Last week the 64th ICANN conference, with over 2,000 participants from various countries, took place in Koba, Japan. Among other topics, the conference focused on Universal Acceptance, the problem of removing all technical barriers that might hinder access to internationalized domain names (IDN) and new TLDs and email addresses in non-Latin languages. This issue was among the most important at the Public Forum, a main ICANN 64 section where any participant could ask the company’s board a question. This topic also arose at other meetings. All the speakers agreed that it was necessary to step up educational work today as well as to clearly coordinate all the stakeholders in the processes of Universal Acceptance.
The election of a new chair of the Universal Acceptance Steering Group (UASG) was held before the Public Forum, and Ajay Data from India was elected via a secret vote. Ajay Data created Xgenplus and is a well-respected expert on Universal Acceptance.
UASG members met with the delegation of the Coordination Center for TLDs .RU/.РФ and representatives of the Russian .МОСКВА and .ДЕТИ IDNs at ICANN 64. During the meeting, the participants agreed to cooperate closely in developing information materials promoting the ideas of Universal Acceptance in the region.
In addition, a joint section with ICANN support organizations and consulting committees was held on the development of IDN and Universal Acceptance. Head of the Coordination Center’s Department of External Communications Maria Kolesnikova spoke at the section. She described the efforts the Russian registry put into this initiative and how to work with end users: “It is impossible to develop IDN and email in national languages without largely informing users about the opportunities they provide. This is why a new trend is being born right in front us. I don’t only mean Universal Acceptance, but Universal Awareness too.”
“The work carried out to provide Universal Acceptance of IDNs has reached a new level, and the recent ICANN conference has demonstrated that the industry is very interested in IDNs. This year the Coordination Center for TLDs .RU./.РФ is preparing an entire series of events where this topic will come up, and the Russian Internet Governance Forum on April 8 will be the first one of these,” said Director of the Coordination Center Andrey Vorobyev.
The next ICANN meeting is scheduled to take place in Marrakesh, Morocco, which will host the ICANN Policy Forum.
