zone LGR Generation Panels Workshop in London is taking place right now. You can join remotely using the information provided at http://london50.icann.org/en/schedule/wed-lgr. Thank you, Fahd Batayneh ICANN

1 0

FW: ICANN News Alert -- Maximal Starting Repertoire Version 1 (MSR-1)‬ for the Development of Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone
by Fahd Batayneh June 21, 2014

June 21, 2014

FYI… Fahd Batayneh ICANN Sent: Friday, June 20, 2014 11:54 PM Subject: ICANN News Alert -- Maximal Starting Repertoire Version 1 (MSR-1) for the Development of Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone <http://www.icann.org/> ICANN News Alert https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2-2014-06-20-en _____ Maximal Starting Repertoire Version 1 (MSR-1) for the Development of Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone 20 June 2014 To support IDN labels in the root zone, the ICANN community, at the direction of the Board, undertook several projects to study and make recommendations on their viability and delegation. One of these projects is the implementation of the Procedure to Develop and Maintain the Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone in Respect of IDNA Labels <https://www.icann.org/en/resources/idn/variant-tlds/draft-lgr-procedure-20m…> [PDF, 1.39 MB] (the Procedure) allowing for the development of Label Generation Rules (LGR) for the Root Zone. The LGR for the Root Zone is a mechanism for creating and maintaining rules with respect to IDN labels for the root. In the context of the implementation of the Procedure, ICANN is pleased to announce that the Integration Panel has released the first version of the Maximal Starting Repertoire (MSR-1) <https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/reports-2013-04-03-en> . The MSR-1 is the first deliverable from the Integration Panel under the Procedure and will serve as a fixed collection of code points from which Generation Panels may make a selection in constructing the repertoire for their respective LGR proposals. The MSR-1 covers the following 22 scripts: Arabic, Bengali, Cyrillic, Devanagari, Georgian, Greek, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Han, Hangul, Hebrew, Hiragana, Kannada, Katakana, Lao, Latin, Malayalam, Oriya, Sinhala, Tamil, Telugu, and Thai. MSR-1 contains 32,790 code points short-listed from 97,973 PVALID/CONTEXT code points of Unicode version 6.3. This release of MSR-1 sets the stage for the work by Generation Panels. In addition to selecting their repertoire from within the MSR for developing LGR proposals, Generation Panels will also evaluate whether any such code points are variants and if any rules are needed to further constrain the labels generated using these code points. The resulting LGR proposals by the Generation Panels will be released for public comment before they are reviewed by the Integration Panel for integration into the Root Zone LGR. If it becomes necessary to stage the release of the LGR, for example because not all Generation Panels are able to submit proposals at the same time, subsequent versions of the LGR may be released. MSR-1 defers some of the eligible scripts, so as to balance timeliness with comprehensiveness. At a later stage, another version of the MSR will be developed to include repertoires from the deferred scripts and make other additions to the repertoire as warranted. It would be the foundation for any subsequent LGR versions. All future versions of the MSR and all versions of the LGR must retain full backwards compatibility. MSR-1 release consists of the following documents: * Maximal Starting Repertoire - MSR-1-Overview and Rationale-20140606 <https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/msr-overview-06jun14-en.pdf> [PDF, 468 KB] * MSR-1-Annotated-Han-Tables-20140606 <https://icann.box.com/shared/static/4mxq49h6tsc0kldf1cnv.pdf> [PDF, 43.3 MB] * MSR-1-Annotated-Hangul-Tables-20140606 <https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/msr-hangul-06jun14-en.pdf> [PDF, 4.19 MB] * MSR-1-Annotated-non-CJK-Tables-20140606 <https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/msr-non-cjk-06jun14-en.pdf> [PDF, 1.86 MB] * MSR-1-Repertoire+WLE-Rules-20140606 <https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/msr-wle-rules-06jun14-en.xml> [XML, 741 KB] <http://click.icptrack.com/icp/track.php?msgid=940141&act=MI8Z&r=25971199&c=…>

1 0

Universal Acceptance of TLDs Draft Roadmap
by Fahd Batayneh June 19, 2014

June 19, 2014

Friends and Colleagues, Universal Acceptance of TLDs Draft Roadmap has just been posted at https://www.icann.org/public-comments/tld-acceptance-initiative-2014-06-18-e n. Thank you, Fahd Batayneh ICANN

1 0

TF-AIDN Second F2F Meeting
by Fahd Batayneh June 14, 2014

June 14, 2014

Friends and Colleagues, The Task Force on Arabic Script IDNs (TF-AIDN) had its second F2F meeting over the course of 5-days during June 8-12, 2014. The meetings took place in Istanbul, Turkey. The agenda <https://community.icann.org/download/attachments/43982588/TF-AIDN%202nd%20F 2F%20Meeting%20Agenda.pdf?version=1&modificationDate=1402773826556&api=v2> consisted of two main topics: 1. 3 days of LGR and Variant Discussions (June 8-10) 2. 2 days of Universal Acceptance of Arabic Script IDNs (June 11-12) You can find the slides that were presented during the 5-days on the dedicated wiki space at https://community.icann.org/display/MES/TF-AIDN+Work+Space. Some sessions did not have slides prepared as respective presenters demonstrated their talk visually. Finally, below is a group picture in the middle of one of the sessions. A small group, yet a very productive meeting. cid:image003.jpg@01CF872C.199F6120 Members of the TF-AIDN Present in Istanbul Thank you, Fahd

1 0

What is the Task Force on Arabic Script IDNs (TF-AIDN) Up To? | أخر مستجدات مجموعة عمل أسماء نطاقات النص العربي
by Fahd Batayneh May 24, 2014

May 24, 2014

(sorry for cross posting) Friends and Colleagues, For those interested in IDNs, I have posted an update on the work of the Task Force on Arabic Script IDNs (TF-AIDN) in both Arabic <http://blog.icann.org/2014/05/%D8%A3%D8%AE%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%AC%D 8%AF%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%85%D8%AC%D9%85%D9%88%D8%B9%D8%A9-%D8%B9%D9%85%D9%84-%D8 %A3%D8%B3%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D9%86%D8%B7%D8%A7%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%8 4/> and English <http://blog.icann.org/2014/05/what-is-the-task-force-on-arabic-script-idns- tf-aidn-up-to/> . Thank you, Fahd Batayneh ICANN

1 0

Reminder - MSR public comment forum
by Nicoleta M. Munteanu May 15, 2014

May 15, 2014

Dear Colleagues, This message is a reminder that the Public Comment Process for the Maximal Starting Repertoire Version 1 (http://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/msr-03mar14-en.htm) corresponding to the first deliverable under the Procedure to Develop and Maintain the Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone in Respect of IDNA Labels<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/idn/variant-tlds/lgr-procedure-20mar13-en…> will close on 21 May 2014 at 23:59 UTC. Please note that all comments and replies must be posted prior to the public comment process closure date mentioned above. We appreciate your time to review the materials posted and provide us with your input. Kind regards, Nicoleta Munteanu ICANN

1 0

Extension of public comment forum
by Naela Sarras April 2, 2014

April 2, 2014

Dear colleagues, Per the input we received from community members during the ICANN49 meeting in Singapore, please note that the public comment period on the Maximal Starting Repertoire (MSR-1) has been extended. The public comment forum will now close on 21 May 2014. http://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/msr-03mar14-en.htm The MSR is the first deliverable under the "Procedure to Develop and Maintain Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone With Respect to IDN Labels<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/idn/variant-tlds/lgr-procedure-20mar13-en…>." We appreciate your time to review the materials posted and provide us with your input. Best regards, Naela Sarras ICANN

1 0

Join us for the IDN LGR Cocktail at ICANN Singapore (Tuesday March, 25 at 19.00 in Bencoleen Room)
by Nicoleta M. Munteanu March 24, 2014

March 24, 2014

[cid:1F0E0AFF-850F-4991-A4C0-31554448E8BA] Enabling a Mutilingual Internet IDN Label Generation Rules (LGR) Cocktail Please join us at the IDN LGR Cocktail for an opportunity to meet with members of the community involved in the work on IDN Variant TLDs and learn about the various script community experiences in forming LGR panels. Event details: Date: Tuesday, March 25, 2014 When: 19.00 – 21.00 SGT Where: Raffles City and Convention Centre Level 4 Bencoleen Room http://singapore49.icann.org/en/maps#venue_map Join us as well for the Singapore IDN working sessions: IDN Variant TLDs Program Wed, 26 March 2014 - 08:30 -10:00 SGT http://singapore49.icann.org/en/schedule/wed-idn-variant-tld IDN Root Zone LGR Public Workshop - Integration & Generation Panels Wed, 26 March 2014 - 13:00 -18:00 SGT http://singapore49.icann.org/en/schedule/wed-lgr-integration

1 0

[Request for Comments] Principles for Inclusion, Exclusion or Deferral of Code Points for Arabic Script LGR for the Root Zone
by Fahd Batayneh March 18, 2014

March 18, 2014

(sorry for cross posting) Friends and Colleagues, On behalf of the Task Force on Arabic Script IDN (TF-AIDN), I am pleased to announce the call for comments on the Principles for Inclusion, Exclusion or Deferral of Code Points for Arabic Script LGR for the Root Zone <https://community.icann.org/download/attachments/43982588/Principles%20for% 20Inclusion%2C%20Exclusion%20or%20Deferral%20of%20Code%20Points%20for%20Arab ic%20Script%20LGR%20for%20the%20Root%20Zone.pdf?version=1&modificationDate=1 395138655591&api=v2> document. Comments can be sent to tf-aidn(a)meswg.org. Please feel free to spread the message around relevant stakeholders and those interested in the work of Arabic Script IDNs. Thank you, Fahd Batayneh On Behalf of the TF-AIDN

1 0

[Request for Comments] Principles for Inclusion, Exclusion or Deferral of Code Points for Arabic Script LGR for the Root Zone
by Fahd Batayneh March 18, 2014

March 18, 2014

(sorry for cross posting) Friends and Colleagues, On behalf of the Task Force on Arabic Script IDN (TF-AIDN), I am pleased to announce the call for comments on the Principles for Inclusion, Exclusion or Deferral of Code Points for Arabic Script LGR for the Root Zone <https://community.icann.org/download/attachments/43982588/Principles%20for% 20Inclusion%2C%20Exclusion%20or%20Deferral%20of%20Code%20Points%20for%20Arab ic%20Script%20LGR%20for%20the%20Root%20Zone.pdf?version=1&modificationDate=1 395138655591&api=v2> document. Comments can be sent to lgr(a)icann.org. Please feel free to spread the message around relevant stakeholders and those interested in the work of Arabic Script IDNs. Thank you, Fahd Batayneh On Behalf of the TF-AIDN

1 0

Join us for the IDN LGR Cocktail at ICANN Singapore
by Nicoleta M. Munteanu March 10, 2014

March 10, 2014

Enabling a Mutilingual Internet IDN Label Generation Rules (LGR) Cocktail [cid:B087BFFF-A3F1-4E98-AB4A-09B00DC30215] [cid:B9D799F8-91CC-4BF4-BAEA-8CFD9752C3E9] Please join us at the IDN LGR Cocktail for an opportunity to meet with members of the community involved in the work on IDN Variant TLDs and learn about the various script community experiences in forming LGR panels. Event details: Date: Tuesday, March 25, 2014 When: 19.00 – 21.00 SGT Where: Raffles City and Convention Centre Level 4 Bencoleen Room http://singapore49.icann.org/en/maps#venue_map Join us as well for the Singapore IDN working sessions: IDN Variant TLDs Program Wed, 26 March 2014 - 08:30 -10:00 SGT http://singapore49.icann.org/en/schedule/wed-idn-variant-tld IDN Root Zone LGR Public Workshop - Integration & Generation Panels Wed, 26 March 2014 - 13:00 -18:00 SGT http://singapore49.icann.org/en/schedule/wed-lgr-integration

1 0

FW: ICANN News Alert -- IDN Variant TLDs LGR Procedure Implementation Maximal Starting Repertoire Version 1 is Now Open for Public Comment
by Naela Sarras March 5, 2014

March 5, 2014

Dear colleagues, Please note the publication of the Maximal Starting Repertoire for public comment. Best regards, Naela Sarras ICANN From: ICANN News Alert <communications(a)icann.org<mailto:communications@icann.org>> Date: Monday, March 3, 2014 5:18 PM To: Naela Sarras <naela.sarras(a)icann.org<mailto:naela.sarras@icann.org>> Subject: ICANN News Alert -- IDN Variant TLDs – LGR Procedure Implementation – Maximal Starting Repertoire Version 1 is Now Open for Public Comment [http://www.icann.org/images/gradlogo_bow.jpg]<http://www.icann.org/> News Alert http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-2-03mar14-en.htm ________________________________ IDN Variant TLDs – LGR Procedure Implementation – Maximal Starting Repertoire Version 1 is Now Open for Public Comment 3 March 2014 Forum Announcement: Comment Period Opens on Date: 3 March 2014 Categories/Tags: * Internationalized Domain Names * IDN * IDN Variant TLD * new gTLD Purpose (Brief): As first deliverable under the "Procedure to Develop and Maintain Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone With Respect to IDN Labels<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/idn/variant-tlds/lgr-procedure-20mar13-en…>" [PDF, 772 KB] (the Procedure), ICANN is releasing for public comment version 1 of the Maximal Starting Repertoire (MSR-1). The contents of MSR-1 and the detailed rationale behind its development are described in "Maximal Starting Repertoire – MSR-1-Overview and Rationale<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/idn/variant-tlds/msr-overview-rationale-2…>" [PDF, 393 KB]. Public Comment Box Link: http://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/msr-03mar14-en.htm This message was sent to naela.sarras(a)icann.org<mailto:naela.sarras@icann.org> from: ICANN | 12025 Waterfront Drive Suite 300 | Los Angeles, CA 90094-2536 Email Marketing by [http://app.icontact.com/images/icontact_tryFree.gif] <http://www.icontact.com/a.pl/144186> Manage Your Subscription <http://app.icontact.com/icp/mmail-mprofile.pl?r=9827450&l=6333&s=2E94&m=931…>

1 0

FW: ICANN News Alert -- Generation Panel for the Arabic Script Root Zone Label Generation Rules Seated
by Fahd Batayneh Feb. 16, 2014

Feb. 16, 2014

(sorry for cross posting) For those interested in the proceedings of IDNs and LGR. A step forward for the Arabic Script IDN community. Fahd Batayneh ICANN Sent: Saturday, February 15, 2014 2:56 AM Subject: ICANN News Alert -- Generation Panel for the Arabic Script Root Zone Label Generation Rules Seated <http://www.icann.org/> ICANN News Alert http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-2-14feb14-en.htm _____ Generation Panel for the Arabic Script Root Zone Label Generation Rules Seated 14 February 2014 ICANN is pleased to announce that the Generation Panel for the Arabic Script Root Zone Label Generation Rules (LGR) has been seated. Following the Call for Generation Panels to Develop Root Zone Label Generation Rules <http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-11jul13-en.htm> published on 11 July 2013, the Task Force on Arabic Script Internationalized Domain Names <https://community.icann.org/display/MES/Task+Force+on+Arabic+Script+IDNs> (TF-AIDN), a community-driven initiative of the Middle East Strategy Working Group (MESWG), has developed and submitted to ICANN, on 13 January 2014, the Proposal for Generation Panel for Arabic Script Label Generation Ruleset for the Root Zone <http://www.icann.org/en/resources/idn/variant-tlds/lgr-procedure-20mar13-en…> [PDF, 772 KB] (LGR Procedure). ICANN staff has reviewed the proposal including panel composition and scope, to ensure that requirements set forth in the LGR Procedure <http://www.icann.org/en/resources/idn/variant-tlds/lgr-procedure-20mar13-en…> [PDF, 772 KB], and in particular the criteria set forth in the Call for Generation Panels to Develop Root Zone Label Generation Rules <http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-11jul13-en.htm> , are fulfilled. ICANN would also like to use this opportunity to thank each of the members for offering their time and expertise to volunteer on the Arabic Script Generation Panel. With composition and work plan approved, the Arabic Script Generation Panel will start its work on the label generation rules. According to the LGR Procedure <http://www.icann.org/en/resources/idn/variant-tlds/lgr-procedure-20mar13-en…> [PDF, 772 KB], the starting point of any Generation Panel's work is the maximal set of code points defined by the Integration Panel as well as a set of Default Whole Label Variant Evaluation Rules. The full specification of Generation Panel's tasks can be found in the LGR Procedure <http://www.icann.org/en/resources/idn/variant-tlds/lgr-procedure-20mar13-en…> [PDF, 772 KB] in particular, Section B.3 "Variant Rule Generation Procedure". ICANN will provide a central public location workspace on the project website <https://community.icann.org/display/croscomlgrprocedure/Arabic+Script+GP> where Arabic Script Generation Panel composition, work plan updates, public reports, contact details, and any other relevant information will be included. As a reminder, and to highlight the importance of script community involvement required in the development of the IDN Root Zone LGR, we would like to reiterate the Call for Generation Panels to Develop Root Zone Label Generation Rules <http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-11jul13-en.htm> . A successful development of the IDN Root Zone LGR depends on having Generation Panels for each script represented in the Root Zone. In the first stages of the IDN Root Zone LGR development and in addition to ongoing efforts with the Arabic script, Generation Panel formation is expected to cover following scripts: Hebrew, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Cyrillic, Greek, Latin, Bengali, Devanagari, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Sinhala, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, and Georgian (i.e., scripts represented in existing applications from both New gTLD and IDN ccTLD Programs). For further information on how to form a Generation Panel or to express individual or group statements of interest for the establishment of a Generation Panel, please refer to the Call for Generation Panels to Develop Root Zone Label Generation Rules <http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-11jul13-en.htm> and to the additional supporting documentation provided on the Root Zone LGR Project website <https://community.icann.org/display/croscomlgrprocedure/Root+Zone+LGR+Proje…> .

1 0

[Blog Post] Updates on the Task Force on Arabic Script IDNs (TF-AIDN) | أخر مستجدات مجموعة عمل اسماء نطاقات النص العربي
by Fahd Batayneh Feb. 4, 2014

Feb. 4, 2014

(sorry for cross posting) All, A blog post talking about some updates on the Task Force on Arabic Script IDNs (TF-AIDN). Arabic è http://blog.icann.org/2014/02/updates-on-the-task-force-on-arabic-script-idn s-tf-aidn/ English è http://blog.icann.org/2014/02/%D8%A3%D8%AE%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%AC%D8 %AF%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%85%D8%AC%D9%85%D9%88%D8%B9%D8%A9-%D8%B9%D9%85%D9%84-%D8% A7%D8%B3%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D9%86%D8%B7%D8%A7%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84 / Comments and questions are very welcome. Thank you, Fahd Batayneh ICANN

1 0

Update on the TF-AIDN
by Fahd Batayneh Jan. 29, 2014

Jan. 29, 2014

Friends and Colleagues, The Task Force on Arabic Script IDNs (TF-AIDN) submitted to ICANN last week the "Arabic Script Generation Panel (GP) Document" as part of the Variant IDN Project (VIP). The Arabic script community is the only linguistic community to submit a GP document as shown at https://community.icann.org/display/croscomlgrprocedure/Project+Status+Updat es. After the submission, members of the TF-AIDN were in consensus that it would be wise to provide access to the document and request feedback from the IDN community at-large, and so ICANN obliged to this request. The above website was updated accordingly to provide access to the document and announce the call for feedback. Please disseminate the message across your networks and relevant contacts. The deadline for receiving any feedback is February 12. As a final remark, ICANN tweeted about this from its main Twitter feed (#ICANN) as shown at https://twitter.com/ICANN/status/426211436562370560. Thank you, Fahd Batayneh ICANN

5 7

Public Review: UTS #46, Unicode IDNA Compatibility Processing
by Asmus Freytag Jan. 20, 2014

Jan. 20, 2014

FYI, in case anyone is interested and not already on a Unicode mailing list. A./ -------- Original Message -------- Subject: PRI #264, UTS #46, Unicode IDNA Compatibility Processing Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2014 13:08:02 -0800 From: <announcements(a)unicode.org> Reply-To: <root(a)unicode.org> To: <announcements(a)unicode.org> This UTS is being updated to synchronize with Unicode 7.0. The text is now open for public review, and the UTC is seeking feedback. Please see the PRI page for details and instructions on how to review this issue and provide comments: http://www.unicode.org/review/pri264/ http://unicode-inc.blogspot.com/2014/01/pri-264-uts-46-unicode-idna.html ----

1 0

Root Zone LGR Project - Community Wiki Workspace
by Nicoleta M. Munteanu Nov. 19, 2013

Nov. 19, 2013

Dear Colleagues, This email is to notify you about the latest available tools and documentation for the implementation of the Procedure to Develop and Maintain the Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone in Respect of IDNA Labels<http://www.icann.org/en/resources/idn/variant-tlds/lgr-procedure-20mar13-en…> (the Procedure). Following the establishment of the Integration Panel<http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-06sep13-en.htm> and the Call for Generation Panels to Develop Root Zone Label Generation Rules<http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-11jul13-en.htm>, the IDN Variant Program team launched the Root Zone LGR Project Workspace<https://community.icann.org/display/croscomlgrprocedure/Root+Zone+LGR+Proje…> available on the ICANN Community Wiki space. This workspace provides information on the Procedure, additional setup guidelines for the Integration and Generation Panels, work status updates, reports, panel memberships, and contact information, etc. The workspace will be maintained by ICANN staff and will be regularly updated with work status developments provided by formed Panels. The most recent publications of the project included in this workspace are the following two documents, Setting up and Running an Integration Panel<https://community.icann.org/download/attachments/42730820/Setting%20up%20an…> and Setting up and Running a Generation Panel<https://community.icann.org/download/attachments/42730830/Setting%20up%20an…>, prepared by ICANN project team to augment the Procedure by providing an overview of the tasks, organization, composition, etc. of the Panels. We hope you will find this information helpful and remain available for additional information. Kind regards, IDN Variant Program Team ICANN

1 0

FW: ICANN News Alert -- Call for Subject Matter Experts for the IDN Root Zone LGR Integration Panel and Advisors to All Panels
by Naela Sarras Aug. 5, 2013

Aug. 5, 2013

Dear colleagues, Please see announcement below the call for SMEs for the IDN Root LGR Integration Panel and Advisors. Best regards, Naela From: ICANN News Alert <communications(a)icann.org> Date: Thursday, June 6, 2013 7:53 PM To: Naela Sarras <naela.sarras(a)icann.org> Subject: ICANN News Alert -- Call for Subject Matter Experts for the IDN Root Zone LGR Integration Panel and Advisors to All Panels ICANN News Alert <http://www.icann.org/> News Alert http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-3-06jun13-en.htm Call for Subject Matter Experts for the IDN Root Zone LGR Integration Panel and Advisors to All Panels 6 June 2013 Today, ICANN's IDN Variant TLD Program <http://www.icann.org/en/resources/idn/variant-tlds> moves forward with initiating the implementation of the IDN Root Zone LGR Procedure by publishing the Call for Subject Matter Experts for the IDN Root Zone LGR Integration Panel <http://www.icann.org/en/resources/idn/variant-tlds/experts-lgr-integration- panel-06jun13-en.pdf> [PDF, 168 KB] and Call for Advisors to the IDN Root Zone LGR Panels <http://www.icann.org/en/resources/idn/variant-tlds/advisors-lgr-panels-06ju n13-en.pdf> [PDF, 164 KB]. The IDN Root Zone LGR implementation project will undertake work to develop the rules that identify the valid repertoire of code points for IDN TLDs, as well as the rules for identifying and possibly delegating any IDN variant TLDs. The work is carried out as specified in the "Procedure to Develop and Maintain the Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone in Respect of IDNA Labels <http://www.icann.org/en/resources/idn/variant-tlds/draft-lgr-procedure-20ma r13-en.pdf> " [PDF, 1.39 MB] (Procedure) and involves an Integration Panel, (to be staffed by paid experts), a set of Advisors to all Panels (formed of paid consultants, volunteers, or ICANN staff), and a set of Generation Panels (consisting of volunteers). The latter are subject to a separate call. Successful development of the IDN Root Zone LGR depends on having Integration Panel members with the right skills to perform the substantive work. Therefore ICANN is soliciting the participation of subject matter experts to serve on the Integration Panel and advisors to the Integration and Generation Panels. The Integration Panel will be comprised of a small number of technical experts in the following areas: DNS, IDNA, Unicode, and linguistics. The Call for Subject Matter Experts for the IDN Root Zone LGR Integration Panel <http://www.icann.org/en/resources/idn/variant-tlds/experts-lgr-integration- panel-06jun13-en.pdf> [PDF, 168 KB] describes the details of expertise needed, as well as the expert selection process. The Call for Advisors to the IDN Root Zone LGR Panels <http://www.icann.org/en/resources/idn/variant-tlds/advisors-lgr-panels-06ju n13-en.pdf> [PDF, 164 KB] describes the desired expertise for advisors and their selection process. Interested experts are invited to submit their CV and an expression of interest statement demonstrating how they meet the qualifications for one or other of the subject matter or advisor expertise areas. Expressions of interest should be sent to idnvarianttlds(a)icann.org no later than 27 June 2013. This message was sent to naela.sarras(a)icann.org from: ICANN | 12025 Waterfront Drive Suite 300 | Los Angeles, CA 90094-2536 Email Marketing by <http://www.icontact.com/a.pl/144186> Manage Your Subscription <http://app.icontact.com/icp/mmail-mprofile.pl?r=9827450&l=6333&s=2E94&m=913 982&c=165637>

2 1

Invitation to Webinar: Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) Variant TLD Program Update
by Nicoleta M. Munteanu June 19, 2013

June 19, 2013

Date: 27 June 2013 Time: 23:00 – 00:00 UTC Adobe Connect: http://icann.adobeconnect.com/idnvarianttld Dear Colleagues, The IDN Variant Program team invites you to join us for an IDN Variant TLDProgram Update Webinar. Details are available in the Webinar announcement at: http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-13jun13-en.htm We are looking forward to your participation. IDN Variant Program Team ICANN

1 0

Re: [vip] IDN Variant TLD program - Risk Analysis Studies
by Pascal Bekono June 11, 2013

June 11, 2013

Dear Naela, Thanks for sharing this interesting report. Is there a page in the plateforme of ICANN where people can post comments concerning this report ? regards, ~pascal 2013/6/6, vip-request(a)icann.org <vip-request(a)icann.org>: > Send vip mailing list submissions to > vip(a)icann.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > https://mm.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/vip > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > vip-request(a)icann.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > vip-owner(a)icann.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of vip digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. IDN Variant TLD program - Risk Analysis Studies (Naela Sarras) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Wed, 5 Jun 2013 17:01:53 -0700 > From: Naela Sarras <naela.sarras(a)icann.org> > Subject: [vip] IDN Variant TLD program - Risk Analysis Studies > To: "vip(a)icann.org" <vip(a)icann.org> > Cc: Cyrus Namazi <cyrus.namazi(a)icann.org> > Message-ID: <CDD51F81.1E56F%naela.sarras(a)icann.org> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > Dear colleagues, > > In the last few months, a member of the ICANN community raised concerns > about risks inherent in the delegation of IDNs ? particularly IDN variant > TLDs ? with emphasis on the risks of delegating IDN TLDs before the > completion of ICANN?s ongoing IDN Variant TLD Project or wider experience > of > IDN deployment in other domains. > > As part of its on-going work to assess risks and risk mitigation > strategies, > ICANN commissioned an expert study to evaluate these concerns within > specific terms of reference. > > The expert study identified ten risks, rated on probability of occurrence > (high, medium, low and near zero), severity if it does happen (high, > medium, > low) and the type of risk represented (security and stability, user > experience, and legal). > > A key conclusion from the expert study is the following: ?None of these > risks are very likely to come to pass, but some are moderately likely. All > risks that have a high severity are of low risk of happening.? > > The report is attached and also available on the ICANN IDN Variant TLD > Program Reports > <http://www.icann.org/en/resources/idn/variant-tlds/reports> > page. > > > Best regards, > > Naela Sarras > Manager, IDN TLDs > Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) > > > > >

2 1

Re: [vip] IDN Variant 101 Training
by Pascal Bekono June 11, 2013

June 11, 2013

Hello Dennis C., This is a good idea. Pleasen have you drafted a planning for trainings ? Thanks, Pascal 2013/6/8, vip-request(a)icann.org <vip-request(a)icann.org>: > Send vip mailing list submissions to > vip(a)icann.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > https://mm.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/vip > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > vip-request(a)icann.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > vip-owner(a)icann.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of vip digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. IDN Variant 101 Training (Dennis Chang) > 2. Canceled: IDN Variant 101 Training (Dennis Chang) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Fri, 7 Jun 2013 10:37:00 -0700 > From: Dennis Chang <dennis.chang(a)icann.org> > Subject: [vip] IDN Variant 101 Training > To: "p7vip(a)icann.org" <p7vip(a)icann.org>, "vip(a)icann.org" > <vip(a)icann.org>, "p2vip(a)icann.org" <p2vip(a)icann.org> > Message-ID: > <BDBCC21442A22640A4ECE2C75A8E215AA7E9F2AF2F(a)EXVPMBX100-1.exc.icann.org> > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > IDN Teams, > > Per request from many of the our new team members, > IDN Program is providing a special training session on fundamentals of > IDN Variants. > > IDN Variant 101: No prerequisite required. > > Please forward this invitation to others who may benefit from the knowledge > of IDN Variant. > Please accept the invitation if you are attending so that I can get a head > count for lunch. > > Thanks > Dennis > >

3 3

Canceled: IDN Variant 101 Training
by Dennis Chang June 8, 2013

June 8, 2013

IDN Teams, Per request from many of the our new team members, IDN Program is providing a special training session on fundamentals of IDN Variants. IDN Variant 101: No prerequisite required. Please forward this invitation to others who may benefit from the knowledge of IDN Variant. Please accept the invitation if you are attending so that I can get a head count for lunch. Thanks Dennis

2 1

IDN Variant 101 Training
by Dennis Chang June 7, 2013

June 7, 2013

IDN Teams, Per request from many of the our new team members, IDN Program is providing a special training session on fundamentals of IDN Variants. IDN Variant 101: No prerequisite required. Please forward this invitation to others who may benefit from the knowledge of IDN Variant. Please accept the invitation if you are attending so that I can get a head count for lunch. Thanks Dennis

1 0

IDN Variant TLD program - Risk Analysis Studies
by Naela Sarras June 6, 2013

June 6, 2013

Dear colleagues, In the last few months, a member of the ICANN community raised concerns about risks inherent in the delegation of IDNs particularly IDN variant TLDs with emphasis on the risks of delegating IDN TLDs before the completion of ICANN¹s ongoing IDN Variant TLD Project or wider experience of IDN deployment in other domains. As part of its on-going work to assess risks and risk mitigation strategies, ICANN commissioned an expert study to evaluate these concerns within specific terms of reference. The expert study identified ten risks, rated on probability of occurrence (high, medium, low and near zero), severity if it does happen (high, medium, low) and the type of risk represented (security and stability, user experience, and legal). A key conclusion from the expert study is the following: ³None of these risks are very likely to come to pass, but some are moderately likely. All risks that have a high severity are of low risk of happening.² The report is attached and also available on the ICANN IDN Variant TLD Program Reports <http://www.icann.org/en/resources/idn/variant-tlds/reports> page. Best regards, Naela Sarras Manager, IDN TLDs Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)

1 0

IDN Variant TLD Program - Conclusion of Third Phase
by Francisco Arias March 31, 2013

March 31, 2013

Colleagues, The announcement regarding the conclusion of the third phase of the Program has been published. The messages includes the Root LGR Procedure and the User Experience Study that were developed as part of this third (out of four) phase. http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-3-21mar13-en.htm Regards, __ Francisco.

2 1

APRALO Multistakeholder Policy Roundtable on Community Readiness for IDN Variants TLD
by Rinalia Abdul Rahim March 20, 2013

March 20, 2013

Dear At-Large IDN Working Group, Root LGR Project Team and VIP Team, APRALO is organizing a Multistakeholder Policy Roundtable in Beijing that focuses on 2 topics. One of them is on community readiness for IDN Variant TLDs (see program attached and pasted below - Policy Roundtable II). You are all invited to attend and I do hope to see you there or at least on adobe connect participating remotely. Best regards, Rinalia Abdul Rahim Co-Chair, APRALO Beijing Organizing Committee Vice Chair, At-Large IDN Working Group Executive Committee, ALAC ---- *APRALO Multistakeholder Policy Roundtable * *@ ICANN 46 [Beijing, PRC]* Date: 8 April 2013 (Monday) Time: 17:00-19:00 Meeting Room: Function Room 6 ICANN’s new generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) Program will bring a dramatic expansion of the Top Level Domain Space where 1930 new gTLD applications have been received. 303 (15.7%) of the new gTLD applications are from the Asia Pacific region and 100 (86%) of the new gTLD applications for Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) are for the languages of the Asia Pacific region. The APRALO Multistakeholder Policy Roundtable in Beijing will feature discussions on two thematic areas related to the new gTLDs with an emphasis on issues of concern to the end user and the public interest. [17:00-18:00] Policy Roundtable I - End User Protection with New gTLDs [18:00-19:00] Policy Roundtable II - Community Readiness for IDN Variant TLDs *Policy Roundtable I **[17:00-18:00]*** Theme: New gTLDs and Implications for the Asian-Australasian-Pacific Region Topic: End User Protection with New gTLDs Discussion Questions: 1. How can end users be best protected in the event that new gTLDs fail or are unsustainable? 2. What are the issues associated with turning applicant commitments into contractual obligations? 3. What are the issues related to the enforceability of contractual obligations and what recommendations should be made regarding the scaling up of ICANN compliance? Co-Chair: Rinalia Abdul Rahim (ALAC Executive Committee Member, Asia Pacific Region) & Holly Raiche (Chair, APRALO) *Lead Discussants:* 1. End User – Jeremy Malcolm (Senior Policy Officer, Consumers International) 2. Government – Peter Nettlefold (Vice Chair, ICANN Governmental Advisory Committee & GAC Lead on New gTLDs) 3. Business – Zahid Jamil (Executive Committee Member, ICANN Business Constituency & Member, GNSO Council) 4. ICANN Compliance - Maguy Serad (Vice President, ICANN Contractual Compliance Services) Participation: This roundtable is open. Members of the following ICANN community are especially invited to attend - ICANN At-Large community, ICANN Advisory Committees, ICANN Supporting Organizations, ICANN Board, ICANN Legal & Law Enforcement. * * *Policy Roundtable II **[18:00-19:00]*** Theme: Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) and Implications for the Asian-Australasian-Pacific region. Topic: Community Readiness for IDN Variant Top Level Domains (TLDs) Discussion Questions: 1. Will the introduction of IDN Variant TLDs de-stabilize the Internet and undermine its security? 2. What is the level of readiness among language communities already active in ICANN in forming “Generation Panels” to propose script character repertoires and variant rules for the Root Zone that will enable variant IDN TLDs? What are the key issues in moving forward? 3. How can the readiness of language communities not yet active in ICANN be supported? Co-Chair: Rinalia Abdul Rahim (ALAC Executive Committee Member, Asia Pacific Region) & Holly Raiche (Chair, APRALO) Moderator: Edmon Chung (Chair, At-Large IDN Working Group & At-Large IDN Policy Liaison) * * *Discussants:* · Arabic Script - *Sarmad* Hussain (Al-Khawarizmi Institute of Computer Science, Pakistan) · Chinese Script – Wang Wei (China Domain Name Consortium) · Indic Script - Ram Mohan (Afilias) · Japanese Script – Hiro Hotta / Yoshiro Yonaya (Japan Registry Services) *· **Khmer Script - Norbert Klein (Internet Society Cambodia) *** *· *Korean Script - *Young*-*eum Lee (Korea National Open University)* ** *· **Sinhala Script - *Harsha Wijayawardhana (Internet Society Sri Lanka) ** · *ICANN Security and Stability Advisory Committee - *Jim Galvin (Deputy Chair, SSAC) Participation: This roundtable is open. Members of the following ICANN community are especially invited to attend - ICANN At-Large community, ICANN Variant Implementation Program Team, ICANN IDNA Root Label Generation Project Team Members, ICANN Advisory Committees, ICANN Supporting Organizations, ICANN Board.

1 0

Reminder: Webinar: IDN Variant: Examining the User Experience Implication of the Active Variant TLDs
by Dennis Chang Feb. 12, 2013

Feb. 12, 2013

Dear IDN Colleagues, This is a friendly reminder for our first IDN Webinar tomorrow. Date: 13 February 2013 Time: 13:00 – 14:50 UTC (5:00am – 6:30am PST) Adobe Connect: http://icann.adobeconnect.com/idnvarianttld/ Dial In: 1-800-550-6865 or 1-213-233-3193 International numbers available here (http://adigo.com/icann/) Meeting ID: 46389 The purpose of the project is to gain an understanding of issues that could arise from activating IDN Variant TLDs and offer recommendations to users to avoid such issues. Examples of user roles that have been identified include registrants, registrars, registry operators, system administrators, network operators, application developers, and end users. Project team has published for public comment the Draft Final Report for Examining the User Experience Implications of Active Variant TLDs and is seeking to establish a dialog with the community to refine proposed principles, impacts and recommendations of the study. This webinar is offered to complement that process both by presenting the key concepts and gathering user input. Webinar invitation: http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-01feb13-en.htm We look forward to your participation. Kind Regards, Dennis Chang Executive Program Management Consultant dennis.chang(a)icann.org 213-293-7889 Skype: dennisschang

1 0

Invitation to Webinar: Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) Variant: Examining the User Experience Implication of the Active Variant TLDs
by Dennis Chang Feb. 2, 2013

Feb. 2, 2013

Date: 13 February 2013 Time: 13:00 – 14:50 UTC (5:00am – 6:30am PST) Adobe Connect: http://icann.adobeconnect.com/idnvarianttld/ Dial In: 1-800-550-6865 or 1-213-233-3193 International numbers available here (http://adigo.com/icann/) Meeting ID: 46389 Dear IDN Community, IDN Team invites you to attend a Webinar: Examining the User Experience Implications of Active Variant TLDs Project (P6). The purpose of the project is to gain an understanding of issues that could arise from activating IDN Variant TLDs and offer recommendations to users to avoid such issues. Examples of user roles that have been identified include registrants, registrars, registry operators, system administrators, network operators, application developers, and end users. Project team has published for public comment the Draft Final Report for Examining the User Experience Implications of Active Variant TLDs and is seeking to establish a dialog with the community to refine proposed principles, impacts and recommendations of the study. This webinar is offered to complement that process both by presenting the key concepts and gathering user input. http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-01feb13-en.htm The IDN Variant TLDs Program team is looking forward to your participation. Kind Regards, Dennis Chang Executive Program Management Consultant dennis.chang(a)icann.org 213-293-7889 Skype: dennisschang

1 0

Public comment Open for User Experience Implication of Active Variant TLDs
by Dennis Chang Jan. 22, 2013

Jan. 22, 2013

Dear Colleagues of the IDN Variant Program, The IDN Variant P6 team opened a public comment period for the final draft report "Examining the User Experience Implications of Active Variant TLDs". http://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/variant-ux-18jan13-en.htm We look forward to hearing from you. Thank you all for your support of the IDN Variant Program, Dennis Chang Executive Program Management Consultant dennis.chang(a)icann.org 213-293-7889 Skype: dennisschang -----Original Message----- From: Nicole Davenport via RT [mailto:web-admin@icann.org] Sent: Friday, January 18, 2013 17:21 To: Dennis Chang Subject: [iticket #64719] [COMPLETED] Public comment open request Hi Dennis, The Public Comment materials have been published: http://www.icann.org/ http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-18jan13-en.htm http://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment http://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/variant-ux-18jan13-en.htm http://www.icann.org/en/resources/idn/variant-active-ux-18jan13-en.pdf Best, Nicole On Fri Jan 18 15:26:53 2013, dennis.chang wrote: > Please post today > > > > Kind Regards, > > Dennis Chang > > Executive Program Management Consultant > > dennis.chang(a)icann.org > > 213-293-7889 > > Skype: dennisschang > > > > From: Steve Sheng > Sent: Friday, January 18, 2013 2:56 PM > To: Francisco Arias; Dennis Chang > Subject: Re: FOR PUBLICATION APPROVAL: Draft final report examining > user experience implications for IDN Variant TLDs > > > > Please use this version. > > > > Kind regards, > > Steve > > > > From: Francisco Arias <francisco.arias(a)icann.org> > Date: Friday, January 18, 2013 2:51 PM > To: Dennis Chang <dennis.chang(a)icann.org> > Cc: Steve Sheng <steve.sheng(a)icann.org> > Subject: Re: FOR PUBLICATION APPROVAL: Draft final report examining > user experience implications for IDN Variant TLDs > > > > Dennis, > > > > Please go ahead and publish the report for public comment. > > > > __ > > > > Francisco. > > > > > > On 1/18/13 2:06 PM, "Dennis Chang" <dennis.chang(a)icann.org> wrote: > > > > OK to post or wait? > > > > Kind Regards, > > Dennis Chang > > Executive Program Management Consultant > > dennis.chang(a)icann.org > > 213-293-7889 > > Skype: dennisschang > > > > From: Francisco Arias > Sent: Friday, January 18, 2013 12:46 PM > To: Dennis Chang > Cc: Steve Sheng > Subject: Re: FOR PUBLICATION APPROVAL: Draft final report examining > user experience implications for IDN Variant TLDs > > > > Hi Dennis, > > > > Steve, Karen and I are talking about a potential issue. Please wait > until > 14:00 when we finish a meeting to confirm we are ready for > publication. I think we will, but just to be sure. > > > > __ > > > > Francisco. > > > > > > On 1/18/13 12:19 PM, "Dennis Chang" <dennis.chang(a)icann.org> wrote: > > > > Thanks > > I'll get it posted today. > > Dennis > > > > > On Jan 18, 2013, at 11:32 AM, "Denise Michel" > <denise.michel(a)icann.org> > wrote: > > This looks good and is approved for posting. > > > > Thanks > > > > > Denise Michel > > VP Strategic Initiatives > > & Advisor to the President > ICANN > denise.michel(a)icann.org > +1.408.429.3072 mobile > +1.310.578.8632 direct > denisemichelicann skype > > > > On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 8:17 AM, Steve Sheng <steve.sheng(a)icann.org> wrote: > > Dear Denise, > > > > Attached for your approval, please find the 18 January report > examining the user experience implications for variant TLDs. We are > planning to open a 21-day public comment on this report, followed by a 21 > day reply period. > > > > To better understand and address challenges surrounding the > potential delegation of IDN variant TLDs. This report: > > > > 1) summarizes and compares, from a user experience and registry > management perspective, variant practices in several ccTLD registries; > > > > 2) proposes a set of guiding principles to define an acceptable > user experience; > > > > 3) identifies how various users communities (e.g., end users, > system/network administrators, application developers, registrants, > registrars and registries) will be impacted by active variant > top-level domains, and > > > > 4) based on 1, 2, and 3, proposes a set of recommendations to > ensure the security, stability and acceptable user experience for > active variant top-level internationalized domains. > > > > The latest draft report improves the following way from the interim report: > > > > * Incorporated community feedback (through public comment), technical > expert feedback, and additional input provided by Arabic registries, > Devanagari registries, and Chinese registries. > * Included a recommendation section that proposes a set of > recommendations and guidelines for the introduction of IDN variant > TLDs > > I have already given the BV-WG a one week notice (ending today). So > with both your approval, and BV-WG feedback, this report is ready for > public. > > > > Kind regards, > > Steve > > >

1 0

Second draft of the root LGR procedure for public comment
by Francisco Arias Dec. 7, 2012

Dec. 7, 2012

Colleagues, This to let you know that the second version of the document is up for public comment now at: http://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/lgr-procedure-07dec12-en.htm Regards, __ Francisco.

1 0

FOR COMMENT: Interim Report Examining User Experience Implication of Active Variants
by Steve Sheng Oct. 25, 2012

Oct. 25, 2012

Dear VIP colleagues, This is an invitation to comment on the recently published interim report examining user experience implications of active variants. To better understand and address the challenges surrounding the activation of variant internationalized top-level domains (IDNs), this interim report: 1) summarizes and compares, from a user experience and registry management perspective, variant practices in several ccTLD registries, 2) proposes a set of guiding principles to define an acceptable user experience, and 3) identifies how various user communities (e.g., end users, system/network administrators, application developers, registrants, registrars and registries) will be impacted by active variant top-level domains. The interim report is published for public comment thirty (30) days (plus 21-day reply period) and is to be followed by the final report, to be published within ninety (90) days after the closure of the public comment forum. The final report will incorporate the community input with proposed guidelines and recommendations for active variant TLDs. Details of the report and how to comment are listed below: http://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/interim-variant-ux-23oct12-en.h tm Kind regards, Steve Sheng ICANN

1 0

IDN Variant TLD Program - Procedure to Develop and Maintain the Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone in Respect of IDNA Labels
by Francisco Arias Sept. 25, 2012

Sept. 25, 2012

Colleagues, ICANN has published the first version for public comment of the proposed LGR process for the root. Note that a second public comment period is planned by November 2012. Your input on the proposed process and the principles that support it are more than welcome: http://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/lgr-procedure-24sep12-en.htm Regards, __ Francisco Arias gTLD Registry Technical Liaison ICANN On 9/25/12 10:40 AM, "ICANN News Alert" <communications(a)icann.org<mailto:communications@icann.org>> wrote: News Alert http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-3-24sep12-en.htm ________________________________ IDN Variant TLD Program – Procedure to Develop and Maintain the Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone in Respect of IDNA Labels 24 September 2012 Forum Announcement: Comment Period Opens on Date: 24 September 2012 Categories/Tags: Top-Level Domains Purpose (Brief): The Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) Variant TLD Program deals with the variant form of top-level domain (TLD) names in different scripts. To enable IDN Variant TLDs in the root, it is necessary to establish the Label Generation Rules (LGR) for the DNS Root Zone. The Label Generation Rules Process is a way to develop and maintain the Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone in respect of IDNA labels. The process must be in place to enable the delegation and management of IDN Variant TLDs. The Label Generation Rules (LGR) Process project team, consisting of global volunteers with expert consultants and ICANN staff, has produced the first public draft of the LGR Process document. The team now seeks community input on the proposed process and the principles that support it. The Label Generation Rules (LGR) Process document will be discussed at a public session at the ICANN meeting in Toronto in October 2012. The session schedule will be available at ICANN Toronto Meeting Website<http://toronto45.icann.org/full-schedule>. Comments received in this Public Comment period as well as community feedback during the Toronto meeting will be incorporated into the final draft and published for second round of Public Comment in November 2012. Public Comment Box Link: http://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/lgr-procedure-24sep12-en.htm

1 0

IDN Variant TLD Program Update
by Francisco Arias Aug. 24, 2012

Aug. 24, 2012

Dear colleagues, The below announcement may be of interest for you. We plan to post periodic updates to this list, but also note that the rootLGR mailing list, though closed-posting, has its archives open at: http://mm.icann.org/pipermail/rootlgr/ Regards, __ Francisco Arias gTLD Registry Technical Liaison ICANN >ICANN News Alert > >http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-23aug12-en.htm > >____________________________________ > > >IDN Variant TLD Program Update > >23 August 2012 > >The IDN Variant TLD Program has the following two updates: > > I. Volunteer Team formed to assist the development of the Label >Generation Ruleset Process for the Domain Name System (DNS) Root Zone > > ICANN is pleased to announce the formation of a global volunteer >team, comprised of community experts, who will work with ICANN on the >project to define the Label Generation Ruleset Process for the DNS root >zone. This project is part of the IDN Variant TLD Program (see below) that >is intended to lead to the delegation of IDN Variant TLDs. Delegation of >these types of IDN TLDs is expected to broaden global participation in the >domain name system, but must be accomplished in a way that ensures good >user experience. > > This particular project will develop the process to define >allowed >code points, corresponding exchangeable variant code points, and related >allowed states for IDN Variant TLDs. > > The project requires significant technical expertise and the >individual members of the volunteer team (listed below) possess >capabilities in IDNA, Domain Name System, Linguistics, Unicode and Policy >Development. > > The volunteer team will undertake the work through periodic >teleconference calls and two face-to-face meetings. The first meeting will >be on 29-30 August 2012 in Los Angeles, United States. The second two-day >working session is planned during the ICANN meeting in Toronto, Canada. >There will be an open public session in the Toronto meeting at which ICANN >staff and volunteer team representatives will present an update on the >progress and answer questions. > > The volunteer team is comprised of the following members from 18 >countries and territories: > > Fahd A. Batayneh > Chris Dillon > Neha Gupta > Sarmad Hussain > Akshat Joshi > Daniel Kalchev > Yoav Keren > Dmitry Kohmanyuk > Mahesh Kulkarni > Nadya Morozova > Panagiotis Papaspiliopoulos > Alireza Saleh > Vaggelis Segredakis > James Seng > Vladimir Shadrunov > Syed Iftikhar H. Shah > Will Shorter > Alexei Sozonov > Mirjana Tasic > Joseph Yee > Yoshiro Yoneya > Zhoucai (Joe) Zhang > Linlin Zhou > > Team Observers: > Rinalia Abdul Rahim > Edmon Chung > Raymond Doctor > > II. Updated IDN Variant TLD Program posted > > ICANN has updated the IDN Variant TLD Program Plan ( >http://www.icann.org/en/resources/idn/idn-variant-tld-updated-plan-23aug12 >-en.pdf) >that describes the projects that are intended to lead to the delegation of >IDN variant TLDs. The plan defines the processes that must be in place to >enable the delegation and management of IDN Variant TLDs. > > Two previous versions of the plan have been posted for public >comment ( >http://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/idn-variant-tld-revised-progra >m-plan-04may12-en.htm) >and discussed with the community during the ICANN meeting in Costa Rica in >March 2012. This latest version reflects the latest public input. > > The Program follows on from the IDN Variant Issues Project that >completed its work with the publication of the final Integrated Issues >Report ( >http://www.icann.org/en/resources/idn/idn-vip-integrated-issues-final-clea >n-20feb12-en.pdf) >on 20 February 2012. > > Interested members of the community can receive updates and >participate in the discussion of the variant work by subscribing to the >vip(a)icann.org mailing list (https://mm.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/vip) or >by visiting the Community Wiki at: >https://community.icann.org/display/VIP/

1 0

(no subject)
by JFC Morfin Aug. 24, 2012

Aug. 24, 2012

http://www.icann.org/en/resources/idn/idn-variant-tld-updated-plan-23aug12-… Just wanted to know if this list was still active as the one for the concerns above or should I subscribe somewhere else? Best jfc

1 0

FW: Seeking Your Comments on .com IDNs
by Fahd Batayneh July 1, 2012

July 1, 2012

FYI… This discussion was initiated by Dr. Abdul-Aziz Al-Zoman of .sa on several mailing lists. Discussions have been extensive these past couple of days on the APTLD Members mailing list. Fahd A. Batayneh From: Seo, June [mailto:jseo@verisign.com] Sent: Sunday, July 01, 2012 3:31 AM To: Seo, June Cc: Fahd Batayneh; member(a)aptld.org Subject: Re: Seeking Your Comments on .com IDNs Just for clarifications, Fahd. ICANN, in principle, is a community based organization and the community consists of very diverse stakeholder groups. Verisign's outreach efforts on various groups have been to seek their feedbacks, and I would not agree with your suggestion that we must exclude certain groups like GAC. In addition, while Verisign is willing to, as it always has been, listen to various community feedbacks and concerns, and address those in a balanced way, I would not agree with you that new gTLD applications are to be a consensus building process with particular expert groups, ccTLD registries and even ICANN staff as you suggested below. June On Jul 1, 2012, at 8:06 AM, "Seo, June" <jseo(a)verisign.com<mailto:jseo@verisign.com>> wrote: Noted your points. As I mentioned below in my response, we’ve outreached not only ccTLD registries and GAC but also various stakeholder groups/IDN experts in our past IDN Software Developer’s Consortium meetings at least in 3 different occasions. The participants of those meetings also included a number of ICANN staff members. June From: Fahd Batayneh [mailto:Fahd.Batayneh@NITC.gov.jo]<mailto:[mailto:Fahd.Batayneh@NITC.gov.jo]> Sent: Saturday, June 30, 2012 7:59 PM To: Seo, June Cc: member(a)aptld.org<mailto:member@aptld.org> Subject: RE: Seeking Your Comments on .com IDNs Thank you June for a detailed explanation. You mentioned in point 7 – and I will quote - that “These stakeholder groups we’ve outreached and debriefed so far include a number of registrars, GAC members and ccTLD registries (some of them are also on this APTLD mailing list) located in the APAC and Middle East regions as well as some members of IP community participating in various community activities in ICANN.” In my humble opinion, VeriSign Inc. must have outreached those deeply involved in the technicalities of IDNs, and not just GAC and/or ccTLD members. Let us not forgot that each and every one of us understands IDNs to a certain level of expertise. Thus, outreaching GAC members (politicians) must not have been an option, and outreaching ccTLD members (especially those away from the technicalities of running registries) is – again – not the right way to approach. I must say that VeriSign Inc. were aiming IDN bullets at the wrong audience. While I am not against VeriSign Inc. – as a firm - in any of the IDN applications they have submitted, but I think they should have outreached respective communities directly, and they should have contacted IDN experts within these communities. Since ICANN has regional directors, VeriSign Inc. could have reached these communities in cooperation with ICANN regional directors. I think it is still not too late for VeriSign Inc. to address concerns of worried IDN communities – such as the Arabic community and the Chinese community – as means to reach to a mutual consensus on the way forward. Fahd A. Batayneh From: Seo, June [mailto:jseo@verisign.com]<mailto:[mailto:jseo@verisign.com]> Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2012 10:58 PM To: azoman(a)citc.gov.sa<mailto:azoman@citc.gov.sa>; chenting; jonathan.shea(a)hkirc.hk<mailto:jonathan.shea@hkirc.hk>; member(a)aptld.org<mailto:member@aptld.org> Cc: jian(a)aptld.org<mailto:jian@aptld.org>; sec(a)aptld.org<mailto:sec@aptld.org>; azoman(a)citc.gov.sa<mailto:azoman@citc.gov.sa> Subject: RE: RE: Seeking your comments on com-IDNs Dear Dr. Al-Zoman, Thank you again for sharing your concerns in great details. Verisign is keenly aware of the evaluation criteria you highlighted below and highly value them as well. At the same time, we are also very committed to operating as a best-in-class IDN registry as stated in our application by enhancing user experience bridging the current 2nd-level only IDN implementation to the fully internationalized navigation experience while minimizing user confusions and associated security risks as much as possible. I hope the following descriptions on our IDN gTLD approach will help you and other APTLD members understand what Verisign is planning on with those IDN gTLDs being applied for in conjunction with the existing .COM name space. 1. Name Space Relationship Between “.COM” and “Transliterations of .COM” as IDN gTLDs All .COM transliterations being applied for by Verisign won’t be really independent new domain space but resolution capabilities of a single registration. Only the current and future registrants of domain names in the .COM name space will be allowed to turn on (or activate) the transliterations of .COM as a resolution feature complimentary/supplementary to the exiting .COM. 2. Benefits to the Brand Owners As Verisign will allow only .COM registrants to activate the transliterations of .COM and won’t allow any 3rd party registrations directly in the transliterations of .COM name spaces independent of the .COM, this will bring great benefits to brand owners. For example, only the registrant of “Nike.com” (illustration purpose only as an example) will be allowed to turn on “Nike.<.COM Transliterations>.” This means brand owners, as .COM registrants, will have their interests already protected as no one else will be able to register “Nike.<.COM Transliterations>” as brand new domain names independent of “Nike.com.” A brand owner for any single .com registration regardless of script will be the only one that can activate the resolution in the DNS for a subsequent COM transliteration. For those brand owners who do not have 2nd-level domain names registered under .COM and feel their brands and intellectual properties infringed or compromised by someone else will have to pursue dispute resolutions only in one TLD space of .COM, instead of every single one of the 10 .COMs (.COM plus 9 transliterations of .COM). The same principle and benefits will also apply in the 3 transliterations of .NET in conjunction with .NET. 3. Enhanced Usability with Least Confusability As “Nike.com” and “Nike.<.COM Transliterations>” (again illustration purpose only in using the Nike example here) will belong to the single registrant, not to multiple parties as name spaces independent of each other, this will not only enhance usability but also reduce or even eliminate confusability. The end users can append either .COM or a transliteration of .COM to access a Web site being managed by a single party. This allows more user choices in accessing the same domain name by providing them with fully internationalized navigation experience with assurance and confidence not to end up with some other sites they do not intend to reach in use of one of 10 COM sting choices including ASCII. When it comes to bi-directional scripts like Arabic, the end users can type the domain name in one direction all the way through and will be able to reach the same destination under a single registration in .COM. 4. Audible Confusability between .COM and Transliterations of .COM In case a registrant in .COM does not activate a subsequent transliteration of .COM (the right side of the dot/the left side of the dot in Arabic case in IDN) in association with his/her domain name in .COM, the end users may not get to a site when they choose to append a transliterated COM in the Nike example. Yet, the end users at least won’t end up with a site which is not operated by “Nike.com” in this example eliminating the scenario of your concern, for instance, on audible confusability as illustrated in your phone conversation/radio ad examples. Again, Verisign’s approach is designed to address exactly these concerns of potential security or stability risks while it will give more choices to the registrants in .COM by enabling them with friendlier navigation experience for their users while preventing exploitation and unintended use the same domain names by 3rd parties along with internationalized extensions of .COM. 5. User Familiarity of “كوم” (Arabic Transliteration of COM) While “كوم” has no semantic meaning as you pointed out below in your message, our analysis and observation indicate that “كوم” - as a phonetic sound of “COM” in association with each other - is fairly widely being used in business practices and commonly recognized. For example as a data point to support this understanding of ours, a search on Google for the transliteration of COM in Arabic yields over 52 million entries on Arabic web sites. We also have identified a number of high-profile examples and showcases by established brands using “كوم” in association with “COM.” This makes us think that this string choice in Arabic is the natural candidate for the Arabic community and will contribute to enhancing the user experience. If you are interested, I will be happy to share those examples we have found in real business practices with you. 6. Technical Implementation in DNS All resolutions for each of the ten COMs for a single registration will point to the same NS record. The DNAME approach mentioned by Bill constructs maps entire trees and turns on the new gTLD strings for everyone even when they are unwanted. The registration process that is being planned will have a CNAME effect but activated as part of the registration within the same zone. 7. Verisign’s Community Outreach Efforts and Next Steps Verisign already has been outreaching a number of stakeholder groups in the script communities of the internationalized strings being applied for in order to debrief them on our planned approaches and user benefits. These stakeholder groups we’ve outreached and debriefed so far include a number of registrars, GAC members and ccTLD registries (some of them are also on this APTLD mailing list) located in the APAC and Middle East regions as well as some members of IP community participating in various community activities in ICANN. We will be happy to set up an individual meeting to do the same with your organization as well as the GAC members representing Saudi Arabia. Verisign has also publicly shared our IDN gTLD approach described in this message in the past IDN Software Developer’s Consortium meetings at least in 3 different occasions including the ones in Hong Kong in February 2011 around the APTLD/2011 APRICOT event, in San Francisco in March 2011 around the ICANN 40 meeting and in Singapore in June 2011 also around the ICANN 41 meeting, and I believe some of the APTLD members who participated in those IDN SDC meetings have been already debriefed and aware of this. I’ve already volunteered to participate in the WG being formed within the APTLD and look forward to having more discussions. Thanks and Regards, June <image001.gif> June (Jeongjun) Seo / 서정준 / 徐廷準 Director of Account Management & Business Development for APAC jseo(a)Verisign.com<mailto:jseo@Verisign.com> m: US) +1-571-214-5887 t: US) +1-703-948-3245 12061 Bluemont Way Reston, VA 20190 USA VerisignInc.com<http://www.verisigninc.com/> <image002.gif> From: Abdulaziz Al-Zoman [mailto:azoman@citc.gov.sa]<mailto:[mailto:azoman@citc.gov.sa]> Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 3:23 PM To: Seo, June; chenting; jonathan.shea(a)hkirc.hk<mailto:jonathan.shea@hkirc.hk>; member(a)aptld.org<mailto:member@aptld.org> Cc: jian(a)aptld.org<mailto:jian@aptld.org>; sec(a)aptld.org<mailto:sec@aptld.org>; azoman(a)citc.gov.sa<mailto:azoman@citc.gov.sa> Subject: RE: RE: Seeking your comments on com-IDNs Dear June and all, Thanks for your comments ... The user benefits of fully internationalized navigation experience SHOULD NOT be in the cost of user confusability and security. The applied-for IDN gTLD string that are based on Transcription of dot-com (as it is presented in the application file) will cause a very serious users confusion and security (to the Arabic-speaking community). In the ICANN new gTLD Application Guide Book you will find the following texts (these are just examples) to show that string similarity is a Big Concern: Section 1.1.2.5 Page (1-9): "There are two main elements of the Initial Evaluation: 1. String reviews (concerning the applied-for gTLD string). String reviews include a determination that the applied-for gTLD string is not likely to cause security or stability problems in the DNS, including problems caused by similarity to existing TLDs or reserved names. Section 2.2 Page (2-4) 2.2 Initial Evaluation The Initial Evaluation consists of two types of review. Each type is composed of several elements. String review: The first review focuses on the applied-for gTLD string to test: · Whether the applied-for gTLD string is so similar to other strings that it would create a probability of user confusion; · Whether the applied-for gTLD string might adversely affect DNS security or stability; and Section 2.2.1.1 Page 2-5 2.2.1.1 String Similarity Review This review involves a preliminary comparison of each applied-for gTLD string against existing TLDs, Reserved Names (see subsection 2.2.1.2), and other applied-for strings. The objective of this review is to prevent user confusion and loss of confidence in the DNS resulting from delegation of many similar strings. Note: In this Applicant Guidebook, “similar” means strings so similar that they create a probability of user confusion if more than one of the strings is delegated into the root zone. The visual similarity check that occurs during Initial Evaluation is intended to augment the objection and dispute resolution process (see Module 3, Dispute Resolution Procedures) that addresses all types of similarity. This similarity review will be conducted by an independent String Similarity Panel. ----------------------------- عبدالعزيز بن حمد الزومان Abdulaziz H. Al-Zoman From: Seo, June [mailto:jseo@verisign.com]<mailto:[mailto:jseo@verisign.com]> Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 2:49 AM To: chenting; jonathan.shea(a)hkirc.hk<mailto:jonathan.shea@hkirc.hk>; Abdulaziz Al-Zoman; member(a)aptld.org<mailto:member@aptld.org> Cc: jian(a)aptld.org<mailto:jian@aptld.org>; sec(a)aptld.org<mailto:sec@aptld.org> Subject: RE: RE: Seeking your comments on com-IDNs Thank you for all of your comments, suggestions and also sharing your concerns. I second Cherie’s suggestion. Some of the confusability scenarios raised here may not be unique or isolated cases only for IDNs. Depending upon the business rules and the registration policy of the proposing registries, I strongly believe the user benefits of fully internationalized navigation experience (the the right side of the dot or the left side of the dot in Arabic case) would far outweigh some of the potential concerns. Many of the usability issues also can be addressed through market awareness, education and eventually adoption as well as some policy considerations focusing on enhancing user experience by bridging the current 2nd-level only IDN implementations by gTLD registries and some of ccTLDs. Thanks, June From: chenting [mailto:chenting@cnnic.cn] Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 1:03 AM To: jonathan.shea(a)hkirc.hk<mailto:jonathan.shea@hkirc.hk>; azoman(a)citc.gov.sa<mailto:azoman@citc.gov.sa>; member(a)aptld.org<mailto:member@aptld.org> Cc: jian(a)aptld.org<mailto:jian@aptld.org>; sec(a)aptld.org<mailto:sec@aptld.org> Subject: Re: RE: Seeking your comments on com-IDNs Dear Jonathan: We are glad to take this opportunity to forward our community input about new gTLDs. The application of IDN will directly influence the ultimate user experiences of various language communities. Based on our accumulated user experience research result up to now, the Chinese IDN “.com” causes no significant vulnerability and risks to the Internet users. Nevertheless, a more important concern from our part is about the paired delegation of domain names in both simplified and traditional Chinese Characters. In conclusion, considering the diversed demand of different language community, we suggest APTLD may establish a working group to discuss about this topic instead of a rushing conclusion. Many thanks! Cherie 2012-06-27 ________________________________ chenting ________________________________ 发件人： Jonathan Shea 发送时间： 2012-06-26 18:29:42 收件人： 'Abdulaziz Al-Zoman'; member(a)aptld.org<mailto:member@aptld.org> 抄送： jian(a)aptld.org<mailto:jian@aptld.org>; sec(a)aptld.org<mailto:sec@aptld.org> 主题： RE: Seeking your comments on com-IDNs Dear Abdulaziz and APTLD members, Understanding that this particular new gTLD-related issue and potentially more that will be coming are of concern to the APTLD community, I suggest the following process for APTLD to identify and confirm community-wide issues and provide comments to ICANN on behalf of the community 1. Jian Zhang, our GM, will monitor discussions and judge if a particular issue is likely of concern to the many of APTLD members. 2. If an issue is likely community-wide, our GM will draft a comment ASAP for members' review. The draft comment will be circulated via email to APTLD members for comments and feedback within one week. If the draft comment is not by itself onctroversial (e.g. no objections or concerns expressed by many members), this comment will be posted to ICANN by the APTLD Secretariat. Otherwise, that draft comment is likely not valid community-wide and we will not proceed to send it. Of course, it may be possible that after some modifications, a comment which is initially wrong may become valid community-wide. 3. There are no hard-and-fast rules to determine which comment is or is not a valid one for the APTLD community. The GM will decide based on the feedback received from members. So if you do not agree with a draft comment proposed by the GM, you should voice out right away. We will rely on Jian Zhang to start the ball rolling. Also, you should still post comments directly to ICANN while APTLD is doing so. In this particular case, I noted that Abdulaziz has already posted his comment on the new gTLD comment page. Regards, Jonathan Shea HKIRC ________________________________ From: Abdulaziz Al-Zoman [mailto:azoman@citc.gov.sa] Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2012 1:19 AM To: member(a)aptld.org<mailto:member@aptld.org> Subject: Seeking your comments on com-IDNs Dear All, I would like to seek your feedback and comments in the following issue. I think it is going to bring to our (APTLD) user communities some confusion and security risks as it is mainly targeting our languages. There are 12 applied-for IDN gTLD strings by one Applicant who currently operates the .COM gTLD (All of us know it). All the 12 IDN gTLDs are basically Transliteration of "com" in 12 different languages Namely (I hope I will not have problem in displaying correcly all the IDN TLDs): ком קוֹם كوم कॉम नेट คอม コム<http://gtldresult.icann.org/application-result/applicationstatus/viewstatus…> 大拿<http://gtldresult.icann.org/application-result/applicationstatus/viewstatus…> 点看<http://gtldresult.icann.org/application-result/applicationstatus/viewstatus…> 點看<http://gtldresult.icann.org/application-result/applicationstatus/viewstatus…> 닷넷<http://gtldresult.icann.org/application-result/applicationstatus/viewstatus…> 닷컴 Here is my feeling about the danger of approving such TLD (with respect to my Language the Arabic): This applied-for IDN gTLD string (كوم) will cause a very serious users confusion and security. It has no meaning in the Arabic language but rather it is the Transcription (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcription_(linguistics) ) form of the existing gTLD (com) and hence they both possess the same phonetic sound (ˈkɑːm). Therefore, the applied-for IDN gTLD string (كوم) is confusingly similar to an existing TLD (i.e., .com). They (the applied-for and the existing gTLDs) are having similar phonetic sound. This will lead to a serious usability problem that will result in user’s confusability and domain name phishing activities that are considered one of the high security risks in the Internet. Hearing a website address (through for example a phone, radio, etc) that ends with the phonetic sound (ˈkɑːm) by an Arabic-speaking user will cause him/her to bewilder about the correct website whether it’s under the Latin TLD (.com) or the Arabic IDN TLD (.كوم). Thus, it may direct the user to the wrong website. To illustrate this problem consider the following example. An Arabic-speaking user hears a web site address from a local radio station and it sounds like (jɑːˈhuː (dot) ˈkɑːm). He/she will not be able to figure out whether the domain name is : yahoo.com<http://yahoo.com> Or ياهو.كوم (In Arabic it sounds like yahoo.com<http://yahoo.com>) Additionally, cyber-squatters will find the applied-for IDN gTLD string (كوم) a very good playground field for their unlawful activities. Many existing registered domain names under “.com” (there are more than 103 Million domain names as of June 2012 statistics from http://www.dailychanges.com/) will be vulnerable for phishing activities. To illustrate this security problem, cyber-squatters will be able to register IDN domain names that sound similar to the Ascii domain names under ".com", e.g: (All the following Arabic examples sound like the corosponding ascii domains under .com) ياهو.كوم to resemble yahoo.com<http://yahoo.com> قوقل.كوم to resemble google.com<http://google.com> فيسبوك.كوم to resemble facebook.com<http://facebook.com> ساب.كوم to resemble sabb.com<http://sabb.com> (a well know Bank in Saudi Arabia) سامبا.كوم to resemble samba.com<http://samba.com> (a well know Bank in Saudi Arabia) ارامكو.كوم to resemble aramco.com<http://aramco.com> (a well know Oil company) … etc Hence, to protect Arabic-Speaking businesses and users in the cyberspace, I strongly request not to accept this application. I would appeicate hearing from everyone his/her feedback and comments Thanks ----------------------------- عبدالعزيز بن حمد الزومان Abdulaziz H. Al-Zoman ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: This message and its attachment, if any, are confidential and may contain legally privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender immediately and delete this message and its attachment, if any, from your system. You should not copy this message or disclose its contents to any other person or use it for any purpose. Statements and opinions expressed in this e-mail are those of the sender, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC). CITC accepts no liability for damage caused by this email.

1 0

Seeking comment: Project 6: Preliminary Discussion Draft Document for User Experience Implication of active TLDs.
by Dennis Chang June 26, 2012

June 26, 2012

Dear friends and colleagues of the IDN Variant Program, Attached is the draft study proposal for examining the user experience implications of active variant TLDs. Also known as the IDN Project 6. We are sending this out in advance of the ICANN Prague session to facilitate fruitful discussions at the session. We invite you to attend the IDN Variant Program session on Thursday, June 29. 11:00 to 12:30. (Prague time) for a brief of the IDN Variant Program followed by P6 discussion. If you'd like to provide your feed-back via email please write to idnp6(a)icann.org Kind Regards, Dennis Chang Executive Program Management Consultant dennis.chang(a)icann.org 213-293-7889 Skype: dennisschang

6 7

Request for support in Seeking User Experience Expert Consultant
by Dennis Chang June 20, 2012

June 20, 2012

Dear friends and colleagues, The IDN Variant Program team requests your support in recruiting a consultant for our IDN Project 6: Examining the User Experience Implications of Active Variant TLDs Attached is the description for the role and application instruction. Please feel free to forward to anyone who may be interested. Kind Regards, Dennis Chang Executive Program Management Consultant dennis.chang(a)icann.org 213-293-7889 Skype: dennisschang

1 0

FW: ICANN News Alert -- Call for Volunteers: Developing the Process for Root IDN Table Creation and Maintenance
by Francisco Arias June 18, 2012

June 18, 2012

The email below may be of interest to you. Regards, __ Francisco. On 6/18/12 1:24 PM, "ICANN News Alert" <communications(a)icann.org> wrote: > ICANN News Alert > <http://www.icann.org/> > News Alert > http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-18jun12-en.htm > > Call for Volunteers: Developing the Process for Root IDN Table Creation and > Maintenance > 18 June 2012 > > * Deadline for responses is 13 July 2012 > > ICANN is seeking volunteers to work on advancing IDN capabilities in the DNS. > The project 2.1 "Root IDN Table Process" part of the IDN Variant TLD Program, > is designed to develop, in consultation with the community, the process to > define: > * allowed code points, > * corresponding variant code points, and > * related allowed states for IDN Variant TLDs. > ICANN is soliciting participation from volunteers with the following areas of > expertise: IDNA, DNS, Linguistics/Unicode, Policy. > > The project team will include additional consultant expertise to help in the > process. > > ICANN has a limited budget to support team meetings such as travel, > accommodation, and other expenses. > General responsibilities for volunteers: > * Contribute to developing the Process for Root IDN Table Creation and > Maintenance > * Research and provide input on issues discussed during meetings > * Attend two face-to-face meetings (likely during the last week of August in > Los Angeles, US, and mid-October 2012 in Toronto, Canada) > * Participate in regular teleconferences (time to be determined) > * Expected time commitment of 2 to 4 hours per week during a 4-month period > IDNA Expertise qualifications: > * Expertise with IDNA and preferably active on internationalization work > * Participation in relevant IDNA working groups > DNS Expertise qualifications: > * Expertise with DNS standards > * Active in related DNS technical fora (e.g., IETF DNSext, DNSop) > Linguistics/Unicode expertise qualifications: > * Expertise in linguistics > * Familiarity with Unicode > Policy expertise qualifications: > * Participation in ICANN's policy development process; or > * Have participated in, at least, one ICANN working group, preferably on IDN > related issues > Selection and Recruitment Process for Case Study Members: > * Indications of interest should be sent to idnvarianttlds(a)icann.org no later > than 13 July 2012. > * Interested experts are invited to submit a résumé (Curriculum Vitae) and an > expression of interest statement demonstrating how they meet the > qualifications for one or more of the areas of expertise specified above. > * The ICANN IDN Variant TLD Program team will select the team members ensuring > a diverse composition of the members in terms of language/script communities > represented. > * Applicants will be notified no later than 30 July 2012. > Background on the IDN Variant TLD Program > On 20 April 2011, ICANN announced the IDN Variant Issues Project to explore > the benefits and risks associated with the potential inclusion of IDN variant > TLDs in the DNS root zone. This project was initiated in response to a 2010 > ICANN Board of Directors resolution > <http://icann.org/en/groups/board/documents/resolutions-25sep10-en.htm#2.5> . > Two phases of the project have been completed to date. > > Phase I involved the formation of six case study teams for the Arabic, > Chinese, Cyrillic, Devanagari, Greek and Latin scripts. These teams were > comprised of community experts with support from ICANN that worked on > identifying issues related to IDN variant TLDs for each particular script, > resulting in the publication in October 2011 of six individual reports > detailing their findings. > > Phase II focused on integrating those six case study reports into the > Integrated Issues Report. To complete this phase, ICANN formed a coordination > team comprised of experts from each of the case study teams. The coordination > team advised ICANN on completing the Integrated Issues Report, which > summarizes and categorizes the various issues related to the identification > and management of IDN variant TLDs. > > The next phase (phase III) outlined in the proposed program plan > <http://icann.org/en/news/public-comment/idn-variant-tld-revised-program-pla… > 04may12-en.htm> includes a number of activities resulting from the issues > identified in the final Integrated Issues Report > <http://icann.org/en/resources/idn/idn-vip-integrated-issues-final-clean-20f… > 12-en.pdf> [PDF, 2.15 MB]. The work is now focused on using the approach > outlined in the Integrated Issues Report to define milestones that must be > completed to manage the implementation of IDN variant TLDs. > > The goal of the program is to define the necessary processes that must be in > place to enable the management of variant TLDs. This incorporates the creation > and maintenance of IDN tables for the root zone, and updating operational > processes as appropriate to allow for the implementation of the IDN variant > TLDs. > > > > Email Market

1 0

Revised IDN Variant TLD Program Plan for next steps
by Francisco Arias May 6, 2012

May 6, 2012

Colleagues, This is to inform you that we have posted a Revised IDN Variant TLD Program Plan for public comment at: http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-2-04may12-en.htm Regards, __ Francisco.

2 2

The public comment period for the VIP plan has been extended
by Francisco Arias March 16, 2012

March 16, 2012

FYI, the public comment period for the VIP plan has been extended: http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-2-16mar12-en.htm __ Francisco

1 0

Re: [vip] Draft on IDN Tables in XML
by Andrew Sullivan March 14, 2012

March 14, 2012

On Wed, Mar 14, 2012 at 10:45:58AM -0400, Ram Mohan wrote: > Kim, > > I am not certain registries would want to use an automated/machine-readable > mechanism for importing tables from other registry IDN implementations. I strongly agree, and would go farther: I think it would be a bad idea for registries to blindly import tables from other registries. But registries are not the only people who may be interested in the variant relationships in a registry. For instance, the anti-abuse community might reasonably want to use those tables as the basis for constructing policies for what domains ought to be expected to be delegated. The anti-abuse community might want to use those tables to detect opportunities for phishing, and to try to produce mitigation strategies. The corollary to using registry policy as the source of sane IDN deployment is that clients need to be able to know what those policies are, and to test actual network behaviour against the policy. In the absence of such tests, the registry policies aren't enough. The only way that applications are going to be able to integrate the expected policies in their applications is if the policies can be expressed in a machine-readable way. If they can't be, then I predict the policies will be "boutique" ones: some applications will work, but others won't. (This is written from the ICANN Universal Acceptance of TLDs session, where I am keenly hoping this application perspective will be expressed.) Best, A -- Andrew Sullivan ajs(a)anvilwalrusden.com

1 0