Received: from mailbox.syr.edu [128.230.18.5] by gwia201.syr.edu; Tue, 23 Sep 2003 08:32:00 -0400 Received: from shark.PIR.com (e3.c4b7d1.client.atlantech.net [209.183.196.227]) by mailbox.syr.edu (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id h8NCVtcJ025016 for <[log in to unmask]>; Tue, 23 Sep 2003 08:31:55 -0400 (EDT) content-class: urn:content-classes:message Subject: PIR Response to IDNs in .ORG MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2003 08:32:59 -0400 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft Exchange V6.0.6249.0 Message-ID: <[log in to unmask]> X-MS-Has-Attach: X-MS-TNEF-Correlator: Thread-Topic: PIR Response to IDNs in .ORG Thread-Index: AcOBzqk3e/q1dQgIQrWgxK4lGxYwKA== From: "Bruce Beckwith" <[log in to unmask]> To: "Milton Mueller" <[log in to unmask]> Cc: "Edward G. Viltz" <[log in to unmask]>, <[log in to unmask]> Milton, I understand that there have been some postings on the NCUC mailing list regarding Public Interest Registry (PIR) and our treatment of legacy IDNs, and that this may be similar in some way to the situation with VeriSign and the SiteFinder service. On behalf of PIR, I'd appreciate it if you would post this email to the NCUC list (since the list is now restricted per http://www.icann-ncc.org/pipermail/discuss/2003-September/007247.html) so that it can be clear that PIR's treatment of IDNs is in fact not at all similar to what VeriSign has recently implemented. As you will see in the ICANN/PIR contract (Section C of http://www.icann.org/tlds/agreements/unsponsored/registry-agmt-appk-26ap r01.htm details how new IDN names cannot be registered, and the section titled "Domain Name Character Set" of http://www.icann.org/tlds/agreements/org/registry-agmt-appc-19aug03.htm# C12 which clearly states that "...internationalized domain names, which are not authorized by the current specification") PIR cannot allow the modification nor new registration of IDN domains until approved by ICANN. Due to this requirement, PIR has chosen not to charge registrars (and consequently they not charge their customers/registrants) for the 140,000+ legacy IDN domains that were transitioned from VeriSign, until such time as we can roll out an IDN implementation that works for web sites and email, and follow the recently announced standards. Some legacy .ORG IDN registrants may not like this approach, however, we believe that this is in the internet's best interest, follows the spirit of PIR's mission, and adheres to the ICANN/PIR contract. Should there be further details that can be provided, I welcome inquiries regarding this policy, though I must note that I adhere to the netiquette principle of not forwarding personal emails to mailing lists without the author's explicit permission. Unfortunately, it appears that some displeased legacy IDN registrants do not adhere to this principle. I have stopped my communicating with those folks when I realized that they were taking their complaint to public forums, and that my continued responses were not an expenditure of time that was in PIR's best interests. There is a limit, per the ICANN contracts, as to what we can do with an existing IDN. Once that has been communicated, furthering a discussion in a public forum becomes a pointless exercise. PIR values the community's input, so please be sure that constructive comments are most welcome. Regards, Bruce Bruce W. Beckwith VP, Operations Public Interest Registry 1775 Wiehle Avenue Suite 102A Reston, VA 20190 v: +1 703.464.7005 x105 f: +1 703.783.8287 [log in to unmask]