Important Questions for Tina Dam

[thegenius1]

The other thread is getting pretty lengthy , i think it appropriate we start another with specific questions we would like to get answered.

Lets try to do this in a orderly fashion , i suggest we only post 5 questions at a time to give Ms. Dam time to review them and give us a answer. After she answers those you guys can then post again another 5 and so on.

Please # your questions in the order they are posted , ie : #1 ect.

[jacksonm]

OK, here goes, once again:

One of the burning issues on my mind is that why is Verisign permitted to avoid publishing and enforcing an IDN policy which prohibits registration of unnaturally mixed-script domains? One of the key arguments against IDNs, as I am sure that you are aware of, is that they allow spoofing of existing .com domains - the issue is strongest with cyrillic and greek letters which resemble ascii letters. As I understand the situation, if ICANN allows a registry to offer IDNs then that registry must publish a policy such as this for registrars to follow. As a result of Verisign's refusal to stop registration of mixed-script spoofing/phishing domains, Mozilla has taken a vigilante approach to security and implemented a whitelisting mechanism into their Firefox browser, whereby only those registries which disallow registration of phishing domains are whitelisted and display unicode in the address bar - all others (.com, .net) will display punycode in the address bar.

Could you please give your thoughts about this situation?

.

[Rubber Duck]

I don't believe that Verisign is continuing to register mixed script that are considered a risk. They have some legacy registrations that include such mixed scripts but that is an entirely different issue. Many of Verisign's registrations unlike newer entrants pre-date rule changes.

OK, here goes, once again:

One of the burning issues on my mind is that why is Verisign permitted to avoid publishing and enforcing an IDN policy which prohibits registration of unnaturally mixed-script domains? One of the key arguments against IDNs, as I am sure that you are aware of, is that they allow spoofing of existing .com domains - the issue is strongest with cyrillic and greek letters which resemble ascii letters. As I understand the situation, if ICANN allows a registry to offer IDNs then that registry must publish a policy such as this for registrars to follow. As a result of Verisign's refusal to stop registration of mixed-script spoofing/phishing domains, Mozilla has taken a vigilante approach to security and implemented a whitelisting mechanism into their Firefox browser, whereby only those registries which disallow registration of phishing domains are whitelisted and display unicode in the address bar - all others (.com, .net) will display punycode in the address bar.

Could you please give your thoughts about this situation?

.

[jacksonm]

I don't believe that Verisign is continuing to register mixed script that are considered a risk. They have some legacy registrations that include such mixed scripts but that is an entirely different issue. Many of Verisign's registrations unlike newer entrants pre-date rule changes.

xn--htel-55d.net
xn--prn-sed.net

xn--ht-fmc.com
xn--ht-fmc.net


Those can still be regged right now as far as I can see. Note they contain the cyrillic character "О" in place of the ascii "o".

.

[Rubber Duck]

You cannot tell until you actually attempt to register them. Simply looking up what is available won't tell you. Like the Chinese Block you have to go through with the purchase just to be told you have been knocked back.

xn--htel-55d.net
xn--prn-sed.net

xn--ht-fmc.com
xn--ht-fmc.net


Those can still be regged right now as far as I can see. Note they contain the cyrillic character "О" in place of the ascii "o".

.

[burnsinternet]

This would be great stuff to add to the Wiki, RD! See it here:

http://idn.icann.org/Talk:IDNwiki

[thegenius1]

Any Others ?

[bramiozo]

My question about the effect of IDNA-revisions on the rights of IDN owners was still unanswered. Beside the uncertainty caused by the implementation of .idn there is the effect of revisions of the IDNA-protocol. We're already seeing the effect of a change in protocol for the symbol-domains, obviously the owners of these domains have rights over there domains just as we have rights over our present non-symbol IDN's but what if the IDNA-protocol is changed to the extent that current punycodes are simply not resolved into the specific (and intended) unicode ?

[TinaDam]

I will be out of the office for a little while. Meanwhile, can I suggest that you take a look at the status report that was provided for the LA meeting, and also the status report provided there at the public forum? If there are any questions, then send them to me or even go to the wiki (if related to the wiki) and initiate conversations there.

http://icann.org/topics/idn and http://losangeles2007.icann.org/1nov/public-forum

[bwhhisc]

I will be out of the office for a little while. Meanwhile, can I suggest that you take a look at the status report that was provided for the LA meeting, and also the status report provided there at the public forum? If there are any questions, then send them to me or even go to the wiki (if related to the wiki) and initiate conversations there.

http://icann.org/topics/idn and http://losangeles2007.icann.org/1nov/public-forum

Can you give us the quick overview of L.A. since most IDN meetings seemed to be "Closed" meetings.

Any notable progress or agreements in the works? Thanks

[burnsinternet]

I will be out of the office for a little while. Meanwhile, can I suggest that you take a look at the status report that was provided for the LA meeting, and also the status report provided there at the public forum? If there are any questions, then send them to me or even go to the wiki (if related to the wiki) and initiate conversations there.

http://icann.org/topics/idn and http://losangeles2007.icann.org/1nov/public-forum

I asked questions on the Wiki, but no responses. I have been discussing things with other questioners from all over the world via email because no one answers their questions, either.

Most are about where to register IDNs and the status of ccTLD for Russia.

Any chance that .us will have IDNs? We are a country with no official language, as you know.

[bwhhisc]

Hi Tina, nice to see you back to visit the forum. Hope you can stay and chat. :)