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Subject: PIR Response to IDNs in .ORG
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Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2003 08:32:59 -0400
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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
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