Subject: [I18nrp] FW: Comment on ICANN strategic plan 2021-2025

From: Larry Masinter <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2019 11:55:24 -0800

FYI

From: Larry Masinter
Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2019 11:49 AM
To: [email-masked]
Subject: Comment on ICANN strategic plan 2021-2025

In the area of global unique identifiers, there are two areas where a relatively small investment would go a long way toward the security and governance of unique identifier systems.

a) Improvements to usability of IANA registries, e.g., through use of open source infrastructure. IANA registries, especially around the web-relevant registries, currently have poor participation, and I believe much of the non-use is because the processes for updating, using, commenting, reviewing those registries are cumbersome compared to the alternatives (WikiPedia, Open Source registries, etc.)  I’d suggest as a strategic management of IANA should include some effort to survey the uses, select additional technology, analyze the transparency and effectiveness of the registration methods. I think I would include MIME types and URI schemes, but also look at requirements of communities that currently maintain Internet-wide registries outside of IANA.
b) Aids to use of IDN.  The current focus on TLD selection in ICANN priorities for IDN development should be expanded to include a focus on other barriers to actual USE of IDNs embedded in other globally unique identifiers, including email addresses and URLs. In particular, someone choosing components of an identifier needs some way of easily assessing the usability of the entire identifier for the full range of uses of that identifier, including comparison, recognition, and transcription. There is a gap between the development of TLD rules and the actual end-users that should be addressed in the timeframe of this strategic plan.

Larry
--
https://LarryMasinter.net#URL

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From: John C Klensin <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2019 20:05:08 -0500

--On Tuesday, January 29, 2019 11:55 -0800 Larry Masinter
<[email-masked]> wrote:

>...
> b) Aids to use of IDN.  The current focus on TLD selection in
> ICANN priorities for IDN development should be expanded to
> include a focus on other barriers to actual USE of IDNs
> embedded in other globally unique identifiers, including email
> addresses and URLs. In particular, someone choosing components
> of an identifier needs some way of easily assessing the
> usability of the entire identifier for the full range of uses
> of that identifier, including comparison, recognition, and
> transcription. There is a gap between the development of TLD
> rules and the actual end-users that should be addressed in the
> timeframe of this strategic plan.

Are you aware that ICANN has a relatively large and well-funded
activity called "Universal Acceptance" that is chartered to
address several (probably most) of the issues you list above?
See www.uasg.tech. for more information.  I'm sure they would
appreciate your contributions and other help.

    john