Acouple of interesting ICANN sessions today

[Avtal]

I noticed a couple of interesting ICANN sessions today (Monday Beijing time). I won't be listening in, but others might want to.

16:00-17:45: "Universal Acceptance of IDN TLDs: Joint ccNSO-GNSO IDN (JIG) WG Recommendations for Action" (http://beijing46.icann.org/node/37061). They will discuss plans to encourage adoption of IDNs. My recommendation would be "name and shame": Point out to the world that Gmail, Google AdWords, and Twitter still don't handle IDNs correctly. But this group is more polite. I haven't found the latest draft of their proposal, but you can find an older draft from their public comment period in January 2012: http://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/universal-acceptance-idn-tlds-06jan12-en.htm

17:00-19:00 (yes, this overlaps with the previous session): "At-Large APRALO Multi-Stakeholder Roundtable" (http://beijing46.icann.org/node/37063). The most important topic in the session is at the beginning: "Topic: End User/Consumer Protection with New gTLDs". By this they explicitly include aliasing between .com and .com-in-IDN. This is the same group whose white paper on the subject was discussed here: http://www.idnforums.com/forums/32781-verisign%E2%80%99s-idn-gtlds-%E2%80%9Ccould-increase-phishing%E2%80%9D-say-asian-registries.html. This is one group whose members will not have to be educated about what aliasing is, and why it is important.

Avtal

[squirrel]

Thx

[Avtal]

Thx

You're welcome.

But I need to add a correction. For the APRALO session, I wrote: "This is the same group whose white paper on the subject was discussed here..." Actually, that's wrong. The white paper was from APTLD, which is not associated with ICANN. The session today is put on by APRALO, which shares "AP" (Asia-Pacific) with APTLD.

But it seems likely that the session today will cover the same topic as the white paper (protecting users from confusion in transliterated gTLDs), even if the groups aren't identical.

Avtal

[domainguru]

Just listened live to this one:

New gTLD Program Status Update
http://beijing46.icann.org/node/37041

Really nothing of interest to "us lot", except perhaps that contract negotiations (for those registries that choose not to accept the standard contract), could begin "as early as April 23rd". And those negotiations will be held in private, :shifty:

Full ALL CAPS TRANSCRIPT here - http://www.streamtext.net/player?event=GrandHallA-8Apr2013

If you are really desperate to kill an hour.

Let's hope for something more interesting in other sessions .............

[Rubber Duck]

could somebody define choose? :lol:

Just listened live to this one:

New gTLD Program Status Update
http://beijing46.icann.org/node/37041

Really nothing of interest to "us lot", except perhaps that contract negotiations (for those registries that choose not to accept the standard contract), could begin "as early as April 23rd". And those negotiations will be held in private, :shifty:

Full ALL CAPS TRANSCRIPT here - http://www.streamtext.net/player?event=GrandHallA-8Apr2013

If you are really desperate to kill an hour.

Let's hope for something more interesting in other sessions .............

[domainguru]

could somebody define choose? :lol:

yeah I know what you mean.

The only consideration is timing. ICANN incentivise registries to accept the standard agreement because if you opt to "negotiate the contract", you enter a slower "negotiated contract" path .........

[domainguru]

just listening to Google guy at the moment about what Google + others are doing as a "trade group" to fully incorporate IDNs into the web. And he openly admitted IDNs "don't work at all" in gmail ....

Sorry, I missed the first 30 minutes ...

Universal Acceptance of IDN TLDs: Joint ccNSO-GNSO IDN (JIG) WG Recommendations for Action
http://stream.icann.org:8000/stream07-1-lo

More interesting discussion than the one earlier I hope.

[Rubber Duck]

I was thinking if GAC impose terms, sorry make recommendations, then it is our way or the highway.


yeah I know what you mean.

The only consideration is timing. ICANN incentivise registries to accept the standard agreement because if you opt to "negotiate the contract", you enter a slower "negotiated contract" path .........

[Avtal]

just listening to Google guy at the moment about what Google + others are doing as a "trade group" to fully incorporate IDNs into the web. And he openly admitted IDNs "don't work at all" in gmail ....


Thanks for the update. I'll be interested to read the transcripts once they are available.

I'm glad that someone in Google is at least aware of IDNs, and aware that they don't work in gmail. Google can move quickly when they decide to solve a problem, but first awareness has to penetrate the filters protecting the Googleplex.

Avtal

[domainguru]

Thanks for the update. I'll be interested to read the transcripts once they are available.

I'm glad that someone in Google is at least aware of IDNs, and aware that they don't work in gmail. Google can move quickly when they decide to solve a problem, but first awareness has to penetrate the filters protecting the Googleplex.

Avtal

The Google guy was fully aware of the situation, as was everyone else in the meeting. They understood public trust was eroded every time something went "wrong" with an IDN.

It was very clear from one guy (not the google guy) in the discussion why IDNs don't work properly in many apps . The (western) app makers just *don't care* sufficiently. i.e. decision makers at these companies are choosing not to put resources into supporting IDNs properly because (a) they perceive the market isn't big enough to put the resources in and (b) they don't want to get involved in projects in scripts and languages they don't understand.

So chicken and egg really. IDNs don't really take off with end users until the they "just work", and companies who need to make them "just work" aren't particularly interested in doing so, because 95% of these companies are located outside the "IDN Zone".

That's why the big influx of new IDN TLDs will be a massive *boon* for us.

Any company that has applied for IDNs, particularly multiple IDNs, will demand of themselves and others that IDNs work better across the web.

So bring on all these new IDN applications and get them all in the root ASAP. When Amazon find out they don't work properly in website X or app Y, you can be damned sure they'll put pressure on the service provider to get them working.

Better than me and Jose moaning at FB and twitter, fun as that was :-p