Thanks for this feedback, Stefania. It is very useful. Taking into account your suggestions I have reworded the consultation response slightly. There are now just under 30 minutes until the consultation period ends, and I'm about to board a plane, so I'm going to submit this comment with a small note that it has not yet been endorsed by the NCSG Policy Committee but has been reviewed by three members of the Policy Committee. If the PC is comfortable supporting this statement after it is submitted, that is brilliant — if not, it will be my personal remarks. I trust this will be okay. The Non-Commercial Stakeholders Group (NCSG) welcomes the opportunity to comment on the recommendations of the Lao Script Generation Panel (GP) which has developed a Proposal for the Lao Script Root Zone Label Generation Rules. We have carefully considered the proposal and support its integration into the Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone. We congratulate the GP on its excellent work in developing this proposal, and appreciate the diversity and expertise within the GP, which includes representatives of the Laos government, registry operation specialists, and academics interested in the use of the Lao script in top-level domain names. We support enlargement of the root zone to include more character sets, because the principles of geographic, linguistic, and cultural diversity are both important and relevant to ICANN’s activities. We are pleased to see that the GP has given consideration to the potential for consumer confusion between visually similar marks in the Lao script and other scripts such as Thai, and we trust that a comprehensive mitigation plan to avoid said confusion will be in place at the time of implementation. Thank you again for inviting our input on your work. We are grateful to the GP for this opportunity to share our views. As you move forward with your work, we ask that you keep the NCSG updated on your progress. Ayden Férdeline [linkedin.com/in/ferdeline](http://www.linkedin.com/in/ferdeline) -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: Proposed Consultation Response - Proposal for Lao Script Root Zone Label Generation Rules (LGR) Local Time: 10 December 2016 3:12 PM UTC Time: 10 December 2016 21:12 From: [log in to unmask] To: [log in to unmask] Thanks Ayden for doing this. It is greatly appreciated. One minor point: would it be possible to make concrete suggestions towards a "comprehensive mitigation plan"? Just asking, I wouldn't have a clue myself. I realize that this is last minute, though, and that what I suggest might require more work... Either way, I personally (also as a member of the NCSG Policy Committee) support the submission of this public comment on support of our stakeholder group. Thanks again! Best, Stefania ________________________________________ Da: NCSG-Discuss <[log in to unmask]> per conto di Ayden Férdeline <[log in to unmask]> Inviato: sabato 10 dicembre 2016 18.50.06 A: [log in to unmask] Oggetto: Re: Proposed Consultation Response - Proposal for Lao Script Root Zone Label Generation Rules (LGR) Hi all, please find attached a new draft of this consultation response (the text which has changed is in bold for emphasis). Feedback is welcomed: The Non-Commercial Stakeholders Group (NCSG) welcomes the opportunity to comment on the recommendations of the Lao Script Generation Panel (GP) which has developed a Proposal for the Lao Script Root Zone Label Generation Rules. We have carefully considered the proposal and support its integration into the Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone. We congratulate the GP on its excellent work in developing this proposal, and appreciate the diversity and expertise within the GP, which includes representatives of the Laos government, registry operation specialists, and academics interested in the use of the Lao script in top-level domain names. We support enlargement of the root zone to include more character sets, because the principles of geographic, linguistic, and cultural diversity are both important and relevant to ICANN’s activities. We are pleased to see that the GP has given consideration to the potential for consumer confusion between visually similar marks in the Lao script and other scripts, however we would encourage the creation of a more comprehensive mitigation plan. Thank you again for inviting our input on your work. We are grateful to the GP for this opportunity to share our views. As you move forward with your work, we ask that you keep the NCSG updated on your progress. Best wishes, Ayden Férdeline linkedin.com/in/ferdeline<http://www.linkedin.com/in/ferdeline> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: Proposed Consultation Response - Proposal for Lao Script Root Zone Label Generation Rules (LGR) Local Time: 10 December 2016 11:38 AM UTC Time: 10 December 2016 17:38 From: [log in to unmask] To: Tapani Tarvainen <[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>, [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> Tapani, hi- Thanks for this feedback. I am just rushing to board a flight to Dallas, so thought I might quickly send through a revised consultation response. The only difference here is the addition of the sentence in bold, which I hope addresses the legitimate concerns that you raised. Do you think this is adequate? Please note that comments on this consultation close in 12 hours time, so I am also c/c'ing the Policy Committee into this email in the hopes that it may still be possible to lodge this response, provided it is suitable and addresses your concerns (and the concerns of others in the NCSG). The Non-Commercial Stakeholders Group (NCSG) welcomes the opportunity to comment on the recommendations of the Lao Script Generation Panel (GP) which has developed a Proposal for the Lao Script Root Zone Label Generation Rules. We have carefully considered the proposal and support its integration into the Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone. We congratulate the GP on its excellent work in developing this proposal, and appreciate the diversity and expertise within the GP, which includes representatives of the Laos government, registry operation specialists, and academics interested in the use of the Lao script in top-level domain names. We support enlargement of the root zone to include more character sets, because the principles of geographic, linguistic, and cultural diversity are both important and relevant to ICANN’s activities. We offer, however, one word of caution: we encourage the creation of a comprehensive mitigation plan with measures to avoid consumer confusion where there are visually similar marks between the Lao script and other scripts. Thank you again for inviting our input on your work. We are grateful to the GP for this opportunity to share our views. As you move forward with your work, we ask that you keep the NCSG updated on your progress. Best wishes, Ayden Férdeline linkedin.com/in/ferdeline<http://www.linkedin.com/in/ferdeline> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: Proposed Consultation Response - Proposal for Lao Script Root Zone Label Generation Rules (LGR) Local Time: 2 December 2016 4:30 AM UTC Time: 2 December 2016 10:30 From: [log in to unmask] To: [log in to unmask] Hi Ayden, Thanks for picking this up. I'm looking at the proposal waiting for next flight towards Mexico, upon very quick reading it seems pretty good but a few things caught my eye. First, the diphthong treatment: it would seem to leave room for potential confusion by allowing same word to appear in multiple different forms. Now I've forgotten all of the 20 or so words of Lao I once knew and don't really know if that's a real danger (are there any Lao speakers among us?), but we might want to flag that in some way. I was also looking for a mention of Lao numerals, didn't see any, not sure if it could be an issue (and too tired to recall or google how other variants of Arabic numerals have been treated). Another thing I found interesting struck is the analysis of cross-script variants: I'm not quite sure their conclusion to avoid defining any simply because Thai and Lao code points cannot be mixed in a label sufficient - again I'd need a Lao or at least Thai speaker to confirm my suspicion but I could imagine an acronym that'd be confusingly similar with some font. Lacking real expertise I'm not suggesting explicit criticism of any of those points, but perhaps language that flags them and commends the Lao GP for considering them and noting that such issues are in general important and merit thoroughness might work. -- Tapani Tarvainen On Dec 01 08:37, Ayden Férdeline ([log in to unmask]) wrote: > Greetings all, > > I have drafted a brief consultation response on behalf of the NCSG in relation to the [Proposal for Lao Script Root Zone Label Generation Rules](https://www.icann.org/public-comments/lao-lgr-2016-10-24-en) (LGR). Comments can be submitted until 10 December. I consider the proposal to be very reasonable and not controversial, so I was thinking we could submit the following message of support: > > > The Non-Commercial Stakeholders Group (NCSG) welcomes the opportunity to comment on the recommendations of the Lao Script Generation Panel (GP) which has developed a Proposal for the Lao Script Root Zone Label Generation Rules. We have carefully considered the proposal and support its integration into the Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone. We congratulate the GP on its excellent work in developing this proposal, and appreciate the diversity and expertise within the GP, which includes representatives of the Laos government, registry operation specialists, and academics interested in the use of the Lao script in top-level domain names. We support enlargement of the root zone to include more character sets, because the principles of geographic, linguistic, and cultural diversity are both important and relevant to ICANN’s activities. Thank you again for inviting our input on your work. We are grateful to the GP for this opportunity to share our views. As you move forward with your work, we ask that you keep the NCSG updated on your progress. > > > You can read the consultation documents in full here: https://www.icann.org/public-comments/lao-lgr-2016-10-24-en > > Please feel free to edit my statement, especially if you think I have overlooked something. I will forward whatever materials we have to the NCSG Policy Committee to consider submitting on behalf of the NCSG on 5 December, to give them a few days to contemplate submission. Thanks! > > Best wishes, > > > > Ayden Férdeline > [linkedin.com/in/ferdeline](http://www.linkedin.com/in/ferdeline) The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. 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