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The New Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) Standard - What it is, and how to use it

Presented by Gihan Dias (LK Domain Registry) [bio] [slides]

Although IDNs have been around for five years, several issues - including weak support for several languages and the lack of top-level IDN domains - have limited its use.

With the expected approval of IDNA2008 [sic] and IDN ccTLDs shortly, IDNs would be much more widely used.

IDN2008 is defined by six complex and difficult-to-read Internet Drafts (which may have become RFCs by APRICOC 2010).

This presentation gives the main features of IDNA2008, and what it means for users, website owners and other domain registrants, application developers, and registries.

It also identifies measures which should be taken by each of the above groups to use IDNs correctly and safely, and the problems which may occur if they are used improperly.