Saturday, Sep 04, 2010
Gulf News
Authority wants net to be more multilingual
Dubai Amid a global push to make the internet more multilingual, overseers of the world’s domain names are casting a net for a new board member from abroad. The internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) has issued a call for applications for a new board member with a global view on web-related issues.
In its call for statements of interest, Icann said it is looking for “an individual with a broad international perspective and a background in internet users’ interests, consumer policy and civil society worldwide”. The deadline for submissions is September 6.
Developing policy
Essentially, the new board member would help “to develop policy while serving on the organisation’s board of directors”, Icann said. The not-for-profit agency based in California is responsible for the global coordination of the internet’s unique system of identifiers, such as .com domain names, as well as country codes such as .ae that connect computers across the planet.
Icann recently approved the new non-English high-level domain name in Arabic, .emarat, for the UAE. It said it is undertaking a global search to fill a board seat with an internet user “who does not represent a particular government, corporate or non-profit entity”.
Cheryl Langdon-Orr, chairwoman of the at-large advisory committee, said the new board member would ideally have the best interests of the typical internet user at heart.
“This is all about providing a voice for the average everyday internet user in the global non-profit organisation charged with co-ordinating the internet addressing system. Icann wants to hear from all segments of the internet community, including the individuals who often simply feel they don’t have a voice in policy formation,” she said.
Some of the policy issues now under consideration at Icann include expanding the existing list of 21 generic top-level domains. It is looking to expand its ‘Internationalised Domain Names’ to include languages such as Chinese and Korean.
Big changes, the corporation said, are also in store for internet protocols to transition from IPv4 to IPv6.
The move, Icann said, will “vastly expand the available number of global internet addresses, since the current IPv4 addresses are quickly diminishing”.
“The internet is defined by its unique ability to give everyone a voice,” said Langdon-Orr in a statement. “This is an opportunity to extend that concept of inclusion to Icann’s top level.”
By Derek Baldwin?Business Features Reporter
Gulf News 2010. All rights reserved.
