Description
In late 2019, the APRALO Leadership Team proposed the initiation of an APRALO Policy Platform for 2020. After reviewing input from RALO members to the proposal and in light of the unexpected COVID-19 pandemic, the Leadership Team considers this APRALO Policy Forum to be a modest but useful kickstart to facilitate and coordinate ICANN policy-related discussions at a regional level.
Purpose:
The APRALO Policy Forum aims to:
- Aim 1: Encourage engagement of APRALO members on issues within ICANN's remit
- Aim 2: Facilitate informed, inclusive regional position development on issues within ICANN's remit
- Aim 3: Support APRALO Leadership's participation as a regional partner to the ALAC Policy Platform / the At-Large Consolidated Policy Working Group
- Aim 4: Grow APRALO outreach opportunities within the AP region and with other RALOs and ICANN communities on ICANN policy issues
- Aim 5: Provide suggestions on AP regional issues of interest which may fall within ICANN’s remit
How do we achieve these aims? By:
- Informing the APRALO Community on ICANN policy issues.
- Engaging the APRALO Community in At-Large discussions on ICANN policy issues
- Consulting the APRALO Community to formulate input on ICANN policy issues.
- Building the capacity of the APRALO Community to effectively participate on ICANN policy deliberations
- Participating in inter-RALO discourse on ICANN policy issues
- Creating intra-regional discourse & cooperation opportunities to advocate for individual end user interests
APRALO Priorities for 2023-2024
| Area | 1. Vis-à-vis ALAC/At-Large Community | 2. Policy-related priorities | 3. RALO Membership Retention & Engagement priorities | 4. ICANN operating priorities – top 5 to monitor** | 5. Consideration of additional, new topics *** |
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* Per the 2022 Hot Topic Survey.
** For an explanation of the above priorities in area 4, please refer to: https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/op-financial-plan-fy22-26-opplan-fy22-2021-en.pdf
*** Per the APF Town Hall Meetings of 10 Aug 2023
Membership:
Open to all APRALO members interested in ICANN policy-related discussions, by subscription to the mailing list. The membership list is published below.
Operation:
The work of the Policy Forum will be facilitated using a combination of the following resources:
- This work space, as the central repository for the Forum
- The apralo-policy@icann.org mailing list which will be moderated by members of the Leadership Team and supported by At-Large Staff.
- Periodic team/small team project/planning calls
- Event calls
The ICANN Expected Standards of Behaviour will apply.
17 Aug 2023
Discussions & Next Events
APRALO Policy Forum Planning Document 2024 (comment-only mode)
Current Activities
- TBD
Immediate Past Activities
- APRALO Register of Skills & Interests Pilot Cycle 1, 13 July - 13 September 2024
- APRALO ICANN80 Readout, 27 June 2024
2024 Activities
COMPLETED [27-Cycle1] APRALO Register of Skills & Interests Pilot Cycle 1 (Jul-Sep 2024)
Purpose: This is the pilot implementation of the project code-named "Project RoSI" aimed at producing a dynamic Register of Skills & Interests for APRALO. This pilot incorporates many of the project's 2021 goals and preliminary work (See: Infographic report Infographic report). This pilot is to open to all interested APRALO Community members who wish to indicate they have expertise and/or knowledge to share on or are interested to learn about selected topic and themes within ICANN's remit in line with the ALAC's and APRALO's priorities.
Status: Cycle 1 of the APRALO Register of Skills & Interests Pilot is now closed. It was open for participation from 19 July - 13 September 2024. LINK TO PARTICIPATE
Target Aims: 1, 3, 4
Target Priorities: 3a, 3b, 3c, 4a-OI-4, 4b-OI-3
More info about RoSI: Project RoSI Workspace
COMPLETED [28] APRALO ICANN80 Readout
Background: Panelists will discuss their respective key takeaways from ICANN80 and participants are welcomed to join in the conversation aimed at identifying where and how end-users may play a role in any next steps to each of those takeaways.
Moderator:
Cheryl Langdon-Orr, At-Large Leader, based in Australia
Panelists:
Satish Babu, APRALO, based in India
Fidya Shabrina, ICANN80 Fellow, based in Indonesia
Tomslin Samme-Nlar, GNSO Council Vice-Chair & GNSO Councillor, currently based in Australia
Zakir Syed, representing GAC, based in Pakistan
Ian Chiang, ccNSO, based in Taiwan
Target Aims: 1, 4
Target Priorities: 4b-OI-3, 4e-OI-10
Event Wiki: APRALO ICANN80 Readout
Zoom Recording: EN
ACTIVE [27] APRALO Register of Skills & Interests Project (2024)
Background: Tentatively code-named "Project RoSI", this project is intended to produce a dynamic Register of Skills & Interests for APRALO.
Status: Reactivating. The APRALO Register of Skills & Interests (RoSI) is proceeding as a pilot! This pilot incorporates many of the project's 2021 goals and preliminary work (See: Infographic report Infographic report), but instead of assessing candidates for entry into RoSI, the approach for the pilot is to open the RoSI to all interested APRALO Community members by not only focusing on respondents who have expertise and/or knowledge to share but also to capture the interests of respondents who may be interested to learn about selected topic and themes within ICANN's remit.
Dedicated Workspace: Project RoSI Workspace
COMPLETED [26] APRALO Policy Forum Fireside Chat #5: Let's Talk About Internet Fragmentation and Multistakeholder Internet Governance
Background: Having had an earlier conversation on Internet Fragmentation in the ICANN context, this fitfh APRALO Fireside Chat will feature moderator Amrita Choudury in conversation with Anriette Esterhuysen, Senior Advisor on Global and Regional Internet Governance, Chris Buckridge, Independent Consultant on Internet Governance and Digital Policy, and Pablo Hinojosa, Senior Director of Engagement at APNIC. They will be discussing the state of multi-stakeholderism in Internet Governance, with a focus on:
- What does Internet Fragmentation mean, what are some of the dimensions of fragmentation and how does it impact especially individual end-users?
- What role does the At-Large Community have, as part of ICANN's multi-stakeholder model and beyond, in addressing Internet Fragmentation risks, given ICANN's "One World, One Internet" goal? How can the At-Large Community support ICANN's endeavour.
Target Aims: 1, 3, 4
Target Priorities: 1b, 3a, 3c, 4c-OI-9, 5a
Event Wiki: APF Fireside Chat #5, 25 April 2024 (with Activity Report posted)
Recording: EN Zoom Recording
More about: APRALO Policy Forum Fireside Chats
COMPLETED [25] APRALO ICANN79 Readout
Background: Panelists will discuss their respective key takeaways from ICANN79 and participants are welcomed to join in the conversation aimed at identifying where and how end-users may play a role in any next steps to each of those takeaways.
Moderator:
Amrita Choudhury, APRALO Chair, based in India
Panelists:
Aris Ignacio, APRALO Vice Chair, based in Philippines
Manju Chen, GNSO Councilor representing NCSG, based in Taiwan
Pranav Bhaskar Twari, ICANN79 Fellow, based in India
Dr Shamsuzzoha, representing GAC Bangladesh, based in Bangladesh
Russell Deka T Harada, ccNSO, based in Papua New Guinea (PNG)
Target Aims: 1, 4
Target Priorities: 4b-OI-3, 4e-OI-10
Event Wiki: APRALO ICANN79 Readout
Zoom Recording: EN
NO STMT [24] APRALO Statement to ICANN Org Review of the Draft Applicant Support Program (ASP) Handbook – New gTLD Program
Background: ICANN org is seeking feedback on the Draft Application Support Program (ASP) Handbook, which has been previously discussed by the Subsequent Procedures (SubPro) Implementation Review Team (IRT) Sub-Track on ASP as part of ICANN’s efforts to implement the policy recommendations on Topic 17: Applicant Support, of the SubPro PDP Final Report, and taking into account the guidance provided by the GNSO Guidance Process (GGP) on Applicant Support. An APRALO Small Team on ASP is to be constituted to work on inputs for APRALO's submission to this call for feedback.
The Small Team, which comprised several APRALO Leadership selected APRALO/APF members, had reviewed the public comment supporting materials, identified and discussed comments for consideration over a period of February 9-28, 2024. Thereafter, our efforts shifted to the At-Large, in shepherding the ALAC/At-Large comments for the same, through the ICANN79 At-Large Policy Discussion session held on 2 Mar, and continued through 3 subsequent At-Large Consolidated Policy Working Group (CPWG) calls on 13, 20 and 27 Mar, where suggested positions were discussed by the At-Large Community. The Small Team contributed significantly to the positions discussed by At-Large and many of those proposed by the Small Team were eventually taken up in the ALAC Statement AL-ALAC-ST-0224-02-01-EN.
Target Aims: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Target Priorities: 1a, 3a, 3b, 3c, 5b
Small Team Workplan: [24a] Small Team Work Plan on Draft ASP Handbook
Dedicated Workspace: At-Large Workspace: Review of the Draft Applicant Support Program (ASP) Handbook – New gTLD Program
NO STMT [23] APRALO Statement to ICANN Board Call for Public Comments for the IDNs-EPDP Phase 1 Final Report, February 2024
Background: APRALO seeks to respond to the Public Comment proceeding that is seeking input on the Phase 1 Final Report Recommendations from the GNSO Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) on Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) for ICANN Board Consideration. After deliberations at the APF call of 13 Feb 2024, it was determined that no statement was needed.
Target Aims: 1, 2, 3
Target Priorities: 2b, 3a, 3c, 5b
Event Wiki: APF Call, 13 Feb 2024
Dedicated Workspace: IDNs-EPDP Phase 1 Statement Googledoc
Activity & Meeting Archives
- APRALO ICANN80 Readout, 27 June 2024
- APRALO Policy Forum Fireside Chat #5: Let's Talk About Internet Fragmentation & Multi-stakeholder Internet Governance, 25 April 2024
- APRALO ICANN79 Readout, 19 March 2024
- APRALO Policy Forum Call, 13 February 2024: APRALO Statement on IDNs-EPDP Phase 1 Final Report
- APRALO Policy Forum Call, 31 January 2024: Public Interest Commitments & Registry Voluntary Commitments
- APRALO Policy Forum Call, 25 January 2024: EPDP on IDNs Phase 2 Preliminary Recommendations
- 2024 Jan-Jun Planning Document
- APRALO Policy Forum Call, 08 December 2022
- APF Regional Hot Topics Survey 2022 Report during ICANN75, 20 September 2022
- ICANN75 At-Large Policy: ICANN’s Goal for a Multilingual Internet through IDNs, 19 September 2022
- APRALO Policy Forum Fireside Chat #3: Let's Talk About Transfer Policy, 29 June 2022
- APRALO Policy Forum Fireside Chat #2: Let's Talk About Closed Generics, 08 June 2022
- APRALO Policy Forum Fireside Chat #1: Let's Talk About GNSO PDP 3.0, 26 May 2022
- APRALO Policy Forum Team Call, 13 May 2022
- APF HTS Project Team Call, 13 October 2021
- APRALO Policy Forum: Webinar on IDNs, 27 July 2021
- APF Project RoSI Team Call, 20 July 2021
APRALO Policy Forum Discussions Archive 2020-2024
Annual Reports
Contact
Staff Support Lead: Gisella Gruber
Mailing list: apralo-policy@icann.org
To subscribe to the APRALO Policy Forum mailing list (or read the archives / manage your subscription) please send a request to staff@atlarge.icann.org.
Members
Current membership of the APRALO Policy Forum comprises:
| Name | Date Joined / (Resigned) | Subscribed to the Mailing list |
|---|---|---|
1. Shah Zahidur Rahman (Chair, as of 15.08.2024) | 04.01.2024 |  |
| 2. Justine Chew (Former Chair, RoSI Project Lead) | 04.01.2024 | |
| 3. Amrita Choudhury | 04.01.2024 | |
| 4. Cheryl Langdon-Orr | 04.01.2024 | |
| 5. Gopal Tadepalli | 04.01.2024 | |
| 6. K. Mohan Raidu | 04.01.2024 | |
| 7. Nitin Walia | 04.01.2024 | |
8. Nazmul Hasan Majumder | 04.01.2024 | |
9. Fouad Bajwa | 04.01.2024 | |
10. Vipul Gautam | 04.01.2024 | |
| ||
12. Udeep Baral | 05.01.2024 | |
13. Phyo Thiri | 05.01.2024 | |
14. Kong Diep | 05.01.2024 | |
15. Ashirwad Tripathy | 06.01.2024 | |
16. Nabeel Yasin | 12.01.2024 | |
17. Laxmi Prasad Yadav | 12.01.2024 | |
18. Maureen Hilyard | 12.01.2024 | |
19. Jasmine Ko | 13.01.2024 | |
20. Prateek Pathak | 13.01.2024 | |
21. Muhammad Umair Ali | 14.01.2024 | |
22. Iqra Ejaz Bhatti | 14.01.2024 | |
23. Ashrafur Rahman Piaus | 14.01.2024 | |
24. Priyatosh Jana | 15.01.2024 | |
25. Suhaidi Hassan | 15.01.2024 | |
26. Harisa Shahid | 15.01.2024 | |
27. Holly Raiche | 15.01.2024 | |
28. Fidya Shabrina | 15.01.2024 | |
29. Bibek Silwal | 17.01.2024 | |
30. Mabda Haerunnisa Fajrilla Sidiq | 30.01.2024 | |
31. Faheem Soomro | 01.02.2024 | |
32. Satish Babu | 01.02.2024 | |
33. Mohammad Abdul Haque Anu | 08.02.2024 | |
34. Shehab Karman | 13.02.2024 | |
35. Adarsh Bu | 16.04.2024 | |
36. Barkha Manral | 24.04.2024 | |
37. Mohammad Kawsar Uddin | 25.04.2024 | |
38. Charles Mok | 26.04.2024 | |
39. Juliana Harsianti | 02.05.2024 | |
40. Muhammad Shabbir | 27.05.2024 | |
41. Pranav Bhaskar Tiwari | 31.05.2024 | |
Past Membership
| Justine Chew (Chair) | Md Toufik Hayder | Laxmi Prasad Yadav | Bibek Silwal | Suhaidi Hassan |
| Shreedeep Rayamajhi (Former Chair) | Kashif Adeel | Rao Naveed Bin Rais | Udeep Baral | Priyatosh Jana |
| Amrita Choudhury | Ayesha Iftikhar | Fouad Bajwa | Samik Kharel | Abhishek Gautam |
| Nabeel Yasin | Mohammad Kawsar Uddin | Shidul Alam Kaisar | Jaewon Son | Faheem Soomro |
| Dr. N.Sudha Bhuvaneswari | Md. Jahangir Hossain | Stacy Gildenston | Amir Qayyum | |
| Asyraf Mierza Abd Rahma | Eranga Samararathna | Namra Naseer | Abdul Ghayoor Bawary |
| Justine Chew (Co-Chair) | Satish Babu (Co-Chair) | Maureen Hilyard | Aris Ignacio | Nadira Alaraj |
| Holly Raiche | Gunela Astbrink | Priyatosh Jana | Kristina Hakobyan | Azatullah Dawoodzai |
| Fouad Bajwa | Gopal Tadepalli | Cheryl Langdon-Orr | Mohammad Kawsar Uddin | Sivasubramanian Muthusamy |
| Narine Khachatryan | Amrita Choudhury | Shreedeep Rayamajhi | Jaewon Son | Ali AlMeshal |
| Mahmoud Lattouf | Lianna Galstyan | Amir Qayyum | Winthrop Yu | Hilmi Ghalib |
| Prateek Pathak | Abdul Ghayoor Bawary | K Mohan Raidu | Suhaidi Hassan |
46 Comments
Gopal Tadepalli
Universal Acceptance [UA] is a fundamental requirement for a truly multilingual and digitally inclusive Internet. DNS is in the application layer. A huge plus in Distributed Computing is "Location Transparency". UA is subtly anti-theistic to this goal of designing applications that happen anywhere. UA is another way of indicating traceability.
I suggest two parameters for scoring:
A good parameter to have on the score card is "Web Scriptability".
A Case in Point: A headless browser is a web browser without a GUI. They can Perform DDOS attacks on web sites, Increase advertisement impressions and Automate web sites in unintended ways. Google Chrome and Firefox are headless browsers.
People use tags to aid classification, mark ownership, note boundaries, and indicate online identity. IMHO, UA at present is on the lines of "tags" in vernacular languages well adapted to the UNICODE. It is still a "metadata" that can be used in programming.
IMHO, Another parameter to have on the score card is "Incident Responsiveness and Manageability".
An incident may enable quick traceability to a "Local Geography (small footprint)" but its maximum impact may be elsewhere.
Hope this helps.
Gopal T V
Justine Chew
APRALO Policy Forum 2020 Year End Report
This Policy Forum, with its membership standing at more than 15 members, closed out 6 items in its maiden quarter ending December 2020 ( see: APRALO Policy Forum Discussions 2020 Archive ) and will continue to function in 2021 as the RALO's space for facilitating better informed, inclusive regional input on issues within ICANN's remit.
In order to boost the level of output of this Forum, the APRALO Leadership Team will seek feedback on how to ease and improve participation of members via a series of short surveys. Part of our approach will be to establish factors that can contribute to increased participation and/or impediments to members' participation, as well as how to improve members' engagement while also lowering barriers to the same. It would also involves trialing the use of online tools such as Google-form surveys and Google Jamboards.
In 2021, we will also embark on 2 identified projects: (1) Regional Inventory of Skills and Interests; and (2) Regional Hot Topics Survey 2021; one or both of which we anticipate will benefit other symbiotic initiatives planned for the RALO, eg. the APRALO Mentorship Program.
Justine Chew
APRALO Policy Forum Survey #1.2021 Report and Recommendations
Justine Chew
APRALO Policy Forum 2021 Year End Report
We kick-started the year by conducting the APRALO Policy Forum Survey #1.2021 in Mar 2021 to identify key impediments to participating in the APRALO Policy Forum, and to seek ideas for addressing such impediments. The report and recommendations from that survey guided our endeavors for the rest of 2021.
As we approach the end of 2021, I am pleased to note that the APRALO Policy Forum has nearly doubled its membership as compared to this time last year.
We have also carried out a number of initiatives during the year which formed APRALO's contributions towards policy development, community engagement and capacity building. These are:-
1. APRALO Statement on Subsequent Procedures Final Outputs, 1 Jun 2021, wherein APRALO, in endorsing the ALAC's Advice on Subsequent Procedures of 16 April 2021, also emphasized 3 elements of regional importance to us, these being:
2. APRALO Webinar on Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs), 27 Jul 2021, where given the particular importance of IDNs for our region, we took the lead in this capacity building effort in association with the At-Large Capacity Building Working Group (CBWG), to support our RALO members and other interested At-Large members in understanding the history and existing landscape of IDNs in order to engage meaningfully in the work of the GNSO Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) on IDNs. We managed to draw 65 participants.
In addition, we have initiated 2 projects, which will now continue into 2022, both of which are designed to further support the region's work in various areas under ICANN's remit. These are:-
3. APRALO Register of Skills & Interests Project (2021) which is designed to produce a dynamic Register of Skills & Interests for APRALO; and
4. Regional Hot Topics Survey 2021 which will be designed primarily to solicit input from RALO members on what topics RALO members believe is of importance to our region and which APRALO should consider embracing in its agenda. Further, we hope to also use the 2021 survey to gauge RALO members input in light of ICANN's FY21-26 operating priorities.
Finally, to prepare for 2022, we are conducting the APRALO Policy Forum Survey #2.2021 to seek feedback on the Policy Forum's role in facilitating better informed, inclusive regional input on issues within ICANN's remit.
APRALO Policy Forum Discussion Archives
Justine Chew
APRALO Policy Forum Survey #2.2021 Report and Guide for 2022 Agenda
Gopal Tadepalli
Justine Chew
Thank you again for the activities of the APRALO Policy Forum.
IMHO, usage of specific terms related to "Internet Technologies" will enhance the effectiveness of the deliberations in ICANN Working Groups. Attached please find my PPT presentation on "Internet Technologies" that provides a quick overview. We can develop this further if there is more interest in this approach.
Whether we like it or not:
The biggest challenge for most companies is that DNS is a complex system that requires an array of software, network infrastructure, hardware and specialized knowledge. For Example: Cloud Computing is a consolidated system.
Once again, I strongly suggest usage of specific terms related to "Internet Technologies" during our deliberations in ICANN.
Gopal Tadepalli
Justine Chew
Goal: Safe and Stable approach to ensure that the "One Internet" is for the End Users.
“Request for Comments” (RFC) turned 50 years on 7 April 2019. They began on 7 April 1969.
From the technical perspective, RFCs have always been a boon for building Internet and making Governance happen with it.
RFCs are the official documents of Internet specifications, communications protocols, procedures, and events. An Internet Standard is documented by a Request for Comments (RFC) or a set of RFCs. Today there are over 8,500 RFCs whose publication is managed through a formal process by the RFC Editor team. Most of the them (not all) are the responsibility of the Inernet Engineering Task Force (IETF)anyone could write an RFC for free.
Anyone could read the RFCs for free. They are open to all to read, without any fee or membership. In a simple language of Iinternet Technlogies, RFCs define how the Internet Works. Interoperability happens due to these RFCs. The elegance of the Internet is that in order to communicate between a mobile phone connected to a broadband provider in the Country A and a server in a data center in Country B, the two networks at either end of the connection do not need a relationship with each other. They have to interoperate.
For the first few years of its existence, the RFC series was essentially a mailing list on paper from the postal service, and it was maintained by hand. Some RFCs are informational in nature. The RFC left questions open and was written in a less formal style. This less formal style is now typical of Internet Draft documents, the precursor step before being approved as an RFC. They are now the official record of the Internet's design decisions, architecture, and technical standards.
A draft standard is not promoted to full standard for at least four months, after operational experience has been obtained, and when there is demonstrated interoperability between two or more independentmechanisms for implementation. Please see the figure below.
In a world that is increasingly intertwined with the Internet, it’s becoming more difficult to maintain the position that the design of Internet protocols doesn’t have a political dimension.
I suggest that APRALO takes the lead in working with the RFC Editor @ https://www.rfc-editor.org/ for hyperlinking the pertinent documents that bind the Policies of Internet Governance to the Mechanism that is a double - edged sword at its core with no central authority & a "Gold Standard" behavior.
Satish Babu As you would appreciate, it is very difficult to single out a specific RFC. However, I am venturing to suggest the following very useful RFC related to IDNs.
Gopal Tadepalli
I have been associated with the progress of Tamil on the Internet since 1999.
Tamil All Character Encoding (TACE16) is a 16-bit Unicode-based character encoding scheme for Tamil language. There are atleast 25 strong differences between TACE16 and Unicode standard for Tamil language: Lot of investments have gone into TACE16.
I was associated with the performance tuning for TACE16 and it performs much better than Unicode Tamil.
TACE16 has been well documented and has renowned scholars in Tamil championing its design and development.
Satish Babu You may be aware of this.
Gopal Tadepalli
For the Records:
According to official sources, Tamil Nadu has over 37,211 government schools and 8,403 government-aided schools which respectively educate 54.71 lakh students (65.79 per cent) and 28.44 lakh (34.20 per cent) students.
I am serving as "Domian Expert" for Computer Science for the Textbook Preparation for Plus I (11th Class) and Plus 2 (12th Class) by the Government of Tamilnadu.
This is my third such effort for the school students from 1998.
In the current edition, we could introduce UNICODE (Tamizh, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam) to pave for Multilingualism and hopefully Universal Access. It has been an enriching study for me all along.
PS: I wish to place on record my sincere thanks to (Late) Dr. M Anandakrishnan who headed the Tamil Nadu Curriculum Framework Committee (2017) which restructured the state board syllabus from Class I to XII. He was the Former Vice Chancellor of Anna University and in 2017 he was the Chairman, Board of Governors, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. (Late) Dr. M Anandakrishnan championed the Internet Governance in India and I have been associated with him since early 1990s.
Gopal Tadepalli
ICANN75 was another great experience for me. Thank you.
"Dynamic Prioritization":
In the domain of Operating Systems, it has a high potential for Starvation. One has to track the age of a given request for a resource waiting in the queue. In a In a generic system it can potentially result in (what I call) "waitlisted to no where" conditions,
Predictable systems enable you to give a confident answer to the quite common question “When will this be done?”.
Workflow management is about predictability. A process workflow happens when the set of tasks is predictable and there are repetitive pattern
The real challenge is automating workflows to enhance "Productivity".
Suggestion: A Fireside Chat on the topic "Dynamic Prioritization and ICANN Remit".
Gopal Tadepalli
It has been very useful to study the Multi-stakeholder model of ICANN from the following scoreable aspects.
#1. openness: attaching more importance to transparency and communication in decision-making;
#2. participation: ensuring participation of all relevant stakeholders
#3. accountability: clarifying the role of each party in the decision-making process; each stakeholder involved should assume responsibility for the role given to them
#4. effectiveness: decisions need to be taken at the appropriate level and time, and deliver what is needed
#5. coherence: ensuring coherence between diverse actions.
In principle, multi-stakeholder model is better 'than governance by governments alone'. A 'stakeholder' has a legitimate interest in a particular Internet governance issue. The model recognizes that not all stakeholders automatically proclaim as stakeholders, and not all multi-stakeholder processes include all stakeholders.
Observation: The ICANN Multi - Stakeholder model has a high potential for resilience even though it has very limited or no wherewithal to control / regulate all stakeholders with / without ICANN.
For future proofing this model, I find the following two aspects very valuable.
Modelling+Internet+Governance 2.jpg
2. Universality - UNESCO's 303 Internet Universality Indicators
https://www.unesco.org/en/communication-information/internet-governance/internet-universality-indicators/roamx-indicators#:~:text=UNESCO's%20Internet%20Universality%20Indicators%20are,Accessibility%2C%20Multi%2Dstakeholder%20participation.
The reality of multi-stakeholder participation is at times challenged by issues that relate both to the nature of the Internet that includes jurisdiction, enforcement, scale and the pace at which it changes and grows.
A discipline of not blaming technology and localization for jurisprudence with local language support are the strong safeguards that I suggest.
Justine Chew
APRALO Policy Forum 2022 Year End Report (up to Oct 2022)
The APRALO Policy Forum has had a very productive year 2022, having delivered 4 key events and the APRALO Regional Hot Topics Survey 2022 project in the last 6 months.
Since its key planning meeting of 13 May 2022, the team had implemented its Fireside Chat Program by running its Inaugural Fireside Chat on GNSO PDP 3.0 on 26 May with Cheryl Langdon-Orr and myself, followed by the (2nd) Fireside Chat on Closed Generics with Holly Raiche and Olivier Crepin-Leblond on 8 June; and the (3rd) Fireside Chat on Transfer Policy with Steinar Grøtterød and Jonathan Zuck on 29 June; all of which were very well-received by participants. Click here to see the aggregated exit poll results.
During ICANN75 in Kuala Lumpur, the team also delivered on 19 September, the At-Large Policy Session: ICANN’s Goal for a Multilingual Internet through Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) featuring ICANN Board Member Edmon Chung, ICANN org’s Sarmad Hussain and (then) ALAC Vice Chair for Policy Jonathan Zuck. In this session, Jonathan shared some preliminary end-user demand perceptions on the availability and usability of IDNs in the Devanagari script from the recent limited end user survey which the At-Large conducted with selected Hindi-speaking communities in India. Click here to view the Zoom recording of this policy session.
And, results of the APRALO Regional Hot Topics Survey 2022 (which the team conducted in Aug-Sep of 2022) were reported during the APRALO F2F meeting at ICANN75. This report, which is intended as input towards the setting of our regional priorities for the next 18-24 months, was also shared at the APRALO Monthly Call of Oct 2022 where the summary was discussed briefly.
Finally, in light of my increasing commitments in respect of GNSO matters, I am stepping down from leading the APRALO Policy Forum, a role which I have had the privilege of holding since 2020. I wish to thank everyone who has supported the goals and projects of this Policy Forum and hope that its activities to-date have not only assisted our RALO members in some way but also showcased contributions APRALO are capable of within the At-Large and ICANN communities.
Kind regards,
Justine Chew
APRALO Policy Forum Discussion Archives
Gopal Tadepalli
Thank you again for the Venn Diagram like mapping for the kind of expertise that ICANN can potential thrive from.
Knowing that you do like reading books, I also wish to mention that the following references may be of use for you.
Bimal Krishna Matilal, Logic, Language and Reality: Indian Philosophies and Contemporary Issues, Motilal Banarsidass, 2017.
Marcos Zampieri and Preslav Nakov (Editors), Similar Languages, Varieties, and Dialects, Cambridge University Press, 2021.
Gopal Tadepalli
Satish Babu Justine Chew
My Opening Keynote Address titled:
Impact of Language on Income and Trade - 7 January 2023 @ 12 Noon IST
during the Indian Institute of Finance International Research Conference & Award Summit between January 6-8 , 2023
Attached please find one slide that is pertinent to ICANN on IDNs.
Gopal_Internet_International_Trade_ICANN.jpg
Submission:
The raw internet connectivity is not adequate. "Internet Network Value" is crucial for International Trade. IDNs is one such value. to address the "Language Barrier". Language is a key factor in the Gravity Model of International Trade I spoke on this keynote address.
Some Pertinent Notes:
#1. A "value network" is a graphical representation of social and technical resources within / between organizations and how they are utilized. The nodes in a value network are abstractions of people. Role is one useful abstraction but this need not be the only one. The nodes are connected by interactions that reflect the outcomes / deliverables.
#2. Metcalfe's law attempts to quantify the value of any network. The value is perceived to be in proportion to square of connected users of a system. This is very debatable.
Internet has always been a technological marvel and economically baffling. There is no single owner but arguably anyone who has access rights to the internet can calim a tiny share as a sort of owner. There is a difference in what one pays for this "ownership" and what one is willing to pay. Presently, it is in surplus..most of the times one may be willing to pay more !!
Gopal Tadepalli
The Challenge of DNS and IP Mappings
In my humble opinion, since DNS is an Application Layer level thinking technology, it goes a long way in building and sustaining resilient systems.
Some Quick Notes:
Mapping a domain name to an IP Address is known as Name-Address Resolution. Even though it all happens reliably and in quick time,, there are a couple of factors that could affect the process:
Not every domain address has unique IP. There may be more than one domain addresses on same IP.
The DNS defines a special domain called in-addr.arpa to translate IPv4 addresses to host names, and the ip6.int and ip6.arpa domains for IPv6 address-to-host name translation.
The DNS function does not provide encryption or hide the IP address. A Virtual Private Network (VPN} does. Also, there is Dynamic DNS and No-IP for the routers.
Free Dynamic DNS Hostnames must be confirmed after 30 days or they will expire, be removed from DNS and put into Redemption. This policy helps keep our network free of unused Hostnames.
I am aware of many tools with effective and efficient user interfaces to make the desirable mappings. However, in my humble opinion, going under the hood helps make effective policies that serve for a long - term. Over this span of time, we may have a percentage of end-users manage the policy within their groups.
I request the stakeholders to give it a serious thought.
Specific to India: Om Vikas, "Language Technology Development in India", Ministry of Information Technology, New Delhi, India.
Notes:
#1:
This is an old report. It is very useful to study. I worked with Dr. Om Vikas and (Late) Maj. Gen. A Balasubrahmanian, AVSM (Retd) on Technology Development in Indian Languages (TDIL).
#2:
I am a Life Fellow of the Indian Social Science Academy (ISSA) that was established on August 15, 1974 with registered headquarters at Allahabad. This is the first and perhaps the only social science related organization that is chartered for Multilingual work.
#3:
Indian Language Data Centre (ILDC) at: https://ildc.in/
Gopal Tadepalli
Today (Thursday, 10 August 2023), APRALO Policy Forum is organizing the "Town Hall" mode of deliberations.
It was in August 2018, I was invited by the Government of Tamil Nadu to serve as a "Domain Expert" for preparing the Computer Science Textbooks for Plus I (11th Class) and Plus II (12th Class) students. There was some work going on with the preparation of the textbooks by then.
On 6 August 2023, I completed five years of this intellectually challenging work.
My task was first to streamline the preparation and publication of the books. The 2018 edition of the books rolled out quite behind the scheduled. Now, the team of experts have ushered in the fourth edition of these textbooks.
There are 38, 209 schools in Tamil Nadu and almost all of them offer Computer Science as a subject. Typically, there are 100 students in each school for a class.
It has been my pleasure participating in the various deliberations pertaining to the IDNs.
I am running to several nice use cases with four languages that punctuate South India.
Satish Babu I am sure you can recount the critical nature of language in India.
Attached please find my choice excerpt from the Plus I (11th Class) Computer Science textbook.
I must thank ICANN for the opportunities provided for me in the space of IDNs.
In my humble opinion, the core challenge is Integrating Literacy, Culture, and Language as IDNs with a technological basis.
One outcome to share:
Although the alphabets for Telugu and Kannada languages could have been encoded under a single Unicode block with language-specific fonts to differentiate the styles, they were encoded separately by the respective governments due to socio-political and to some extent historic reasons only. Suggestion: Dr. Sarmad Hussain may have more insights on evaluating UNICODE Scripts for IDNs under these conditions.
Good References:
Barry Schwartz, "The Paradox of Choice : Why More is Less", Harper Collins eBook, May 2007
Ralph W Fasold and Jeff Cornor-Linton (Editors), "An Introduction to Language and Linguistics", Cambridge University Press, 2006
Victoria Fromkin, Robert Rodman and Nina Hyams, "An Introduction to Language", Cengager Learning, 2007
Gopal Tadepalli
Satish Babu Justine Chew
Anything about indic is seldom about expressions. It is always an experience. Much of the experience tends to remain unexpressed or inexpressible.
What are Indic Scripts for?
I have a very high regard for the script less Aramaic that eventually got a script.
Indic scripts tend to be therefore traceable to an ultimate experience that was best expressed in some form may be at a different age or time. In other words the relationship among the various Indic scripts is not merely a derivative, adaptation or even a variant.
Sanskrit by far gives maximal cover for the Indic Scriptures (scritped using Vedic). Sanskrit has a systemic and well documented word formation methods from the root sounds. Panini has generated 3959 rules to start with from just 14 sounds that is till today the way in which the best of the scripts (please read scriptures) are interpreted and conclusions arrived at. To my mind, it is good to note that these 14 sounds emanated from a musical instrument called "Damaru" in the left hand of the earliest godheads of the Vedic lore. Patanjali, and Katyayana have further shaped the Sanskrit grammar, as is known today.
The method being attempted with LGRs is "algebraic" and is much like the progress of formulating the Sanskrit Grammar without explicit godhead and the subjectivity.
There is a "computational" method as well that goes way beyond the statistical count of the number of occurrences of a "script symbol'. This method should also be considered to regulate the scope, propagation and nullability of a scripted string of characters for repeated use.
The Brahmi script is well studied. The Brahmi script is ancestral to almost all South Asian writing systems. The southern Brahmic group has also heavily influenced the writing systems of Southeast Asia, I have been actively proposing a regulation for South Indian scripts based out of the strongly common Brahmi script.
Brahmi Script is deemed as the "best fit" for the edicts of Samrat Ashoka. India defined itself with due reverence to Samrat Ashoka.
Reference:
C. Sivaramamurti, "Indian Epigraphy and South Indian Scripts", Madras: Government Press, 1952
@Satish Babu: In my reckoning, language is India is not hindered by politics it suffers from lack of associated geopolitical acumen.
It is a belief that the script takes one to the intended experience with repeated usage. So, Indic scripts though stemming from the "mother language" script of Sanskrit and thus interrelated are really different.
My choice good reading is the 18 page paper attached.
I had a formal work with W3C. This paper is nice because of the immediacy of the associated pragmatics of moving ahead with the Indic Scripts for the purpose of W3C and at the same time scoping some thoughts as above.
Again this is only to provoke some thinking on the erudition enshrined in the Indic scripts. Someday, the mechinized algorithms may attempt this as well.
By the way, I must hasten to mention that the "Godhead" gives a certain degree of Universality by choice. Though travel is not an instinct within me, I score good on foreign travel as an in-service government employee. In India, "Godhead" is a "Personal Choice" and on ethical dilemmas language (Bhasha) is the best to position a "Personal Best Answer".
Please look into the slides made with thanks to several deliberations in ICANN.
Sharing an anecdote that has always come in handy for me:
When Albert Einstein met Charlie Chaplin in 1931, Einstein said, "What I admire most about your art is its universality. You do not say a word, and yet the world understands you." "It's true." Replied Chaplin, "But your fame is even greater. The world admires you, when no one understands you."
Gopal Tadepalli
Justine Chew Many thanks again for the easy paced webinar on the "Next Round of New gTLDs: An Overview" during the APRALO Policy forum meeting on Thursday 7 September 2023.
DNS is an application layer level idea always trying to break out of the Trasnport Layer that must find a mapping to IP Address in hte Network Layer.. The layers are from the ISO - OSI Refernce Model.
A Case in Point: The translation of Punycode sequences into the original encoding is the responsibility of the user agent (application installed on the user’s computer that connects to the server) in the browser. It is always possible to create ad-hoc punycode sequences to show the user a completely converted string at will. Both the browser and the useer can easily be misled.
A TLD helps businesses communicate information about their product, boost audience trust and engagement, and improve brand recall. Hence, both the generic top-level domain (gTLD) and country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) are important. Selecting one over the other can impact a brand, for better or for worse.
A ccTLD could be a good fit if a business mainly targets customers in a specific country. A gTLD might be a better choice if the goal is to reach a broader, global audience.
I wish that at ICANN we study both these TLDs in tandem.
Reason: New TLDs are all classified as gTLDs. Even those that seem geographically specific, like “.berlin,” are technically not considered ccTLDs. ccTLDs are invariably just two characters.
FOCUS: Geographical Names
There are more than 300 ccTLDs. The most popular is Tokelau's .tk, with 24.9 million registered domains. Close behind is China's .cn, with 24.49 million registrations. Unlike gTLDs, many ccTLDs follow certain restrictions or standard procedures for domain registrations. However, there are also open ccTLDs.
My Choice References:
#1:
United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names. (UNGEGN) at: https://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/geonames/About.htm
(Multilingual, multiscriptual dataset of names of countries, capitals and major cities)
ICANN may have to get to the Granulatiy of a Country from the consolidation that is now happening at the Region Level.
#2:
Gwilym Lucas Eades, The Geography of NamesIndigenous to post-foundational, Routledge, September 30, 2020
The Geography of Names makes the case that geographical names are transmitted memetically (i.e. as cultural units, or memes) through what Saul Kripke called communication chains.
Noted in the meeting Chat:
The majority of country names fall into just four categories:
The way countries get their names is seldom democratic,
I am trying to understand the rationale for the specification of APRALO.
The inforgraphic given below indicates that the "tribe" dictates the name of the country.
Understandably, the specific name of the "tribe" serves as a thumbnail for the specific geographical name and the associated geopolitics to some extent.
Gopal Tadepalli
Satish Babu Justine Chew
How much does Punycode contribute to Phishing Attacks ?
Is there any report answering this question? APRALO has the maximum scope for deploying IDNs.
To my mind, Punycode is an encoding system to represent a sequenced string of unicode characters via an ASCII character sequence,
Punycode makes the seuquenced string usable in domain names, without having to modify existing infrastructure and standards. Hence this question.
Gopal Tadepalli
@Justine Chew
Ref: Our work on the topic "Register of Skills & Interests (RoSI)"
I am sure you would appreciate that the need for "competency mapping" on the lines we began through the work on RoSI will become more purposeful sooner than later.
I promised to focus of "Technology Related Topics" and I am preparing some core set of slides now and then for depositing on the APRALO Policy Forum Wiki Page.
As ICANN celebrates 25 Years, I thought this set of slides titled "Snapshots from the History of the Internet" may be useful.
Gopal Tadepalli
Web Access to Full Stack
Useful Notes:
The ISO - OSI Reference Model specifies an "ideal" protocol stack. TCP/IP was developed before the ISO - OSI Reference model and does not explicitly contain all the layers.
Each vendor had its own way of communicating between its own computers, but that didn't enable communication with other vendors' computers. It soon became clear that an agreed-upon standard was needed that permitted computers from all vendors to communicate with each other. And that standard is TCP/IP.
"Network Programming" over TCP/IP has always been a wonderful challenge. In theory one can combine the Physical and Datalink Layer or make everything above the Network Layer become the Application Layer. It is the ingenuity of programming over the network that drives all distributed computing even today.
Observation: I have the highest respect for the ICANN Remit that does not look into the content of a website. However, as the DNS gets operational in the Application Layer, it is highly probable that ICANN deliberations can in an "indirect manner" go into cycles and circles.
MUST READ CAREFULLY AND SLOWLY:
Andrew S. Tanenbaum and David J Wetherall, "Computer Networks", Fifth Edition, Pearson Education (Prentice Hall), 2011.
Experiencing Indic Scripts [An Ongoing Study with Special Thanks to ICANN]
Gopal Tadepalli
Please note the numbers pertainng to the Internet and Mobile Users in India. This is an official source. The population is 144 Crores of which 120 Crores are on the Interner. May be of some help in thinking of the operating space in India.
Gopal Tadepalli
I find this very useful in making quantitative (gu)estimates. This may also be shared with SubPro-IRT.
Gopal Tadepalli
Most Needed Internet Topics (Technology)
I find these topics culled out from my lectures very useful for the ICANN Meetings as well.
An APNIC Meeting (2017) Slides on System Logs and Remote Logs that I find very useful in analytics. I prefer system logs than client side scripts for assuring data quality.
Data from the logs usually includes:
During 2009 (14 Years back), I was actively involved in gathering data each month and a lot of information is feasible from the system logs. Currently, there is no scarcity of memory on many servers. One can get good trends on analytics over a span of time. Scripts on the Clients result in tracking. Logs have the informed consent of the user while tracking need not necessarily have.
The real challenge is "Finding Meaning in hte Metrics".
Log data provides a treasure trove of valuable information, capturing interactions, events, and anomalies happening within a system. It is best used for understanding system performance, identifying security breaches, and optimizing operational efficiency.
Please note that views of pages which are cached are not counted on the system log as there is no activity on the server while accessing the cached page. Also, the latest search engines distort the system logs. Web analytics is presently a highly developed expertise.
Content Delivery Networks (CDN) warrant Web Caching and due to the disconnect with server logs we end up with Factless Facts !!!
PS: A useful routine for log data is given below.
There are manh advanced tools today. It is the organizational wisdom to seggregate different log data into Database Logs, Transaction Logs, Application Logs, System Logs, Audit Logs, Network Logs, and last but not the least Security Logs. Typically, improving the performance in a multi-user networked system is the goal. In my experience with "Tracing Data", a math emerges but invariably it is seldom the math.
Gopal Tadepalli
Seda Akbulut : For Circulation to the UASG Tech & Measurement Groups at your discretion
I am doing a set of four 50 minutes lectures on "Universal Acceptance" to 17 PG Students.
The core of the lectures is attached. I have a slant on software technology.
PS1: DotAsia conducted a 70-day sunrise period starting May 11, 2011 for second-level domain registrations in the Chinese, Japanese and Korean scripts. Hence the thankful focus. Please note that I could share three efforts Funredes, DotAsia and Tamilnet99 are case studies in these lectures.
PS2: Slide 37: The Public Suffix List (PSL) is a machine-readable list of domain names that support subdomains operated by unaffiliated organizations. All top-level domains (TLDs) in the Domain Name System (DNS) are part of this list, and the PSL is an important component of how many applications function.
Gopal Tadepalli
Some Quick Notes:
A public suffix is one under which Internet users can directly register names. It is related to, but different from, a TLD (top level domain).
"com" is a TLD (top level domain). Top level means it has no dots.
"com" is also a public suffix.
The "dot" makes a lot of difference indeed. "com.au" isn't an actual TLD, because it's not at the top level (it has dots). But it is an eTLD (effective TLD), because that's the branching point for domain name registrars. Another name for "an eTLD" is "a public suffix". eTLD+1, or one more label than the public suffix is used by the browsers to partition read/write access to HTTP cookies. There is no closed form algorithm to calculate the eTLD of a domain. Instead, the calculation is data driven. Hence the distinction between "Client Side Data" and "Server Side Data".
Web pages served from "amazon.com.au" can't read cookies from "google.com.au", but web pages served from "maps.google.com" can share cookies from "www.google.com". "maps.google.com" and "www.gogole.com" are good examples of eTLD+1: "google.com".
Registry suffixes are a proper subset of public suffixes.
The Public Suffix List (PSL) is incorporated as a fundamental resource into some of the internet's most popular applications, including virtually all web browsers. The Public Suffix List is a cross-vendor initiative to provide an accurate list of domain name suffixes. Almost all popular browsers use for "Restricting cookie setting". There are other uses as well.
It is useful to note that, the Public Suffix List is a small text file containing a set of internet top-level domains controlled by registrars, under which users can directly register domains.
The programmability of mapping "human - readable names" to "machine processable ones" is indeed a challenge that is always intricate with the usage of "dot" (or as the slang goes "doubt").
PS: Blockchain is a current topic. At the risk of make it appear too simple, I describe blockchain as a distributed database, which means multiple copies are saved on many machines, and they must all match for it to be valid. The number of copies and the method of getting all of them match to be valid is a good design challenge.
Justine Chew
APRALO Policy Forum 2023 Year End Report
The APRALO Policy Forum has had yet another productive year 2023, having delivered a range of activities for APRALO amidst 3 ICANN Public Meetings and the 2023 APRALO General Assembly. Following is a summary by way of achievements and recommendations.
Achievements
Recommendations
The full report is attached below.
Gopal Tadepalli
Justine Chew
Many thanks for the report that is very nice to read as always. We keep progressing into 2024. I wish you all the very best with ALAC too.
Gopal Tadepalli
Satish Babu with a request to keep the focus on standard terminnology and groups of TLDs for better clarity on IDNs
Domain Name System (DNS) and Name Resolution
DNS is an Application-layer protocol. The Application layer is the top-most layer on the TCP/IP Model.
From an application’s point of view, access to the DNS is through an application library called a resolver. This is a lot more technical that mere parsing of the doman name as a string of characters.
An application must convert a host name to an IPv4 and/or IPv6 address before it can ask TCP to open a connection. The TCP and IP protocol implementations know nothing about the DNS; they operate only with the addresses. UDP is another option but TCP / IP is the most dominant.
The DNS name space is partitioned hierarchically and is case insensitive.
Presently, the DNS name space is a tree of domains with an unnamed root at the top. The upper echelons of the tree are the top-level domains (TLDs) that include:
The gTLDs are grouped into categories:
The most common view of the hierarchy that is often into the discussions is seen in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Commonly discussed DNS Hierarchy
However, there are five commonly used groups of TLDs, and one of these groups is that of specialized domains used for internationalized domain names (IDNs). Please see the schematic hierarchical chart in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Grouping the TLDs in the DNS Hierarchy in focus on scoping IDNs
The resolution of the IDNs stemming from the scoping of LGR may become clearer with Figure 2.
Gopal Tadepalli
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2024.
Ongoing "TECHNOLOGY READINESS SURVEY" for Meghalaya, India at:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeYFb8dcoraMRVFJtlEeMQR-OW_oyAnn7Y6Vgodo9TwLG8OEQ/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0
I am serving as the Outstation Chairman, Computer Science Research Committee for the 47th Indian Social Science Congress being organized at Meghalaya, India during 2 - 5 February 2024.. This is with due approval from Anna University.
This event is being organized by the Indian Social Science Academy (ISSA) established on August 15, 1974 at Allahabad. ISSA is perhaps the oldest academy to have a multi-lingual focus in its objectives.. ISSA is celebrating its Golden Jubilee in this year 2024.
Meghalaya is located in the North - East India and is a hilly region. It is also called "Scotland of India". The state is a home for several languages being used.
Satish Babu UA Day is difficult during this congress. However, I can manage a session. Please note that it is all in-person event and there is no financial support for the speaker.
Seda Akbulut You may want to consider mentioning this survey in one of UA Tech Working Group meetings and possibly minute it even if I miss the meeting. Thanks in advance.
After all due approvals, the Survey went online on 1 January 2024. There were nearly 300 responses and the Data Analytics did a validation on the responses. The first presentation of the Survey results was on Thursday, 8 February 2024 during the 47th Indian Social Science Congress. The presentation is attached below.
For the records: Meghalaya is one of the Seven Sister States of northeast India formed on 21 January 1972. Meghalaya is mountainous, with stretches of valley and highland plateaus. The state is the wettest region of India. The word Meghalaya means "the abode of clouds"; derives from a compound of the Sanskrit words megha, "cloud" + ā-laya, "abode".
Seda Akbulut Usage of this presentation is at your discretion. I thank the UA - Tech WG for the nice interactions.
PS: Just completed the review for a manuscript submitted to the Asian Journal of Language, Literature and Culture Studies related to the Minority Languages in Hong Kong in Chungking Mansions.
Gopal Tadepalli
"Domains have and will continue to go up in value faster than any other commodity ever known to man." - Bill Gates
Suggestion: A study of "Allocation Of Domain Names - Priority and Structure" in APRALO may be considered
Main Reason: Sovereignty
For Example:
Australia:
https://www.domainname.gov.au/policies/eligibility-and-allocation-policy
Turkeye:
Turkey: Allocation Of Domain Names In Structure Of "A.tr"
06 February 2024
https://www.mondaq.com/turkey/it-and-internet/1420770/allocation-of-domain-names-in-structure-of-atr
India:
India ranks 5th in the Domain Name Registrations of .Com, .Net and .Org. in the world.
Ref: https://www.sidn.nl/downloads/59TDj5jUtLH8FeC7XOptG3/1795894a2bb7ff5e19782d454de0900c/Global_Domain_Report_2020_Sedo.pdf
There is no direct law that prevents cybersquatting or governs domain name disputes. However, the Courts have adjudicated several matters where the disputed domain names lead to trademark infringement or passing off.
In a recent order dated August 28, 2020, the Hon’ble Delhi Court in Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. & Anr. v. Amul Franchise.in & Ors restrained the concerned Domain Name Registrars from offering the domain names for sale which contains the word ‘Amul’.
PS: In India, the Registrar of the societies has certain rules to be followed that includes the name of the registered society. This is over and above the institutional factors. The Registrar provides the pertinent legal bindings of the name. The term “domain name” is used interchangeably with the term "domain." Domain is "the owner of a domain (i.e the owner of all sites and subdomains under that domain) and the corresponding URL.
Gopal Tadepalli
The Certificate Signing Request (CSR) should have the following information:
The CSR code can contain SAN (Subject Alternative Name) fields in it, which can be used for additional domains you would like to include into a multi-domain certificate. If the CSR was generated for the primary domain only, additional domains should be filled in manually during the activation.
CSR is a specific code and an essential part for the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) activation. SSL is the foundation for many financial transactions. CSR is a small, encoded text file containing information about the organization and the domain you wish to secure. The encoding is a Base-64 code.
Base64 is a binary to a text encoding scheme that represents binary data in an American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) string format. It's designed to carry data stored in binary format across the channels, and it takes any form of data and transforms it into a long string of plain text. Base64 is a Radix-64 representation using only 6 bits. It represents 10 symbols of numerals, 26 Upper Case Alphabet, 10 Lower Case Alphabet, + and /. It depends on Operating System. CSR today is very easy with many library functions in programming languages.
For IDNs the domain name needs to be converted into punycode and indicated in the CSR code as a common name.
Suggestion: It is useful to have a cross - check done on CSR generation with IDNs.
Note: Presently, there are codes to generate the Punycode. Punycode becomes a security risk in connection with homographic phishing - cyber-attacks in which the hackers use the similar appearance of different characters to lure their unsuspecting victims to fake websites. The confusables and variants in IDNs need to be looked into from this aspect as well.
Gopal Tadepalli
Bill Jouris
Thank you again for the nice presentation during the CPWG Meeting (14 March 2024 IST) on the letter symbols across language scripts. It is nice to keep an algorithm handy in this domain.
Example : ТРЕВСАХКОМН written on the russian keyboard would be the same as TPEBFAXKOMH written on an english one.
Language detection and algorithmic approach is more generic than any attempt for case by case enumeration.
Please refer to:
https://www.science.org/content/article/why-written-languages-look-alike-world-over
https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19455-01/806-5584/6jej8rb09/index.html
https://util.unicode.org/UnicodeJsps/confusables.jsp
https://docs.oracle.com/en%2Fjava%2Fjavase%2F11%2Fdocs%2Fapi%2F%2F/java.base/java/net/IDN.html
https://www.casaba.com/products/UCAPI/
PS: IMHO, any coding pertaining to any natural language that separates the (word - meaning) pair relation is hazardous. Since all codes gearfed up for the machines do this, there is a degree of ineveitability in seeking algorithms to build "resilient systems". The business cases can be intircate as there can be an incentive to exploit this innate characterisitc of coding.
Gopal Tadepalli
Seda Akbulut
May also be of use for the UA Day
Apples - Journal of Applied Language Studies is a peer reviewed international Open Access journal housed by the Language Campus at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland. This journal is into publishing since 2001.
The 2011 : Vol. 5 No. 1 is a Special issue on "Mediated Multilingualism". The editorial for this special theme issue titled:
"The Shifting Paradigm: Towards A Re-Conceptualisation of Multilingualism" is attached below for ready reference.
PS: It is very difficult to extract sense from strings. However strings are the only communication coin we can count on. Programming is thus seldom natural.
Gopal Tadepalli
Seda Akbulut Please note that, normally I wish to mark only to the colleagues named in this forum and ICANN Staff. The ICANN Confluence Wiki has been tracking my workspace very well in the past few years. I leave it to your discretion in positioning / posting as appropriate.
Sub: Email Address Internationalization (EAI) : Tracing up to the e-mail Server is just a beginning. The challenge ahead is to trace to the e-mail in EAI and UA Compliance i.e Beyond ASCII
A conservative estimate is that Asia Pacific is Asia Pacific is 4.3 billion people AND 2,300 languages. This stiff challenge of EAI is opportunities unlimited all over the global village.
My choice references are given below.
#1. Internet e-mail Architecture : These slides are sent out to teachers and my edits need not be highlighted.
#2. Universal Acceptance in Brazil: Proof of Concept E-mail Address Acceptance Study - October, 2018
One cannot trace an email to a person. But email providers, ISPs, and law enforcement agencies may identify and track one through a set of emails if privacy protection mechanisms are weak. The first place to start tracing an email is to look for the source IP Address.
#3. Sarmad Hussain and Champika Wijayatunga, Universal Acceptance of Domain Names and Email Addresses (UA) - A Technical Overview
My Choice Handful of Slides: 4, 7, 8, 12, 14
#4. Email Address Internationalization (EAI): A Technical Overview
The Grand Challenge Ahead: Interoperating the sources #1 and #4 as seen above.
Suggestion #1: Separation of "Content Management Systems" and "Content Delivery Networks"
Suggestion #2: Handshaking protocol with the email Server need to be considered. I suggest "protocol" to provision for possible "protocol verifiers". This may be better than test cases, use cases or similar efforts (at best for proof of concept)..
PS: I refer quite frequently to the presentations of Sarmad Hussain, Nabil Benamar and Edmon Chung both online and offline.
Gopal Tadepalli
Satish Babu
Thank you for the Phase 2 EPDP on IDNs Initial Report presented to the CPWG on 1 May 2024.
I am aware that you are one of the members of the IDN Guidelines WG and the report attached below (22 September 2022) needs an update on the specifics of implementation.
DNS is an application layer idea. Smart Data Structures to represent the IDN tables for Programming are much needed. A common format for representing valid IDN codepoint ranges for a set of languages or scripts will be of immense use. An update on this is eagerly awaited. The table and markups are preliminary structures.
The concerns with IDNs are not new. Dr. Sarmad Hussain's tutorial @ South Asian Network Operators Group (SANOG) 20, Karachi, Pakistan (10-16 July, 2012) is very much structured to progress. The same is attached below for ready reference.
PS: Dr. Sarmad Hussain and his team have been updating the IDNs status at regular intervals of time.
Satish Babu
Hi Gopal
Thanks for your input.
On the IDN Implementation Guidelines, the version that I had worked on (v4.0) had some recommendations deferred by the ICANN Board (on the advice of the GNSO Council). Later, the Board published v4.1 after redacting the items deferred earlier.
The Phase 2 of the EPDP on IDNs has recommended that a more rigorous form of the Community Experts Working Group (which was the model used for v4.0) be used to make further revisions to the Guidelines.
It was good to see Sarmad's presentation...it shows how much we have made in the last 12 years.
Gopal Tadepalli
Satish Babu
I have noted your response with thanks.
IANA has a nice statement:
The Repository of IDN Practices was created to support the development of the internationalized domain names (IDNs) by promoting the sharing of registry IDN policies. The policies are referred to as “Label Generation Rulesets” (LGRs), and historically as “IDN tables” or “variant tables.”
I suppose the "Procedures for the IDN Repository" stipulated by IANA are being adhered to in the process.
Gopal Tadepalli
IDNs Early Learnings and Perspectives from within the Workspace of ICANN
"Making changes to the root zone file is ICANN’s responsibility. But this is no simple task. If we get this wrong we could very easily and permanently break the Internet" - Dr Paul Twomey, President and CEO of ICANN, 2006.
I deem it my duty to make this submission which is a preamble to my research in the area of IDNs that has been shared in various ICANN Committees in the past 8 Years.
Satish Babu Thank you again for your persisting efforts on the subjects. As you would appreciate, much progress in technology and supporting tools make viable certain trade-offs that were not feasible earlier. There has been significant progress but we are not out of the lock-in towards the machine. "Language" of the People !!! Putting IDNs to the right of the dotI is a long way to go with unlimited opportunities for the stakeholders.
Yesim Nazlar I thank the excellent support from the ICANN Staff for me to wok on the ICANN Confluence Wiki. I have been trying to trace the related documents for this presentation. Some are found on the Confluence. There are many documents not accessible. It would be great to have a group of volunteers put together all the related documents in a collection. There was a session at ICANN80 on the Confluence Wiki. Some of the attendees may complete the task by ICANN81.
Gopal Tadepalli
Most Useful Start for being Technical with ICANN is RFCs.
DNS-related RFCs with Community Annotations at:
https://rfc-annotations.research.icann.org/
Relevant Standards, IAB Statements, and Reports
https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/rfcs-2012-02-25-en
Experience teaches me NOT to mark any of the RFCs as outdated for any reason.
The idea of preparing and sharing excellent documents related to these RFCs but in simple language has been excellent with ICANN. In my humble opinion, the Community needs to upgrade to "Literate Programming".
Since ICANN has been unclear on the Content related matters, the ICANN Confluence Wiki also falls in line with this on the content.
We need to factor "Content Delivery Systems" ASAP even for ICANN internal work.
Gopal Tadepalli
Justine Chew
String Similarity
Two numbers can be compared by subtracting one from another and checking the result. In engineering, linear vectors (possible notational representation for IP Address) with numbers can be compared based on Cosine distance, Euclidean distance and Manhattan distance. Applications for such representations is not scoped now.
"String Comparison" warrants an algorithm and there are three types of algorithms. They are:
These algorithms have limitations but it is better than doing all similarity checks manually.
Ref: CPWG Call on 3 July 2024 : As suggested during the call, the pricing for this similarity check can be based on the type of algorithm chosen. Again, I reiterate that since a set of rules (fairly strong) have been done and they cannot be verified to be complete, we can keep some options on the reserve just in case.
I suggest that ICANN evolves some internal metric for the "strength of the rules" framed. Only those rule sets that pass a benchmark go operational. Every metric is also biological in nature and it evolves within a given organizational context.
Doing proofs is entirely Unnatural for humans.
Theorem Proving" is not the same as "Game Theory". There are two ways to look at the problem, one in terms of logic and the other in terms of psychology (for Usability). The theorems and proofs that are learnt in mathematics classes are nowhere near like their formalizations. In summary, objections and their resolutions at a price are the best handles for systemic progress. Hope this brings some perspectives to the several discussions in various ICANN meetings.
PS: The anecdotes and some examples that may become good use - cases on "String Similarity" are quite good. Thanks.
Note: DNS is an Application-layer protocol and hence relatively closer to the human. IP Address which can be represented as a Vector of four numbers is at the Network Layer. The devices with the End - Users are more suitable for Network Layer. Application Layer keeps on demanding advanced devices, tools and techniques. The intrinsic nature of technology is "the more we have, the more we want"
Gopal Tadepalli
The 250 + 5 Octets that make the DNS (In my humble opinion, these basics are generically useful).
2.3.4. Size limits .....names 255 octets or less
4.5.3.1.2. Domain.....The maximum total length of a domain name or number is 255 octets.
RFC2181: Clarifications to the DNS Specification (published July 1997) : Only a proposed standard. "A full domain name is limited to 255 octets (including the separators)."
RFC3986: Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax (published January 2005) : Accepted Internet standard. "URI producers should use names that conform to the DNS syntax, even when use of DNS is not immediately apparent, and should limit these names to no more than 255 characters in length."
The RFCs are thus consistent and clear in my opinion.
The devil is in the details
There are differing interpretations in a space of 5 Octets i.e 40 bits in the Domain Name (ONE Octet is 8 bits or One Byte Or One ASCII Character).
A domain name is actually 253 visible characters, not 255, because we need to save 2 octets for leading and trailing length bytes.
The maximum length of a Domain Name : 1 + 63 + 1 + 63 + 1 + 63 + 1 + 61 + 1 = 255
The number of visible characters: 63 + 1 + 63 + 1 + 63 + 1 + 61 = 253 (For a domain that works with emails, this is the limit; the local part must be at least one character and the '@" is mandatory i.e. 255 - 2 = 253)
Common Error: Forgetting that the limit is not the number of characters; it’s the number of octets.
DNS Validation Check fails on 254 and one can still go on a tail spin !!!
If only the Label Names are counted: 63 + 63 + 63 + 61 = 250
Needless to mention adding the Label Length and Null Label makes it 250 + 2 = 252
What is the maximum length of a Domain Name? The question can have FOUR answers justifiable as above.
Pricing Thumb Rule: The shorter and more generic a domain name is, the more valuable and expensive it will be. Every character in the domain name string can cost.
POINT TO PONDER: How to arrive at a single answer like that indicated in the RFC.
Theoretical Computer Science:
Regular Expressions, Regular Grammars and Finite Automata are simply three different formalisms for the same thing. There are algorithms to convert from any of them to any other. For Domain Name Validity Check: Regular Expression will suffice. Regular Grammar (and Rules) make more visible while processing the “state knowledge” i.e a property of the system at any given point of time. DNS is an application layer idea and algorithms are very valuable to interoperate.
PS: Specifically:
Michelle Desmyter The 17 July 2024 CPWG Zoom Chat is not yet on the Confluence. Please see if this comment can be linked to the Chat.
Gopal Tadepalli
(In my humble opinion, these basics are generically useful).
How to analyse survey data: Best practices, tips and tools
https://www.qualtrics.com/en-au/experience-management/research/analysis-reporting/?rid=ip&prevsite=en&newsite=au&geo=IN&geomatch=au
Gopal Tadepalli
The challenge of One World and One Internet is really an attraction in itself. The DNS is an application layer idea and one cannot resist revelling in the realms of programming and (Network) Operating Systems. ELEVEN types of networks are feasible today. They are:
These are directly relatable to the DNS on the internet. Most of them are well documented as well. Faulty network devices, Incorrect network equipment configuration, and User errors can typically cause "network loops" causing slow down or even a failure of the network.
There are other domain specific networks such as Body Area Networks (BAN) - Medical, Wireless Body Area Networks (WBAN), Controller Area networks (CAN) - Automobile and the likes. I have opting to leave them out as they are not from the "pure" internetworking.
Point to Ponder: how much of the internet based data gathering is impacted by these networks.
Gopal Tadepalli
Satish Babu Hadia Elminiawi
The data representation problem in computation is the choice of a mathematical structure to model data, or how that structure is implemented. The nature of data representation can change depending on several factors, including: the task, the context, the pertinent aspect and the features of the data being represented.
Having a choice of representing data is a remarkable progress in computing. Data representation has important consequences for designing and writing accurate and reliable programs.
Programming has moved to the design rather than the code and the fulcrum is the design of smart "data structures". There are copious principles of programming to ensure that the abstraction corresponds exactly to the implementation.
Data Structures for IDNs as a programmers delight is attached below.
Useful References:
#1. Victor Stinner, Programming with Unicode Documentation, Release 2011 (This book is distributed under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license).
#2. Principles for Unicode Code Point Inclusion in Labels in the DNS
Request for Comments: 6912 @ https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc6912
#3. Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS) rating for a given code point must be higher than level 5 (out of 13 Levels). Level 0 is the highest in this method and it is called "International". It is indeed nice that ICANN chose to use the term "Internationalized" Domain Names (IDNs)
As you would appreciate, LGR is one useful representation for deliberations and I am avoiding this representation which is extensively featured in the EPDP on IDNs. My humble suggestion has been to use the positioning of DNS as an application level layer to build resilience through programming systemically.
Notes:
Gopal Tadepalli
Ref: ICANN Board Engagement with ICANN Community Future of New gTLD Program (Monday October 28, 2024 18:00 - 19:00 GMT+03)
Becky Burr with thanks.
Learning from past experiences has always been an ongoing process that requires regular practice.
For some case studies from the 2012 New gTLD program, please visit:
https://newgtlds.icann.org/en/announcements-and-media/case-studies
My observations:
What is common to all these 50+ case studies?
Number of applications received: 1930
Acceptable Strings: 1300+
North America dominates.
17 Safeguards were necessary.
A quick sample of the safeguards is at: https://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/rpm/
IDNs were used for the first time in Arabic, Chinese and more.
Suggestion #1: It is better to deliberate on the Safeguards needed for the ned g TLDs.
Suggestion #2: The geopolitics of the location of the registries need to be mapped.
Suggestion #3: Any collaborations anticipated (For Example: .PHYSIO is supported by the World Confederation for Physical Therapy)
I am familiar with .SHIKHSA and the Sarva Shikhsa Abhiyan specific to India.