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Bangladesh, IDN, Internationalized Domain Names, .bd Doman

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If its in the Bangladesh its gotta be .bd!

Saturday, November 28, 2009 byRaqueeb Hassan

It must have been a week while I was attending one of the briefing sessions after the ministerialteam visited The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) as held inSharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

What was it for Bangladesh being in IGF, the Internet governance lobbying ground?

The team requested ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom on the inclusion of Bangla script compatible domainnames as Egypt and Russia has sent similar proposals for their ownIDNs.

By the way, why do we need IDN?

This Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) has been talked at length in this IGF. For last couple ofyears, these IDNs have become a hot topic in the field of Internet governance. As the number of

non-English speakers [non Latin-based script] on the Internet grows exponentially, the limitations ofthe Domain Name System [DNS] have become evident to many.

It has also been said that over half the Internet users around the world dont use a Latin-basedscript as their native language. It might sound great whenICANNwill allow this floodgate to expandthe global reach of the Internet by introducing the top-level domains in non-Latin character sets. Itwill help over half the worlds population who uses alphabets other than Latin, to let them readand write domain names and email addresses in their native languages. But, one thing I know forsure, search is getting hard in coming days.

It is true that the genuine community voice of the local populations in their own new idnGTLDs canbe given a chance to be heard. But, then in case of Bangladesh, adopting Bengali domain mightlead us to the island syndrome where we may not be found by the international communities. It isfantastic solution for localized content, and are we there yet? Some has concerns as we need toavoid restricting new idnGTLDs to governments, many of which are often repressive or takesmonths to process, and we must also avoid handing the market to the Internet incumbents.

What is there for us and why isnt everyones interested for IDN?

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8/14/2019 Internationalized Domain Names (IDN), Bangladesh

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Bangladesh, IDN, Internationalized Domain Names, .bd Doman

November 28, 2009

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Im not disapproving it, but are we done yet, with the keyboards war? Well, there is a keywordcalled priority before we proceed with this IDN thing. Yes, leapfrogging is great idea butsometimes shortcuts lead to nowhere.

And, under ICANNs current plan, the only IDN domains are allowed are in country-code domains

controlled by governments, like Bangladeshs .bd, Chinas .cn, and Indias .in. Here comes themoment of truth, who is administering the .bd domain?

TheUAE telecom regulator [TRA]ispromotingitsfierce campaignfor thelocal domain .ae[I wouldbe surprised if you cant find couple of promotional ads in middle eastern telecom magazines andsites] by saying

If its in the UAE its gotta be .ae!

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has also re-delegated the UAE ENUM space (971)to TRA, which in turn delegated it to aeDA [TRAs initiative] to manage the country top leveldomain [.ae ccTLD] from both administrative and technical perspectives in compliance withinternational best practices. According to TRA, they are aiming to attract around 200,000registrants by 2010!

The current .bd domain administrator has acute shortage of manpower and the regulatory body hasthe domain administration authority in the amended act. As always, blame it on the predecessors;but this is an extra job when you dont haveproper organogramfor it.

If we talk about priorities, what should be done next?

Licensing the .bd domain administration to an able body or to prepare the proposal for Bangla IDN?

Please have a look at the preparation phase ofIDN ccTLD Fast Track Process, welcome to the realworld.

Politically, both would sound perfect even if I subscribe to a different school of thought! Pleasebe advised that it is all about empowerment of local communities doing local businesses. It ismostly about business friendly policies not only Bangla script that matters.

And, please, please fix the keyboard layout!

Happy Eid-Ul-Azha!

Posted in Communications, Regulatory Policy | Tagged bangladesh, ICANN, IDN, IGF, InternetGovernance Forum

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