A Tangled Web: Issues of I18N, Domain Names, and the Other Internet protocols
RFC 2825
Document | Type |
RFC - Informational
(May 2000; Errata)
Was draft-iab-i18n-dns (iab)
|
|
---|---|---|---|
Authors | IAB , Leslie Daigle | ||
Last updated | 2013-03-02 | ||
Stream | IAB | ||
Formats | plain text html pdf htmlized bibtex | ||
Stream | IAB state | (None) | |
Consensus Boilerplate | Unknown | ||
RFC Editor Note | (None) |
Network Working Group Internet Architecture Board (IAB) Request for Comments: 2825 L. Daigle, Editor Category: Informational May 2000 A Tangled Web: Issues of I18N, Domain Names, and the Other Internet protocols Status of this Memo This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. Copyright Notice Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000). All Rights Reserved. Abstract The goals of the work to "internationalize" Internet protocols include providing all users of the Internet with the capability of using their own language and its standard character set to express themselves, write names, and to navigate the network. This impacts the domain names visible in e-mail addresses and so many of today's URLs used to locate information on the World Wide Web, etc. However, domain names are used by Internet protocols that are used across national boundaries. These services must interoperate worldwide, or we risk isolating components of the network from each other along locale boundaries. This type of isolation could impede not only communications among people, but opportunities of the areas involved to participate effectively in e-commerce, distance learning, and other activities at an international scale, thereby retarding economic development. There are several proposals for internationalizing domain names, however it it is still to be determined whether any of them will ensure this interoperability and global reach while addressing visible-name representation. Some of them obviously do not. This document does not attempt to review any specific proposals, as that is the work of the Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) Working Group of the IETF, which is tasked with evaluating them in consideration of the continued global network interoperation that is the deserved expectation of all Internet users. IAB Informational [Page 1] RFC 2825 Issues: I18N, Domain Names, and Internet Protocols May 2000 This document is a statement by the Internet Architecture Board. It is not a protocol specification, but an attempt to clarify the range of architectural issues that the internationalization of domain names faces. 1. A Definition of Success The Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) Working Group is one component of the IETF's continuing comprehensive effort to internationalize language representation facilities in the protocols that support the global functioning of the Internet. In keeping with the principles of rough consensus, running code, architectural integrity, and in the interest of ensuring the global stability of the Internet, the IAB emphasizes that all solutions proposed to the (IDN) Working Group will have to be evaluated not only on their individual technical features, but also in terms of impact on existing standards and operations of the Internet and the total effect for end-users: solutions must not cause users to become more isolated from their global neighbors even if they appear to solve a local problem. In some cases, existing protocols have limitations on allowable characters, and in other cases implementations of protocols used in the core of the Internet (beyond individual organizations) have in practice not implemented all the requisite options of the standards. 2. Technical Challenges within the Domain Name System (DNS) In many technical respects, the IDN work is not different from any other effort to enable multiple character set representations in textual elements that were traditionally restricted to English language characters. One aspect of the challenge is to decide how to represent the names users want in the DNS in a way that is clear, technically feasible, and ensures that a name always means the same thing. Several proposals have been suggested to address these issues. These issues are being outlined in more detail in the IDN WG's evolving draft requirements document; further discussion is deferred to the WG and its documents. 3. Integrating with Current Realities Nevertheless, issues faced by the IDN working group are complex and intricately intertwined with other operational components of the Internet. A key challenge in evaluating any proposed solution is the analysis of the impact on existing critical operational standards IAB Informational [Page 2] RFC 2825 Issues: I18N, Domain Names, and Internet Protocols May 2000 which use fully-qualified domain names [RFC1034], or simply host names [RFC1123]. Standards-changes can be effected, but the bestShow full document text