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Comment Close
Date		Statement
Name 

Status

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Call for
Comments Open		Call for
Comments
Close 		Vote
Announcement 		Vote OpenVote
Reminder		Vote CloseDate of SubmissionStaff Contact and EmailStatement Number
18.07.2014

Universal Acceptance of TLDs Draft Roadmap

ADOPTED15Y, 0N, 0ASatish Babu09.07.201416.07.2014 23:59 UTC19.07.2014 23:59 UTC19.07.2014 23:59 UTC25.07.201426.07.2014 23:59 UTC27.07.2014
Francisco Arias
francisco.arias@icann.org
AL-ALAC-ST-0714-03-00-EN

For information about this PC, please click here 

Contents

Brief Overview

To solicit community comment on proposed roadmap for the Universal Acceptance Initiative[PDF, 117 KB].

Comment Period: 18 Jun 2014 - 18 Jul 2014 23:59 UTC
Reply Period: 19 Jul 2014 - 8 Aug 2014 23:59 UTC

Section I: Description, Explanation, and Purpose

The goal of "domain names in a TLD must be useable in applications regardless of the written script, and length or newness of the TLD" roughly captures the observed issues and obstacles driving the discussion of universal acceptance. The Universal Acceptance initiative is aimed to address technical acceptance issues with the use of domain names and related Internet Identifiers. For example, in some applications URLs using some TLDs are confused with search strings, email addresses using non-ASCII scripts are rejected (which limits the usefulness of a non-ASCII TLD name), and some applications do not present the native written form, instead only presenting the internal DNS label format.

ICANN is looking for input on the proposed roadmap for the Universal Acceptance initiative[PDF, 117 KB]. Particularly, ICANN is interested in learning what the community thinks about the goal, scope, and approach in the proposal.

Section II: Background

On 15 November 2013 the Joint ccNSO‐GNSO IDN Group (the JIG) published the JIG Final Report on Universal Acceptance of IDN TLDs recommending ICANN to take action in promoting the universal acceptance of new TLDs and IDNs.

Section III: Relevant Resources

Section IV: Additional Information

Staff Contact

Francisco Arias
francisco.arias@icann.org

 

FINAL VERSION TO BE SUBMITTED IF RATIFIED

Please click here to download a copy of the pdf below. 



 

FINAL DRAFT VERSION TO BE VOTED UPON BY THE ALAC

 

AT-LARGE ADVISORY COMMITTEE

ALAC Statement on
the Universal Acceptance of TLDs Draft Roadmap

 

Preamble

Universal Acceptance refers to the universal and consistent ability to use Top-Level Domains (TLDs), whether existing, Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) ccTLDs, or new gTLDs, “...regardless of the written script, and length or newness of the TLD”. Universal Acceptance is a critical factor to foster and ensure competition, consumer trust and choice in the DNS marketplace.

The Universal Acceptance Initiative (UAI) is an internal initiative of ICANN that attempts to address these concerns using ICANN's multistakeholder constituencies in a collaborative and coordinated manner, applying additional resources as required. UAI focuses not only on IDNs, but all TLDs.

On 18 June 2014, ICANN Staff released a draft document on the proposed roadmap for the Universal Acceptance Initiative which was based on past work, including the final report of the Joint ccNSO‐GNSO IDN Group (JIG) on Universal Acceptance of IDN TLDs.

 

The ALAC Response to the Draft Roadmap

  1. From an end-user perspective, Universal Acceptance is very important for upholding the public trust in the evolving Domain Name Ecosystem, and for facilitating the participation of large sections of populations in the world hitherto excluded from utilizing DNS because of the lack of support for their scripts.

  2. The ALAC places on record its appreciation for ICANN's efforts taken to release the draft roadmap. The roadmap, when implemented, will be of significant benefit to end-user communities that the ALAC represents.

  3. Given the large number of stakeholders who need to work together to achieve Universal Acceptance—including DNS operators, software vendors, service providers, protocol & standard bodies, system & network operators, security practitioners and end users—it is important to ensure that there is frequent and free-flowing interactions between these stakeholders.

  4. The ALAC recommends the creation of a intermediate-term, cross-community mechanism that not only provides facilitation for stakeholder interactions, but also allows organizational retention of issues as well as learnings, acting as a knowledge base for all aspects of Universal Acceptance

  5. The ALAC also recommends monitoring of progress of the UAI based on indicators that are jointly identified as part of the above mechanism, so that there is clarity on the progress of the initiative.

  6. The ALAC reiterates the need for ongoing advocacy with all stakeholder communities, particularly end-user communities, for the dissemination of information on Universal Acceptance.

  7. The ALAC recommends that ICANN explores the use of light-weight mechanisms that allow quick validation of TLDs so as to enhance end-user trust

  8. When targeting end-users, these advocacy and outreach efforts need to be undertaken in consultation with the At-Large community.



FIRST DRAFT SUBMITTED

 

AT-LARGE ADVISORY COMMITTEE

ALAC Draft Statement on
the Proposed Roadmap for Universal Acceptance Initiative

 

Preamble

Universal Acceptance refers to the universal and consistent ability to use Top-Level Domains (TLDs), whether existing, Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) ccTLDs, or new gTLDs, “...regardless of the written script, and length or newness of the TLD”. Universal Acceptance is a critical factor to foster and ensure competition, consumer trust and choice in the DNS marketplace.

The Universal Acceptance Initiative (UAI) is an internal initiative of ICANN that attempts to address these concerns using ICANN's multistakeholder constituencies in a collaborative and co-ordinated manner, applying additional resources as required. UAI focuses not only on IDNs, but all TLDs.

On 18 June 2014, ICANN Staff released a draft document on the proposed roadmap for the Universal Acceptance Initiative which was based on past work, including the final report of the Joint ccNSO‐GNSO IDN Group (JIG) on Universal Acceptance of IDN TLDs.

 

The ALAC Response to the Draft Roadmap

  1. From an end-user perspective, Universal Acceptance is very important for upholding the public trust in the evolving Domain Name Ecosystem, and for facilitating the participation of large sections of populations in the world hitherto excluded from utilizing DNS because of the lack of support for their scripts.

  2. The ALAC places on record its appreciation for ICANN for the efforts taken to release the draft roadmap. The roadmap, when implemented, will be of significant benefit to end-user communities that the ALAC represents.

  3. Given the large number of stakeholders who need to work together to achieve Universal Acceptance—including DNS operators, software vendors, service providers, protocol & standard bodies, system & network operators, security practitioners and end-users—it is important to ensure that there is frequent and free-flowing interactions between these stakeholders.

  4. The ALAC recommends the creation of a intermediate-term, cross-community mechanism that not only provides facilitation for stakeholder interactions, but also allows organizational retention of issues as well as learnings, acting as a knowledge base for all aspects of Universal Acceptance. Such a mechanism will also, inter alia, help to track the progress and completion of each phase and elp alleviate resource constraints that may arise as different activities overlap.

  5. The ALAC recommends monitoring of progress of the UAI based on progress indicators that are jointly identified as part of the above mechanism, so that there is visibility and clarity on the progress of the initiative.

  6. The ALAC reiterates the need for ongoing advocacy with all stakeholder communities, and particularly end-user communities, for the dissemination of information on Universal Acceptance.

  7. When targeting end-users, these advocacy and outreach efforts need to be undertaken in consultation with the At-Large community

 


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6 Comments

  1. Olivier Crepin-Leblond

    Recommendation 5: incomplete sentence, it seems

    Also, the preamble has a lot of acronyms which need to be fully expanded at least once to increase document readability.

  2. Satish Babu

    Fixed both issues.

  3. Maureen Hilyard

    Hi Satish.. I agree with the statement and the UAI. My comment confirms what has been said and relates to many endusers in the Pacific and elsewhere who are new to domain names and IDNs, There is a strong need for trust in the ecosystem, so that it is important that if we are to make use of contacts with an IDN, there must be some way that we can easily identify that the IDN is going to be relevant. I am not sure that people have the time to check a Whois source or even where to find it. However, without such a check, it is most likely going to be deleted, yet, to delete every IDN email would defeat the purpose of our regional goal to encourage access to the internet to enhance global communication opportunities. So this becomes an obstacle.

  4. Satish Babu

    Thanks for the inputs, Maureen. It is important to quickly validate IDNs using lightweight protocols, and we may need to create mechanisms to do this for end-users. Mechanisms such as the Public Suffix List may provide part of the solution.

  5. Sunny Liu

    The topic Universal Acceptance of IDN was discussed in the Model Board Meeting of the NextGen@ICANN in Singapore. Our outcome echoes the notion in the Roadmap that ICANN should limit its role as a coordinator and facilitate different stakeholders to take independent actions. My teammates from Netmission and I agree with the ALAC statement and are particularly interested in point number 4 and 5 in this statement. We believe a database can be set up to a keep record of cases of domain names with compatibility issues and their respective solutions. This will be helpful in facilitating the technical upgrades by sharing relevant experiences. A structured timeline will allow ICANN to prioritize its initiatives and help categorise the work in phases thus setting achievable goals. It will also help to track the progress and completion of each phasem and it will help alleviate resource constraints that may arise as different activities overlap.

    1. Satish Babu

      Thanks Sunny, for your valuable inputs.