One of the key parts of the IDN system renders all those fears about our precious dot coms being invaded by shady, foreign characters for naught, because only country-specific domain names, those with two letter designations such as .cn or .ae, are affected by the approval. There are also some very specific restrictions on which languages can be used:

ICANN has set some language restrictions for IDNs: they must be in an official language of a country or territory and have legal status or at minimum "serve as a language of administration."

While that means we won't see Sindarin domain names anytime soon, the application process for IDNs will begin mid-November and documentation is being flung out to developers now. I look forward to seeing the changes internationalized domain names can bring to the internet, but in the end, everything will hinge on those developers supporting them. [Network World via Slashdot]

Seriously, this is incredibly huge. Aside from being one of the single biggest changes to domain names since the "creation" of the Internet, more than 40 years ago, it also finally takes into consideration that more than half the Internet's users' native languages contain non-Latin characters. In a sense, it truly represents the liberty of the Internet.

It's taken many years to get here, but if plans are approved as expected, on October 30, then applications for these new domains can start flying in as soon as November 16. I'm definitely crossing my fingers and hoping that there aren't any let downs, because, as Brian remarked (tongue-firmly-in-cheek, I'm sure), this proposal shows that the white man doesn't own the Internet anymore. [BBC]

Photo by Infosecurity

Two years ago, the Internet Governance Forum was formed due to a compromise between world leaders, consequently the forum decided to meet yearly to discuss matters concerning the information medium. The first meeting concluded that the US should maintain control of the internet, but the position was agreed to be open to discussion on an annual basis. At present, the US government is responsible for the nomenclature of internet addresses. This point is resting increasingly less easy with other world leaders, as the naming system really defines how users make use of the internet. With the internet's increasing power as an information source (propaganda tool), governments globally, understandably, all want a piece of the action.

As the US government funded much of the internet's development, it holds veto rights against Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, (the California based nonprofit organization it selected to manage domain names). The event is unlikely to make any fundamental changes to the infrastructure as it stands, yet the voices of dissent signal an unsettling future for the governing parties that wield control over the internet's current direction. Is it time for a change to the original system? What do you guys make of the underlying discourse? [Yahoo News]