On Thursday 25 June the Board of Directors of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the nonprofit corporation that coordinates the global Internet system of unique identifiers, at the closing of its 32 International public meeting in Paris, unanimously approved the introduction of Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) in the top level of Internet addresses.
The board endorsed recommendations for the introduction of Internationalized Domain Names, to expand the world’s Domain Name System and to work on adapting it to accommodate Country Code Top Level Domain Names (ccTLDs) in scripts other than Latin, such as Arabic, Cyrillic or Devanagri, and ideographic writing systems, such as Japanese, Korean or Chinese.
This process is a major improvement in the development of the Internet as a global information and communication tool as it will enable multi-script addressing and therefore ensure access to millions of users who are currently deprived of this core resource of Knowledge Societies due to language constrictions.
Source: UNESCO Communication and Information Sector