Bulgaria to apply for two IDNs

Bulgaria has announced that it will likely apply for two IDNs with ICANN: .бг and .бгр. The move to apply for two extensions instead of one is the result of an online poll commissioned by the country’s Transport Ministry.

Both IDNs received around a third of the votes, though .бг came out on top. However, Bulgaria is concerned .бг could be rejected by ICANN because of its similarity to Brazil’s .br domain, so it is also applying for .бгp just in case.

Bulgaria is not a newcomer to IDN technology. It was one of the first countries to allow Cyrillic registrations on the .bg domain.

Source | The Sofia Echo

How IDNs could hurt web security

IDNs have been hailed as a milestone in web accessibility, but unfortunately, this new technology could make it easier for phishers and other cyber criminals to target victims.

This is because while certain letters in two different scripts might look exactly alike, they have different meanings in their respective language. Cyrillic, for example, shares letters with the Latin script. Each language also uses a different encoding, meaning that browsers will respond differently according to the encoding they are set to display.

This is a problem because someone could theoretically register an IDN that looks like a legitimate domain but really isn’t. An individual in Ukraine, for instance, could register the domain “raural.com.” However, the unicode encoding used in North America and much of Europe would display “raural.com” as “paypal.com.” See the problem here? Both users of Latin scripts and anti-phishing software alike would be unable to distinguish the Cyrillic “paypal.com” from the real one.

The creation of IDNs is long past due, but as is the case with the adoption of any new technology, there are always a few bumps along the way.

Photo | kilokilo

Ukraine submits application for Cyrillic .ukr domain

Yesterday, The Ukrainian Network Information Center (UNIC) announced that it had submitted the necessary paperwork to ICANN for the creation of the a .ukr Cyrillic IDN. The extension is expected to be available for registration by February or March 2010.

Once the extension goes live, Ukrainians will be able to access the web in their native language. No information on registration costs has been released, but the UNIC better keep it cheap if the average citizen is expected to register the IDN.

It will also be interesting to see whether or not foreign corporations and individuals will be able to register a .ukr. Doing so could result in the most valuable names being swept up by foreign speculators, but at the same time, would allow international firms doing business in the country to reach more Ukrainians.

Source | Kyiv Post
Photo | Casiel

.Asia to be IDN-ready by 2010

DotAsia has announced that it will be ready to accept IDN registrations on the .asia TLD in the second half of 2010. Because of the diverse nature of Asia’s languages and the wide variety of characters each uses, .asia will benefit immensely from IDN technology.

Edmon Chung, CEO of DotAsia, stated:

Asia is one of the most important regions for IDN. Asia is already the largest Internet marketplace with over 700 million users online. However, that represents only 18.5% penetration. IDN will bring the Internet to the rest of the people in Asia who do not speak English.

The IDN launch will include a sunrise period to ensure trademark holders can get register their domains before cybersquatters. DotAsia says it will be the first TLD registry to apply with ICANN for the use of IDNs.

Photo | clix

Arab countries eager for IDNs

ICANN just recently announced its plans to fast-track IDNs, but the organization estimates that so far only 50 countries are interested. Of these, nearly one fifth are Arab-speaking nations.

Nine out of twenty-two Arab countries have expressed interest in Arabic domains: the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Libya, Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia.

Saudia Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are especially eager to adopt IDNs. In addition, the UAE is expected to apply for the ccTLD .emarat to complement its .ae extension.

IDNs will not only bring more Middle East users online, but also increase the quantity and availability of Arabic content.

Source | Vybes.com

Preregistration for .eu IDNs now open

Those itching to get their hands on a non-Latin character domain will be happy to know that .eu registrars are now accepting preorders for IDNs.

The names cost the same as a normal .eu and are available on a first come, first serve basis. IDN registration will go live on December 10.

There will be no sunrise period for the new names, so it wouldn’t be a bad idea for trademark holders to preregister. Considering the diverse nature of Europe and its many languages, .eu is fulfilling its role as Europe’s TLD. It’s great that the registry stepped up to the plate so early.

Google CEO: Internet will be dominated by China

The introduction of IDNs will certainly increase the number of Chinese Internet users, but Google CEO Eric Schmidt has a much more optimistic view of web adoption in the Asian country. According to him, cyberspace will be dominated by Chinese content within 5 years.

Though Western nations have had more than a decade to populate the Internet with content, China’s population of 1.3 billion gives it an unparalleled advantage in this area. Increasingly inexpensive computers along with Chinese-character URLs will cause exponential growth in China web usage.

What does this mean for us? Besides a crowded Internet, expect more sites to become available in Chinese soon.

Source | IDN Blog

Acceptance of IDN applications to begin next month

ICANN has just announced that starting November 16, nations will be able to start applying for IDNs. This comes after a promise from the agency to speed up the creation of an IDN system.

Rod Beckstrom, CEO of ICANN, stated:

This is only the first step, but it is an incredibly big one and an historic move toward the internationalization of the Internet . The first countries that participate will not only be providing valuable information of the operation of IDNs in the domain name system, they are also going to help to bring the first of billions more people online—people who never use Roman characters in their daily lives.

It is important to note that several extensions already support non-Latin characters, most notably Bulgaria’s .bg. It began supporting Cyrillic characters in September.

ICANN announces delay of gTLDs, expediates IDNs

For more than a month now rumors have been rampant that ICANN’s new gTLD program would be delayed. Today, the agency made the news official, stating that the new extension approval policy will be delayed beyond Q2 2010. ICANN cited controversy and varying opinions about gTLDs as the main reasons for the push back.

Not be solely a bearer of bad news, ICANN also announced that it will be moving full steam ahead to introduce internationalized domain names. Better known as IDNs, these non-Latin character domains will make accessing the Internet easier for billions around the world.

As far as I’m concerned, ICANN is doing the right thing here. Instead of worrying about monetary interests with its gTLD program, the organization is working on getting the IDN system going. Granted, there’s no reason why this couldn’t have been done a decade ago, but hey, whoever said ICANN was Speedy Gonzales?

Photo | Flickr

ICANN Seoul Meeting starts this Monday

Web industry leaders from across the world will be packing their bags this weekend for ICANN’s 36th International Meeting in Seoul, South Korea. The event runs October 25- 30.

A hot topic of discussion will be IDNs– domains containing non-Latin characters. Rod Beckstrom, CEO of ICANN, stated:

This is an extremely important meeting for ICANN, since the IDN program is moving one step closer to reshaping the global Internet landscape. In Seoul, we plan to move forward to the next step in the internationalization of the Internet, which means that eventually people from every corner of the globe will be able to navigate much of the online world using their native language scripts.

Other subjects on the table include the Affirmation of Commitments, gTLDs, and web security. The meeting is open to the public. More information can be found on ICANN’s website.