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IDN Standards and Implications Kenny Huang Board, PIR huangk@alum.sinica.edu. Overview. IDN Standard Update What needs to be done The future of IDNs. IDN Standards Update. IETF and Protocol Standardization ICANN and Policy Guidelines Relevant Linguistic Issues TLD Deployments.
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IDN Standards and ImplicationsKenny HuangBoard, PIRhuangk@alum.sinica.edu
Overview • IDN Standard Update • What needs to be done • The future of IDNs
IDN Standards Update • IETF and Protocol Standardization • ICANN and Policy Guidelines • Relevant Linguistic Issues • TLD Deployments
IETF and Protocol Standardization • IDN RFCs • 3490 IDNA – Framework for conversion of IDN into Punycode at the application end for DNS resolution • 3491 Nameprep – Stringprep Profile for use in IDNs (case mapping, normalization and “sanitization” to reduce ambiguity of names) • 3492 Punycode – An ACE (ASCII Compatible Encoding) for use in IDNs • 3454 Stringprep • IESG Statement • IDNA does not solve all of the problems of IDN
ICANN and Policy Guidelines • Strict compliance with IDN Standards (RFC 3490, 3491 and 3492) • “Inclusion-based" approach for identifying permissible code points for registration • Associate each registered IDN with one language or set of languages, and employ language-specific registration and administration rules that are documented and publicly available • Work collaboratively with relevant and interested stakeholders to develop language-specific registration policies • Should, initially, limit any given domain label to the characters associated with one language or set of languages only • Should provide informational resources and services in all languages for which they offer internationalized domain name registrations
Relevant Linguistic Issues • ICANN requires registries to establish Language-specific registration policies • What authorities are “authoritative” for which languages? • What if there are more than one possible “authority”, e.g. French used in different parts of the world? • Character Equivalence Mapping • Should there be Character Equivalence Mapping for visually identical (or close to identical) characters (e.g. Greek capital Alpha and English capital “A”) • Other Languages that may have “traditional-simplified” equivalence issues • How far down the “semantic” path should we get?
TLD Deployments • Verisign .COM and .NET • .ORG legacy IDN registrations • .CN, .TW Chinese Implementations • .KR, .JP Implementations • .NU, .BZ, .TV Implementations • European Implementations (.DE, .AT, .CH, .PL) • Afilias .INFO Implementation • Other planning and scheduled implementations
Where are we heading? • Wider spread deployment • Wider spread doubts • Internet navigation becoming more user-friendly for the rest of the world • Internet navigation becoming more confusing for everyone • Highly dependent on the deployment path and user expectation management
Who needs to be doing what? • Registry Responsibilities • DNS Resolution, Domain Registration & WHOIS • Interim Resolution Strategies, IDN over EPP, IDN at WHOIS • Application Developers • IDN Resolution • Speed of deployment • ICANN & IETF • Policies and Standards • Consistent & promote wide adoption • Linguists • Linguistic Relevance • Start conservative with the goal to become as light-weight as possible • Service Providers • Accept IDN traffic (Do Not Block) • Manage and maintain IDN information
IDN and Web Browsing • What is Happening Today: • IDNA-enabled Browsers • Mozilla 1.4+ & Opera 7.1+ • IDNA plug-ins • Assistive Resolution Platforms • Web Redirection • Synthesized-IDN A RR • E.g. Verisign (.COM / .NET), .CN, .TW, .JP, .KR • 8-bit DNS Resolution • Synthesized CNAME RR (DNAME based concept) to Punycode Domain • E.g. Afilias (.INFO), .BZ
IDN and Web Browsing • Areas of consideration for Application Providers • Address Bar, IDN Links, Bookmarks • History, Status Bar, Etc. • Integration with other applications (e.g. copy-and-paste) • IRI – Internationalized Resource Identifiers
IDN and Email • IDNA MUA plugins (Mail User Agents, e.g. Outlook, Eudora, etc.) • Assistive Resolution Platforms • Mail Relay • Synthesized MX record • 8-bit DNS Resolution • Same as in Web Browsing
IDN and Email • Areas remaining to be standardized • IDN over SMTP • IDN in MIME Headers • Internationalized user name (Local part of an email address, i.e. the name before the “@” sign) • Discussions have somewhat started at IETF
IDN and Domain Registry Systems • IDN Registration Storefront • Database management for IDN • Store as Punycode vs Store as UTF • IDN over EPP • Object extension approach • Add service extension to Domain Object • Suitable for use without character equivalence preparations • Simple for deployment • Announcement of Language-Tag
IDN and Digital Certificates • Not much work yet • Probably dependant on browser or other Digital Certificates viewers • Use of Punycode could be problematic • Perception is reality • User will be confused if displayed name is not easily recognizable with intended name
Other Applications • Network tools • NSLookup, etc • Network monitoring tools • Customer and other Databases • Storing and using IDNs (automated emails, automated web updates etc.) • Search databases (click through links) • Mailing Lists • Etc.
The Future of IDNs • Is there demand for IDNs? • Who would use IDNs? • Chicken and Egg issue for Registries and Application Providers • Does IDN solve all of the user-friendliness of Internet navigation issue?
What the DNS does and does not • Domain Names are identifiers • Unique and unambiguous to the machine (not necessarily to humans) • E.g. Digit 0 and Character O • Domain Names are NOT “navigation tool” • Domain Names are best only for “direct navigation” NOT involving guessing • Domain Names function best as an “address” • i.e. you don’t try to send mail to an address without knowing the exact address and expect it to arrive at the right person
Place for IDNs • Local or regional use • Intra-company use • Personal use • International preference may be lowest common denominator: i.e. everyone should be able to type in a particular name • Local preference includes culture and heritage • Personal use makes most sense to use your native tongue
Summary • IDN Standards (RFCs) are published • IESG IDN Statement is published • ICANN IDN Guidelines are drafted • Everything Else remains to be worked out • IRIs and Email Addresses • IDN over EPP • IDN in WHOIS • IDN in Digital Certificates • IDN aware Applications • Browsers and Email Agents • Database Management Systems • Any application that uses or stores domain names