Legal reasons for IDN

[Whois-Search]

Many of you will have seen the IDN argument on Nom-steer and as I can't be bothered to "start them off" again I thought I'd post this here instead.......

As Firefox 2.0 and Internet Explorer 7 now support IDN with added spoofing/phishing filters:

IDN-enabled TLDs

Internet Explorer 7: features

Will people now expect to register IDN .uk domain names? What if I was called Cédric and wanted Cédric.co.uk ?

Also could these people sue Nominet if they did not provide it on accessibility grounds?

 

[fred]

Also could these people sue Nominet if they did not provide it on accessibility grounds?

IANAL... but.... I want a car that runs on air, costs less than £20 and never breaks down. No car company provides this but I can't sue them!

[edit]

Correction.... I could sue them, but I would would not win

 

[Whois-Search]

I was thinking more of:

Arcadia in disability access row:
BBC NEWS | Business | Arcadia in disability access row

Vodafone Special needs
Vodafone Special needs

And what happens if the W3C link it to accessibility? W3C Internationalization (I18n) Activity

 

[Whois-Search]

IT Week - 06 Nov 2006

***** Taylor of .uk registry Nominet said the issue of IDNs was discussed at great length at the recent UN Internet Governance Forum in Athens. Progress to fully internationalised domain names is important because "they are a symbol for many of the American-centric Domain Name System", she added.

New plan to shape the future of the web - IT Week

Time for the PAB to get their act together and approve it.

 

[retired_member6]

So they're just on about making all domains accept all characters? I thought they were on about bringing out another extension for it.

 

[gordon]

So they're just on about making all domains accept all characters? I thought they were on about bringing out another extension for it.

The real answer is both are an issue, but the international issue is more related to the top level as you identify. After all why should the Chinese not get to use ".中" or the Japanese ".日本" instead of .cn/.jp to save switching character sets?

The issue also exists for current domains since they are used for international trade and why shouldn't a UK company selling to China that wants to also promote its UK origin not use a Chinese .co.uk domain for example?

Gordon