[nc-idn] FYI: Statement on Internet Keyword Issues (ICANN IDN Committee)

[Alexander Svensson <alexander@svensson.de>]

http://www.icann.org/committees/idn/idn-keyword-statement.htm

[NOTE: The following statement is a recommendation by ICANN's 
Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) Committee. 
As such, the statement reflects the views of the committee, which will 
be considered through the ICANN policy process.
The committee actively seeks comments and reactions to the statement.]
 

Statement on Internet Keyword Issues
15 February 2002 

The ICANN IDN Committee strongly recommends against the introduction of 
Internet keyword services that utilize the period, or dot ("."), as the 
separator between the different name segments. 

The dotted notation format is currently used to define DNS domain names 
- for example, the domain name nyc.moma.museum consists of three 
hierarchical segments separated by dots - and its parallel use in an 
Internet keyword service would generate needless user confusion. 
Because they operate on top of the DNS, Internet keywords can take 
virtually any format, using spaces, colons, or any other characters to 
distinguish segments; there is simply no need for them to take the same 
format as DNS domain names. 

This recommendation is particularly emphatic in the case of non-ASCII 
Internet keyword offerings. Assuming the successful completion of the 
IDNA standard under consideration by the Internet Engineering Task 
Force (IETF), ICANN may in the future be in a position to create non-
ASCII top-level domain equivalents. If a company has introduced a 
proprietary non-ASCII keyword service that utilizes the DNS's dotted 
notation format, its customers may be surprised and angry some day to 
learn that identical DNS domain names are available, and that the 
keyword registrant has no particular rights or preferences to 
equivalent strings in the DNS. (For that reason, the IDN Committee's 
recommendation extends not only to use of the ASCII period, but also to 
any of the various similar-looking Unicode code points.) In the face of 
user complaints, government agencies might consider such confusion to 
have consumer protection implications.

Indeed, to eliminate any incentive that commercial keyword providers 
may have to use the DNS's dotted notation format in order to pre-
emptively "lock up" potential non-ASCII top-level domain strings, the 
IDN Committee recommends that no preference ever be given in the future 
to top-level domain proposals from companies that have offered keywords 
in a dotted format identical to the top-level domain string they seek. 
If anything, such conduct should be considered a negative factor, in 
light of the proposer's demonstrated willingness to generate user 
confusion between its Internet keyword offerings and DNS domain names.

To be abundantly clear: the IDN Committee believes that Internet 
keyword services can be valuable tools for many Internet users; in the 
interest of avoiding unnecessary user confusion, however, keyword 
providers should simply avoid mirroring the dotted format of DNS domain 
names.

Finally, the IDN Committee recommends that ICANN and its Domain Name 
Supporting Organization (particularly the registries and registrars) 
consider how best to educate Internet users about the differences 
between DNS domain names and Internet keywords, particularly if and 
when the IETF's IDNA (Internationalizing Host Names in Applications) 
standard is completed and deployable.


For further information on these issues, see the committee's Briefing 
Paper on Internet Keyword Issues.
[http://www.icann.org/committees/idn/idn-keyword-paper.htm]

The IDN Committee is very interested in reactions and responses to this 
statement, particularly from the various ICANN stakeholders and 
constituencies. Please feel free to email your thoughts to the 
committee at idn-comment@icann.org.