Massive shakeup of the Chinese market...

[Edwin]

http://www.chinatechnews.com/index.php?action=show&type=news&id=3613

I don't know if it will affect IDN as well, but the fact that they are not going to use ICANN's nameservers any more could have a MASSIVE (potentially negative) impact on Chinese domains.

[IDNCowboy]

http://www.chinatechnews.com/index.php?action=show&type=news&id=3613

I don't know if it will affect IDN as well, but the fact that they are not going to use ICANN's nameservers any more could have a MASSIVE (potentially negative) impact on Chinese domains.
wow ;-( this is a slap in the face towards icann.

[thegenius1]

Wouldnt that make chinese domains more valuable if they create a " intranet" within china, our names will allow them to go Global ?

[jose]

I have posted here before a couple of days ago and I was very criticized for saying:
“That I didn’t trust Chinese domains because they [Chinese Gov] could very well start follow their own rules”

[idnowner]

Seems like part of China's plan to supress FREE SPEECH - controlling information from coming into or going out of China. I would guess this could have a very negative effect on Chinese IDNs and is a very troubling development for the Internet if they stay on this path.

It's not clear, though, if they will have IDN.IDN versions to match those planned by Verisign, and/or how they will restrict Chinese IDN.com and IDN.IDN.

[Drewbert]

Actually, I think the writer might be a little confused.

It sounds like they're splitting away fromt eh ICANN root (ie creating an "alternative namespace", but I don't think that's what's really going on.

My guess is this:

Threee new 2LD's:

mil.cn
gov.cn
ac.cn

as he says "there are now three top-level Chinese domain names under the .CN country indicator. Those three are .AC, .GOV, and .MIL."

"China", "Company" and "Network" are the script equivalents of .com .net and .cn and I think these are simply CNAMED (or similar) at the .cn DNS root server.

True, they will have added those 3 as TLD, bt I think they're still using the zone files from Verisign for .com and .net so haven't split the root.

Of course, he MAY mean they're going to run their own .gov .mil and .ac TLD's which means they'll ignore the ICANN zone files for those TLD - and have split the root. If that's the case, it's a black mark for ICANN in the diplomacy dept.

[IDNCowboy]

Actually, I think the writer might be a little confused.

It sounds like they're splitting away fromt eh ICANN root (ie creating an "alternative namespace", but I don't think that's what's really going on.

My guess is this:

Threee new 2LD's:

mil.cn
gov.cn
ac.cn

as he says "there are now three top-level Chinese domain names under the .CN country indicator. Those three are .AC, .GOV, and .MIL."

"China", "Company" and "Network" are the script equivalents of .com .net and .cn and I think these are simply CNAMED (or similar) at the .cn DNS root server.

True, they will have added those 3 as TLD, bt I think they're still using the zone files from Verisign for .com and .net so haven't split the root.

Of course, he MAY mean they're going to run their own .gov .mil and .ac TLD's which means they'll ignore the ICANN zone files for those TLD - and have split the root. If that's the case, it's a black mark for ICANN in the diplomacy dept.
Here's a better article
http://www.interfax.cn/showfeature.asp?aid=10411&slug=INTERNET-POLICY-MII-DOMAIN%20NAME-DNS

does this mean the .com's will now map to the chinese equivalents?

[idnowner]

does this mean the .com's will now map to the chinese equivalents?

I didn't see anything in that article about Verisign or DNAME mapping.

[thegenius1]

I posed this question a week ago, due to this link http://www.tuantuanyuanyuan.com/ I asked how did he get IDN.IDN ?

[sarcle]

Interesting this was conspicuously posted on icann's homepage just now. also.

http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-27feb06.htm


"The UseSTD3ASCIIRules flag described in RFC 3490 must be set when performing ToASCII conversions to produce ACE names."
This is a verbatim restatement of what was in both v.1.0 and the v.2.0 that was posted for public review, without being the focus of any specific commentary whatsoever.
The preparation of v.2.2 is already in progress and will address a number of additional matters still pending from the previous round of public commentary. The Working Group wishes to do this in light of the IAB report on "IDN nextsteps".


Coincidence?

Something big is happening.

[thegenius1]

Can we get a synopsis of the ICANN article ?

[sarcle]

Can we get a synopsis of the ICANN article ?


"The UseSTD3ASCIIRules flag described in RFC 3490 must be set when performing ToASCII conversions to produce ACE names."


This right here says it. They are clearly saying that the ascii .com is to convert to .idn.

Now whether it is an answer to China's movment or is the reason for it I can't decifer from those articles.

In other words

IT'S GOOD NEWS!

[Drewbert]

I still think they're merely mapping

.中国 -> .cn

.公司 -> .com

.网络 -> .net

It'll only work for users within China, because you'll have to use a DNS server in China (who all refer to the official Chinese master DNS servers that probably block out undesirable domains).

On wednesday, someone in china will type

公司.公司

into their browser, the browser will request

xn--55qx5d.xn--55qx5d

and the chinese DNS will map it to

xn--55qx5d.com

and Bob's your uncle.

It is possible that ICANN will decide to run these IDN->gTLD maps in the root servers and allow other non-latin countries to nominate ther own mappings too.

It is possible that ICANN will decide to run these IDN->gTLD maps in the root servers and allow other non-latin countries to nominate ther own mappings too.

[Edwin]

But it does THEORETICALLY mean that the Chinese NIC could sell 公司.公司 (#1) to somebody inside China who registered it through a Chinese registrar, while somebody else owns 公司.公司 (#2) registered at an ICANN-accredited registrar.

#1 would resolve for all users in China, and no users outside China
#2 would resolve for all users outside China, and no users in China

Given how much the Chinese government seems to want to control what the population can do online, I would think that the above scenario would look pretty appealing to them.

If it happens (and is upheld despite the inevitable protests etc.) then that would drop the value of all "blocked" (i.e. ICANN) Chinese IDN to zero, or thereabouts.

[sarcle]

Yes, but "THEORETICALLY" China always could do this anyway and haven't yet. I don't think it's a coincidence that the articles and the posting at icann was on the same day. This is good news for us.


But it does THEORETICALLY mean that the Chinese NIC could sell 公司.公司 (#1) to somebody inside China who registered it through a Chinese registrar, while somebody else owns 公司.公司 (#2) registered at an ICANN-accredited registrar.

#1 would resolve for all users in China, and no users outside China
#2 would resolve for all users outside China, and no users in China

Given how much the Chinese government seems to want to control what the population can do online, I would think that the above scenario would look pretty appealing to them.

If it happens (and is upheld despite the inevitable protests etc.) then that would drop the value of all "blocked" (i.e. ICANN) Chinese IDN to zero, or thereabouts.

[Drewbert]

Wooh - check out ths part of http://www.icann.org/general/idn-guidelines-22feb06.htm

"4. Permissible code points will not include: (a) line symbol-drawing characters (as those in the Unicode Box Drawing block), (b) symbols and icons that are neither alphanumeric nor ideographic language characters, such as typographic and pictographic dingbats"

So all those dingbat domains are actually not permitted?

And the last paragraph of that report:

"The current restriction of top-level labels to the 26-letter basic Latin alphabet makes it necessary to determine the language attributes of an IDN without consideration of the top-level label. The discussion that is in progress about permitting a more extensive character repertoire in top-level labels may change this, as well as raise need for guidelines specific to the new condition."

But it does THEORETICALLY mean that the Chinese NIC could sell 公司.公司 (#1) to somebody inside China who registered it through a Chinese registrar, while somebody else owns 公司.公司 (#2) registered at an ICANN-accredited registrar.

If it happens (and is upheld despite the inevitable protests etc.) then that would drop the value of all "blocked" (i.e. ICANN) Chinese IDN to zero, or thereabouts.

Oh, absolutely.

[Edwin]

Wooh - check out ths part of http://www.icann.org/general/idn-guidelines-22feb06.htm

"4. Permissible code points will not include: (a) line symbol-drawing characters (as those in the Unicode Box Drawing block), (b) symbols and icons that are neither alphanumeric nor ideographic language characters, such as typographic and pictographic dingbats"

So all those dingbat domains are actually not permitted?

If that's really the case, then posting of those types of domains should immediately be banned in here, as they are likely to be as tainted (long-term) as phishing-friendly ones would be, and it's not the right image for the nascent industry to encourage that kind of thing.

I just feel sorry for anyone who's shelled out $xxx (or more) to acquire one in the aftermarket!

[blastfromthepast]

Edwin, I know you are biased against symbol domains, but quite a few people thought they were rather valuable. In any case, they are legal domains at present.

[Drewbert]

Interesting this was conspicuously posted on icann's homepage just now. also.

http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-27feb06.htm


Coincidence?

Something big is happening.

Don't thing so.

From a quick investigation, UseSTD3ASCIIRules merely means that when soft ware is prepping an IDN name to convert it to ascii they have to make sure that any ASCII characters ALREADY in the name following the normal rules for DNS, meaning letters, numbers and hyphen only, and no leading or trailing hyphen on the name.

So if you try to create an IDN name with an ASCII _ or % or $ or # in it, the nameprep software won't let you.

Nothing sinister.

With the dingbat names, some questions need to be asked of registrars and Verisign.

OpenSRS won't lt you register a name with a dingbat in it.

According to that spec, the registry certainly shouldn't be letting it happen.

Edwin, I know you are biased against symbol domains, but quite a few people thought they were rather valuable. In any case, they are legal domains at present.

Not according to ICANN, they aren't.

And they're God, in this matter, as much as it pains me to say so.

[Edwin]

Looks like it could be a case of lazy programming of the pre-registration filtering on the part of certain registrars i.e. you should never actually be able to register a domain with a dingbat/graphic in it - period.

That is, of course, if we're reading the information correctly. Hopefully somebody can come up with an independent source to verify/debunk it.

[IDNCowboy]

Looks like it could be a case of lazy programming of the pre-registration filtering on the part of certain registrars i.e. you should never actually be able to register a domain with a dingbat/graphic in it - period.

That is, of course, if we're reading the information correctly. Hopefully somebody can come up with an independent source to verify/debunk it.
They should have never allowed the registration of dingbats in the first place if they knew it would come to this....

ICANN really liked people's money that were registering all those dingbats. (ICANN fee)

[IDNCowboy]

Looks like it could be a case of lazy programming of the pre-registration filtering on the part of certain registrars i.e. you should never actually be able to register a domain with a dingbat/graphic in it - period.

That is, of course, if we're reading the information correctly. Hopefully somebody can come up with an independent source to verify/debunk it.
They should have never allowed the registration of dingbats in the first place if they knew it would come to this....

ICANN really liked people's money that were registering all those dingbats. (ICANN fee)

[blastfromthepast]

"When a pre-existing registered name requires a registry to make transitional exception to any of these rules, the terms of that action will be made readily available online. A registry may not even by exception permit code points that are prohibited by the IDN standards."

So: When Symbol exists, it requires registry to make a "transitional exception" with certain "terms made readily available online." But only if said Symbol domains conform to RFCs 3454, 3490, 3491, and 3492 (collectively, the "IDN standards").

[Edwin]

They should have never allowed the registration of dingbats in the first place if they knew it would come to this....

ICANN really liked people's money that were registering all those dingbats. (ICANN fee)

That's up to each registry to implement, not ICANN. At least that's how I understand it.

ICANN issued some (slightly complicated) rules about what could/couldn't be registered as IDN, some registrars understood them and implemented the right checks and balances, but most seemingly did not.

Again, the above is assuming that we're interpreting the ICANN statement correctly now.

Worth noting that the "no dingbats" rule was in version 1.0 of the ICANN spec, issued in June 2003, so the "prior registration" comment likely doesn't apply - it's the registrars messing up, plain and simple.
http://www.icann.org/general/idn-guidelines-20jun03.htm

In fact, having seen the full text of the above guidelines, it seems pretty clearcut that dingbats are invalid in IDN names.

[blastfromthepast]

Version 1.0 20 June 2003: Note to Guideline 2: Except where a registry determines that an exception is appropriate, permissible code points will not include: (a) line symbol-drawing characters, (b) symbols and icons that are neither alphanumeric nor ideographic language characters, such as typographical and pictographic dingbats, (c) punctuation characters, and (d) spacing characters.

Accepting my registration of dingbat characters in 2003 means that they determined it appropriate.

[thegenius1]

I guess that sums up why some registars do "dynadot" and some Dont " Domainsite "

[Edwin]

It also explains why Google and the other search engines won't index such characters - their engineers are able to READ the specs correctly :)

[Giant]

Wouldnt that make chinese domains more valuable if they create a " intranet" within china, our names will allow them to go Global ?

Very good point!

I'm not concerned at all with China building its own " intranet" under .cn, but I hope that IDN.com can be mapped to IDN.公司 (ICANN's) if ICANN decides to implement IDN.IDN.

IDN.com will be more valuable than the rest (IDN).

I got this news yesterday and I discussed with Dave. I agreed with his opinion, there's nothing need to be concerned at all.

[touchring]

I have posted here before a couple of days ago and I was very criticized for saying:
“That I didn’t trust Chinese domains because they [Chinese Gov] could very well start follow their own rules”

Wow, anyone ones to liquidate and run, let me know, i might be keen to buy. :-)

Note: I'll only compensate reg fees.

[Giant]

Another point I want make: China will obey the rules, because more dot-com domains are used in China than dot.cn.

[IDNCowboy]

I hate to say it but the way the Chinese government is now....... it is unstable to invest in .cn names as you never know what they'll do next.... internal internet etc

[kenne]

Wow, anyone ones to liquidate and run, let me know, i might be keen to buy. :-)

Note: I'll only compensate reg fees.


Haha I'll bid 1cent higher to whatever touchring is bidding :)

[Giant]

I hate to say it but the way the Chinese government is now....... it is unstable to invest in .cn names as you never know what they'll do next.... internal internet etc

That's why a lot of people in China like dot-com 10 times - 100 times more over dot-cn.

Again, this is the truth. --- Nothing but the truth :-)

[IDNCowboy]

That's why a lot of people in China like dot-com 10 times - 100 times over dot-cn.

Again, this is the truth. --- Nothing but the truth :-)
still doesn't matter... if they ever did make their internal net you couldn't access outside .com's etc

[Rubber Duck]

I hate to say it but the way the Chinese government is now....... it is unstable to invest in .cn names as you never know what they'll do next.... internal internet etc

But in the same breath you advocate dot RU. Pray tell what is the difference?

[IDNCowboy]

But in the same breath you advocate dot RU. Pray tell what is the difference?
I never said i wouldn't buy chinese names in .cn but I'm holding back a lil for now due to all the recent news.


regarding .ru - - its good to divest......... Since IDN is not introduced yet there are still gems to be acquired once it opens.

[Rubber Duck]

<<The new domain name system also sets three temporary top-level domain names "China", "Company" and "Network">>

Interesting none of the comment below touch upon the word in red!

Well that suggest to me that China is getting going with IDN.IDN whilst the rest of get up to speed. ICANN has been calling for a testbed. Perhaps an intranet within China is felt to be the only sensible way of testing this out without risking destabilisation of the the entire Internet. Perhaps China is selflessly doing everyone a massive favour here.

The introduction of all these new extensions has been on the cards for sometime.

DName will effectively allow any nation to have as many top level domains as its wishes as they can be created by Aliasing of second or even third level country domains.

The only real issue here is about what dot com aliases to. There seems to be a view that dot com need to map to 公司. Personally, I don't think this is critical. The Chinese people are very familar with dot com and don't forcibly associate it with
公司. I personally think that either a phonetic representation, or perhaps an arbitruary simple common Hanzi character produced by one keystroke of a Wubi Keyboard would actually make a much better represenation of dot com. Whatever, it is eventually aliased to, it will quickly become synomous with, so what difference does it really make. Dot com will still be King.

As you will note there the implementation day is now tomorrow. Certain members of this forum have their own means of monitoring Chinese Traffic. If the traffic is still there at the end of the week, I think we can all go back to sleep until Microsoft launches IE 7.0.

[IDNCowboy]

As you will note there the implementation day is now tomorrow. Certain members of this forum have their own means of monitoring Chinese Traffic. If the traffic is still there at the end of the week, I think we can all go back to sleep until Microsoft launches IE 7.0.
There are alot of chinese in america too.....

[Rubber Duck]

Haha I'll bid 1cent higher to whatever touchring is bidding :)

I'll not be buying out what is being junked. Those that know what they are doing will be holding on. What gets junked won't be quality.


If it happens (and is upheld despite the inevitable protests etc.) then that would drop the value of all "blocked" (i.e. ICANN) Chinese IDN to zero, or thereabouts.


If the worse case scenario were to occur it would not be just those invested in China that would be adversely affected. Such a rift would set IDN implementation back considerably and impact up all IDN holdings.

There are alot of chinese in america too.....

I think you will find certain of our number are able to work out where the traffic is coming from. Traffic volumes within China are apparently much higher than outside.

On the timiing of the announcement they really couldn't have left it much later, but it does seem to be consistent with the general pattern of the last few weeks.

There has been much talk about IDN.IDN in China, but it would seem that whilst domains have been able to be registered to date, the IDN.IDN side of things has never actually been live before. As of tomorrow these will actually work (hopefully)! I think you find that this actually being implemented with Verisign's support and will be used as a test-bed for a more general implementation of the DName solution.

[touchring]

I can't seem to find the news on CNNIC website? http://www.cnnic.net.cn

[Giant]

I have posted here before a couple of days ago and I was very criticized for saying:
“That I didn’t trust Chinese domains because they [Chinese Gov] could very well start follow their own rules”

You misunderstood what I said. I tried to be humorous and used different way to say that China was not stupid, they would not go against ICANN because they need international laws more than anyone else.

Also, China is allowed to design whatever China considers good for their internet under .cn. These are ICANN's rules, not "China's own rules".

If you have the opinion that China would follow its own rules any time and ignore or violate the international laws, then I need to stand to defend for China's reputation --- China is a very law abiding country, and China is one of the best citizen of the United Nations!

I say this not because I am friend of China (they make my dot-com investment safer!!!), but because I am friend of the Truth.

Again, nothing but the Truth :-).

[touchring]

Any runners? Pls pm me your list. :)

Note: I'll only compensate reg fee. Once i accept your domain, you cannot sell it to someone else, especially Kenne. :p

[Giant]

CNNIC clarified there's nothing change to the Chinese internet, they just added a second level domain MIL to .cn. That's it, the rests are as the same as they have been since 2002

Apparently, the confusion was created by the un-knowledgeble news reporters.

[moe]

All I want to know or need to know, and this is ball breaker...

Will IDN.com map to IDN.公司 ?

or will IDN.公司 map to IDN.com ?

Are the two domains counted as one domain with only one registered owner ?

If someone in China types IDN.公司 , will it be the same owner who owns the IDN.com domain name.

This is all confusing....

[touchring]

All I want to know or need to know, and this is ball breaker...

Will IDN.com map to IDN.公司 ?

or will IDN.公司 map to IDN.com ?

or are the one domain ?

If someone in China types IDN.公司 , will it be the same owner who owns the IDN.com domain name.

This is all confusing....


IDN.公司 will map to IDN.cn.

IDN.公司 = IDN.cn
IDN.com <> IDN.cn
IDN.com <> IDN.公司

I thought everyone knows this, it's already in the CNNIC WHOIS if you check your registered domains.

Please bear in mind that idn.com can be french, german, korean or japanese (Kanji), so if they are going to map IDN.com to IDN.公司 it will cause total chaos, and the laowais in Shanghai won't be able to access their home country websites.



Chinese Domain Registry WHOIS Data

Go on Query

Domain Name 北京.cn
北京.中国

Domain Status inactive
Registrant Name 北京市人民政府办公厅
Registrant ORG 北京市人民政府办公厅
Registar Name 北京首信网创网络信息服务有限责任公司
Administrative EMAIL liuxiaochen@beijing.gov.cn
Create Date 2000-11-06 00:00
Expiration Date 2006-09-02 12:22

[kenne]

IDN.公司 will map to IDN.cn.

IDN.公司 = IDN.cn
IDN.com <> IDN.cn
IDN.com <> IDN.公司

I thought everyone knows this, it's already in the CNNIC WHOIS if you check your registered domains.



Touchring, you better fix this before more people are confused:
IDN.中国 = IDN.cn

IDN.com <> IDN.公司 is not a sure thing yet.

Moe:
"If someone in China types IDN.公司 , will it be the same owner who owns the IDN.com domain name."
Currently that's not the case. IDN.公司 maps to something (possibly IDN.com.cn) that only users with special plug-ins can read.
In future, this may or may not be the case. .com may be mapped to ".公司" or ".SOMETHING ELSE in CHINESE"

Giant:
how did you confirm with cnnic about "no change other than the 3rd level .mil domains promoted to second level"?

Thanks,
Kenne

[touchring]

Touchring, you better fix this before more people are confused:
IDN.中国 = IDN.cn

IDN.com <> IDN.公司 is not a sure thing yet.


Giant, how did you confirm with cnnic about "no change other than the 3rd level .mil domains promoted to second level"?

Thanks,
Kenne

IDN.com <> IDN.公司 -> it had to be or else how are they going to reconcile with japanese domains? Many japanese and chinese domains share the same characters, so japanese and foriegn websites idn.com websites will be blocked off wholesale.

Of cos, if they are going to respect the integrity of ICANN's idn.com, then IDN.com = IDN.公司 (ICANN issued) will be possible, and the situation will turn in our favour - Giant will be the happiest man on IDNF, and this thread will become irrelevant.

I think CNNIC's aim is to make urls easy to remember for chinese citizens, and not to block off idn.com wholesale - which provides no benefit from the political, social and economics point of view.

[Giant]

Giant:
how did you confirm with cnnic about "no change other than the 3rd level .mil domains promoted to second level"?

Thanks,
Kenne
kenne, Sorry to ask. Do you read Chinese?

CNNIC：域名体系调整意味摆脱美控制说法不准

信产部公告起用新的中国互联网域名体系

2月24日，信息产业部在其网站上发布公告，对先行中国互联网域名体系进行局部调整，在顶级域名.CN下增设了.MIL类别域。新的域名体系将从2006年3月1日起施行。对此，有媒体报道称“中国国内科研机构、政府机构和国防网站将分别与顶级域名“.cn”下设置的AC、GOV和MIL等类别域相对应，从而摆脱美国域名公司ICANN的控制”，2月27日上午记者致电中国互联网信息中心(CNNIC)主任助理刘志江，刘表示，部分媒体所说的摆脱美国ICANN控制的说法并不准确，顶级域名.CN仍然需要通过设在美国的全球互联网域名根服务器解析，但是顶级域名.CN以下的各级域名的解析则由设在中国国内的服务器完成，并不需要通过美国ICANN。即便是从某种程度上讲“摆脱美国ICANN控制”，也不是从现在才开始，而是从顶级域名.CN起用就开始了。

据刘志江介绍，全球互联网域名体系级别包括根、顶级域名、二级域名、三级域名等，级别逐次降低。全球互联网域名的根服务器设在美国ICANN，而顶级域名.CN的服务器则设在中国国内。域名解析的机制是逐级解析，上一级域名解析服务器只负责解析下一级域名的位置，形象的说比如根域名解析服务器就只负责解析出像.CN这样的顶级域名服务器的位置。中国拥有了顶级域名.CN后，提高了中国互联网体系运行的安全性，可以保证如果根域名服务器停止解析.CN域名时，在中国国内仍然可以保证.CN域名下互联网的运营，也可以避免顶级域名下各级域名的解析数据被其他国家或机构获得。

此次信产部公布新的中国互联网域名体系相对于2002年11月22日公布的版本，除了增加了的英文二级域名.MIL，“类别域名”由6个增至7个外，并无其他变化。有关在顶级域名“CN”之外暂设“中国”、“公司”和“网络”3个中文顶级域名和“行政区域名”的内容在2002年11月22日公告中就已体现。(张露/文)

[touchring]

类别域名”由6个增至7个外，并无其他变化。有关在顶级域名“CN”之外暂设“中国”、“公司”和“网络”3个中文顶级域名和“行政区域名”的内容在2002年11月22日公告中就已体现
-> Where's this announcement?

[Giant]

类别域名”由6个增至7个外，并无其他变化。有关在顶级域名“CN”之外暂设“中国”、“公司”和“网络”3个中文顶级域名和“行政区域名”的内容在2002年11月22日公告中就已体现
-> Where's this announcement?

No, this is not an announcement. This is the reply from a CNNIC official to the enquiry of a journalist. Which press journalist? I am not sure. My friend would forward to me any news that I am interested in.

[touchring]

I'm talking about this - "2002年11月22日公告"

[Giant]

I'm talking about this - "2002年11月22日公告"

信息产业部关于中国互联网络域名体系的公告

信部电 [2002] 555号

为了促进中国互联网络的发展，保障中国互联网络域名系统安全、可靠地运行，根据《中国互联网络域名管理办法》第六条"我国互联网的域名体系由信息产业部以公告形式予以公布"的规定，现公告如下：

一、我国互联网络域名体系中各级域名可以由字母(A-Z，a-z，大小写等价)、数字(0-9)、连接符(-)或汉字组成，各级域名之间用实点(.)连接，中文域名的各级域名之间用实点或中文句号(。)连接。

二、我国互联网络域名体系中在顶级域名"CN"之外暂设"中国"、"公司"和"网络"3个中文顶级域名。

三、顶级域名CN之下，预先设置"类别域名"和"行政区域名"两类英文二级域名。

设置"类别域名"6个，分别为：AC－适用于科研机构；COM－适用于工、商、金融等企业；EDU－适用于中国的教育机构；GOV－适用于中国的政府机构；NET－适用于提供互联网络服务的机构；ORG－适用于非营利性的组织。

设置"行政区域名"34个，适用于我国的各省、自治区、直辖市、特别行政区的组织，分别为：BJ-北京市；SH-上海市；TJ-天津市；CQ-重庆市；HE-河北省；SX-山西省；NM-内蒙古自治区；LN-辽宁省；JL-吉林省；HL-黑龙江省；JS-江苏省；ZJ-浙江省；AH-安徽省；FJ-福建省；JX-江西省；SD-山东省；HA-河南省；HB-湖北省；HN-湖南省；GD-广东省；GX-广西壮族自治区；HI-海南省；SC-四川省；GZ-贵州省；YN-云南省；XZ-西藏自治区；SN-陕西省；GS-甘肃省；QH-青海省；NX-宁夏回族自治区；XJ-新疆维吾尔自治区；TW-台湾省；HK-香港特别行政区；MO-澳门特别行政区。

四、在顶级域名下可以直接申请注册二级域名。

五、任何组织或者个人不得采取任何手段妨碍我国境内互联网域名系统的正常运行。

特此公告。

中华人民共和国信息产业部

二○○二年十一月二十二日

[Rubber Duck]

There does appear to be a lot of confusion.

What this appear to mean, however, is that IDN.IDN is going native in China without the requirement of a plug in to resolve the First Level. Obviously, you still need a compatible browser to resolve the second level. I don't know where we are upto on IE 7.0. It could well be that they get the thing before we do! I think what it will mean is that Mac and Firefox users will be able to use First Level IDN within China.

It would seem that at this stage dot Com is not participating. IDN.com will still work, but no form of IDN.IDN will resolve to dot Com unless, there is something that we haven't been told. Perhaps the dot com Alias has been agreed and is being rolled out. The Chinese may have wanted their own done first and would probably only publicise their own extensions. If dot CN is being done by DName substitution then other TLDs could be added at anytime.

None of this will affect Japanese which will almost certainly have a different dot com Alias to Chinese. Which Alias you eventually use depend on user preference. The user will need to set his browser to interpret dot com in local characters. All browsers will soon be able to generate punycode at both level 1 and level 2, but the local Root servers will need to be able to incept that code and do the DName substitution. Clearly, this is only going to happen within China for the time being.
China probably has a lot newer equipment than the rest of the world, so it may be that elsewhere implementing DName is not yet possible. There is a CName work around but perhaps nobody wanted to go there, as it might unduely slow the Root Servers.

This all sounds good to me. If Touchring, Kenne or Giant want to chuck in their portfolios then I am off to see the Bank Manager!

[bramiozo]

Any runners? Pls pm me your list.

Note: I'll only compensate reg fee. Once i accept your domain, you cannot sell it to someone else, especially Kenne.

I think your just a taaaadd premature here ;) .

When indeed special characters are actively blocked at the registry level it doesn't automatically mean that existing names will be removed, it doesn't seem likely since the blocking of these characters is not based on technical but rather on esthetical reasons.
It's not preferable that these names are registered, I think you should view the rule as a statement of intent.

If this ICANN rule will be enforced it can mean two things
1) All special characters are removed from the registry and they're blocked from registration
2) all non-regged characters are blocked from registration and all existing names are untouched

[Rubber Duck]

I think your just a taaaadd premature here ;) .

When indeed special characters are actively blocked at the registry level it doesn't automatically mean that existing names will be removed, it doesn't seem likely since the blocking of these characters is not based on technical but rather on esthetical reasons.
It's not preferable that these names are registered, I think you should view the rule as a statement of intent.

If this ICANN rule will be enforced it can mean two things
1) All special characters are removed from the registry and they're blocked from registration
2) all non-regged characters are blocked from registration and all existing names are untouched


I agree. This appears to have been the Modus Operandi to date.

I too think it woud be helpful if one or two of our number considered "engaging brain before activating mouth".

[bramiozo]

I agree. This appears to have been the Modus Operandi to date.

I too think it woud be helpful if one or two of our number considered "engaging brain before activating mouth".

Not in so many words but panic is in nobody's interest.
I think it will suffice to say that the position of the relatively small group of "dingbat"owners is very fragile compared to the general idn-population.

Concurring with Edwin, it would seem wise to stop selling these special character names until there is clarity about their position.

I don't have a lot of special character names but it would sure be nice if I could keep them :) .

[OldIDNer]

Just as an aside, I'm seeing a sharp increase in English .cn type-ins over the past month or so. I wonder if continuing .cn and IDN.cn promotion efforts are playing a role in terms of increasing awareness of the .cn extension.

[touchring]

信息产业部关于中国互联网络域名体系的公告

信部电 [2002] 555号

为了促进中国互联网络的发展，保障中国互联网络域名系统安全、可靠地运行，根据《中国互联网络域名管理办法》第六条"我国互联网的域名体系由信息产业部以公告形式予以公布"的规定，现公告如下：

一、我国互联网络域名体系中各级域名可以由字母(A-Z，a-z，大小写等价)、数字(0-9)、连接符(-)或汉字组成，各级域名之间用实点(.)连接，中文域名的各级域名之间用实点或中文句号(。)连接。

二、我国互联网络域名体系中在顶级域名"CN"之外暂设"中国"、"公司"和"网络"3个中文顶级域名。

三、顶级域名CN之下，预先设置"类别域名"和"行政区域名"两类英文二级域名。

设置"类别域名"6个，分别为：AC－适用于科研机构；COM－适用于工、商、金融等企业；EDU－适用于中国的教育机构；GOV－适用于中国的政府机构；NET－适用于提供互联网络服务的机构；ORG－适用于非营利性的组织。

设置"行政区域名"34个，适用于我国的各省、自治区、直辖市、特别行政区的组织，分别为：BJ-北京市；SH-上海市；TJ-天津市；CQ-重庆市；HE-河北省；SX-山西省；NM-内蒙古自治区；LN-辽宁省；JL-吉林省；HL-黑龙江省；JS-江苏省；ZJ-浙江省；AH-安徽省；FJ-福建省；JX-江西省；SD-山东省；HA-河南省；HB-湖北省；HN-湖南省；GD-广东省；GX-广西壮族自治区；HI-海南省；SC-四川省；GZ-贵州省；YN-云南省；XZ-西藏自治区；SN-陕西省；GS-甘肃省；QH-青海省；NX-宁夏回族自治区；XJ-新疆维吾尔自治区；TW-台湾省；HK-香港特别行政区；MO-澳门特别行政区。

四、在顶级域名下可以直接申请注册二级域名。

五、任何组织或者个人不得采取任何手段妨碍我国境内互联网域名系统的正常运行。

特此公告。

中华人民共和国信息产业部

二○○二年十一月二十二日


The crux is here - '二、我国互联网络域名体系中在顶级域名"CN"之外暂设"中国"、"公司"和"网络"3个中文顶级域名。'

It seems to say that "中国"、"公司" and "网络" will be created as independent Chinese tlds. There's no mentioning of mapping "公司" to .com and vice versa. Whatever it is, my opinon is that it won't be easy for chinese tlds to take off, and the implementation track record for the past 3 years hasn't been good. People are just too used to .com.cn, and .com. And there's something about Chinese thinking that Westerners might not know - they worship anything American, including the .com.

I think your just a taaaadd premature here ;) .

When indeed special characters are actively blocked at the registry level it doesn't automatically mean that existing names will be removed, it doesn't seem likely since the blocking of these characters is not based on technical but rather on esthetical reasons.
It's not preferable that these names are registered, I think you should view the rule as a statement of intent.

If this ICANN rule will be enforced it can mean two things
1) All special characters are removed from the registry and they're blocked from registration
2) all non-regged characters are blocked from registration and all existing names are untouched

Obviously, the buy offer is not targeted at your goodself. I'm offering a quick exit route for doomsayers. :p

About the special characters, didn't OLDIDNER say that some of his domains were removed because of conflict with Chinese or Japanese equivalents? The best way will be to contact Verisign IDN support for a written clarification. No more ambiguity.

[bramiozo]

Obviously, the buy offer is not targeted at your goodself. I'm offering a quick exit route for doomsayers. :p


Why, you sneaky ... ;)


About the special characters, didn't OLDIDNER say that some of his domains were removed because of conflict with Chinese or Japanese equivalents? The best way will be to contact Verisign IDN support for a written clarification. No more ambiguity.

That's an idea of course .

If such a mail is sent, it would be a good idea to relate it to as much dingbat owners as possible.

Maybe all dingbatters can pm me their name and email ? Mentioning the amount of names would also be helpful but I can understand it if you're reluctant to disclose that.

[sarcle]

The only thing that has me concerned about this for those invested in Chinese is that this site is selling them completely seperate.

Site Link (http://panda.www.net.cn/cgi-bin/Check.cgi?referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.net.cn%2F&domain=%CD%F8%C2%E7&com=yes&net=yes&%D6%D0%B9%FA=yes&%CD%F8%C2%E7=yes&%B9%AB%CB%BE=yes)

.com
.net
.中国(cn)
.网络
.公司

If that's the case .com and .net will stay global but the other's will be intranet.

The problem is then how will icann and verisign effectively dname the .com and .net when it comes to that?

I do see some problems with this.

[kenne]

BTW, the quotes by Giant is in Chinese.

Essentially, it says that the article that started this thread misreported the status of top level "temporary" .公司, .网络. These temporary IDN.IDN has been available since 2002, and there is NO status change for them.