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Comment Period

Important Information Links

Open Date:

23 December 2011

Close Date:

30 January 2012

Time (UTC):

23:59

Originating Organization:

ICANN

Purpose:

ICANN requests community input on the draft Integrated Issues Report.

Current Status:

The draft Integrated Issues Report summarizes and categorizes the various issues related to the identification and management of IDN variant TLDs.

Next Steps:

Staff will update the Integrated Issues Report based on community feedback and will publish the final Integrated Issues Report in February 2012.

Staff Contact:

Kurt Pritz

Email:

kurt.pritz@icann.org

ALAC Statement on the IDN Variant Issues Project Draft Integrated Issues Report - FINAL

ALAC Response to VIP Integrated Report - DRAFT

Schedule for Comments/Voting:

Comment period to end on 20th January at 23:59 UTC.

Five day ALAC vote to start early on 24th January and end on 28th January.

Reference Material

Draft Integrated Issues Report downloadable from here.

ALAC Statement on the Variant Issues Project Case Studies - submitted 16-Nov-2011.

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3 Comments

  1. Salanieta Tamanikaiwaimaro

    These are some suggested edits:

    [Para 1]The ALAC applauds and acknowledges  the substantive work produced by the Variant Issues Project Team  (IDN VIP)  in producing the draft Integrated Issues Report and welcomes the publishing of the draft for public comments.

    [Para 2]The ALAC reiterates its continued recognition of the significance and importance of IDNs, including IDN TLDs, for ICANN in enhancing diversity and embracing multilingualism on the Internet. More importantly, the proper and prompt implementation of IDN, including IDN Variants, that respect the cultural conventions and the long standing work from many of the IDN communities around the world.

    [ Para 3]In response specifically to the draft Integrated Issues Report:

    1. Encourages ICANN to avoid further and unnecessary delay in the implementation of IDN Variants at the root and further observes that all the issues raised within the said Report are issues that have been thoroughly debated, discussed and tested by the IDN community already. In this regard, the ALAC observes that these are not new issues to warrant further delay. As such, the ALAC advises ICANN to avoid further delays in moving forward towards the implementation of IDN Variants at the root;

    2.  ALAC also observes that whilst the study teams spanned a variety of languages and scripts, many other languages and writing systems have not been included. The ALAC further advises that ICANN commit to working with stakeholders and set aside resources to continue to coordinate and support IDN registration policy development, especially those relevant to IDN Variants and for implementation at the root as a shared global public resource;

    3. The ALAC commends the comprehensive integrated framework and categorizations identified by the VIP team. As expressed in our comments submitted previously, the ALAC continues to observe the disparity between the policy and operational readiness of implementation, including the level of consensus between the different language communities. Given the importance of IDN Variants, the ALAC advises that as solutions and implementation recommendations are being completed, that the possibility of implementing IDN Variants for language communities that are more ready first should be considered. The impact of such deployment should be studied, but most importantly priority should be given to avoid marginalizing language communities that have implementable policies available; and,

    4. In consideration of possible implementation approaches/directions identified in the draft Integrated Issues Report, the ALAC advises that where evaluation panels or committees are employed, that the transparency of the work of such panels be maintained as much as possible, and to ensure that appropriate language community expert representation be included to avoid an overly ASCII-bias of the individuals constituting such panels and committees. Especially given the experience observed at the IDN ccTLD Fast Track.

    [We should also consider encouraging partnership with UNESCO although this could be included in the "stakeholders" mentioned within the text etc....]

  2. Eduardo Diaz

    I am troubled by statement [1]. The VIP report indicates that: “There should be no assumption that acceptable solutions are available or can be developed to address the wide range of issues identified in this report ...” , so how we can recommend ICANN to move forward to implement IDN variants at the root if the report indicates that there are not acceptable solutions identified yet. If anyone knows of any solution that have been already tested and ready to be implemented as this statement inferres, then I recommend to include links to those solutions withing the statement. Otherwise I recommend to change statement [1] for the following:

    [1] The ALAC advices ICANN to assign more resources to perform a cost-benefit analysis for each of the potential IDN Variant mechanisms identified in the report to determined the best solution(s) that will allow to include the most of the identified IDN variant cases. The ALAC advises ICANN to move forward with whatever solution(s) are finally recommended towards the implementation of IDN Variants at the root.

    I do not have any comments for the other statements.

  3. Anonymous

    Updated version incorporating above comments:

    The ALAC applauds and acknowledges the substantive work produced by the Variant Issues Project (IDN VIP) team in producing the draft Integrated Issues Report and welcomes the publishing of the draft for public comments.

    The ALAC reiterates its continued recognition of the significance and importance of IDNs, including IDN TLDs, for ICANN in enhancing diversity and embracing multilingualism on the Internet.  More importantly, the proper and prompt implementation of IDN, including IDN Variants, that respect the cultural conventions and the long standing work from many of the IDN communities around the world.

    In response specifically to the draft Integrated Issues Report:

    1. The ALAC ecourages ICANN to avoid further and unnecessary delay in the implementation of IDN Variants at the root and further observes that much of the issues raised in the Report are issues that have been thoroughly debated and tested by the IDN community already.  The ALAC advices ICANN to assign more resources to perform a cost-benefit analysis for each of the potential IDN Variant mechanisms identified in the report to determine the best solution(s) that will allow the inclusion of IDN variants in the root. The ALAC advises ICANN to move forward with whatever solution(s) are finally recommended towards the implementation of IDN Variants at the root as soon as possible;
    2. ALAC also observes that whilst the study teams spanned a variety of languages and scripts, many other languages and writing systems have not been included.  The ALAC further advises that ICANN set aside resources to continue to coordinate and support IDN registration policy development, especially those relevant to IDN Variants and for implementation at the root as a shared global public resource;
    3. The ALAC commends the comprehensive integrated framework and categorizations identified by the VIP team. As expressed in our comments submitted previously, the ALAC continues to observe the disparity between the policy and operational readiness of implementation, including the level of consensus between the different language communities.  Given the importance of IDN Variants, the ALAC advises that as solutions and implementation recommendations are being completed, that the possibility of implementing IDN Variants for language communities that are more ready first should be considered.  The impact of such deployment should be studied, but most importantly priority should be given to avoid marginalizing language communities that have implementable policies available; and,
    4. In consideration of possible implementation approaches/directions identified in the draft Integrated Issues Report, the ALAC advises that where evaluation panels or committees are employed, that the transparency of the work of such panels be maintained as much as possible, and to ensure that appropriate language community expert representation be included to avoid an overly ASCII-bias of the individuals constituting such panels and committees.  Especially given the experience observed at the IDN ccTLD Fast Track.