View source for Internationalized domain name

{{Short description|Type of internet domain name}}
{{redirect|IDNA|the city|Idna}}
[[Image:IDN-utopia-greek.jpg|thumbnail|Example of Greek IDN with domain name in non-[[Latin alphabet]]: ουτοπία.δπθ.gr ([[Punycode]] is xn--kxae4bafwg.xn--pxaix.gr)]]

An '''internationalized domain name''' ('''IDN''') is an [[Internet]] [[domain name]] that contains at least one label displayed in [[Application software|software applications]], in whole or in part, in non-Latin script or [[alphabet]]{{efn|Such as [[Arabic]], [[Bengali language|Bengali]], [[Chinese character|Chinese]] ([[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]], [[Simplified Chinese characters|simplified]] or [[Traditional Chinese characters|traditional]]), [[Cyrillic alphabet|Cyrillic]] (including [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Serbian language|Serbian]] and [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]]), [[Devanagari]], [[Greek alphabet|Greek]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], [[Hindi]], [[Tamil language|Tamil]] or [[Thai language|Thai]].}} or in the [[Latin alphabet]]-based characters with [[diacritics]] or [[Typographic ligature|ligatures]].{{efn|Such as [[French language|French]], [[German language|German]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Polish language|Polish]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] or [[Spanish language|Spanish]].}} These [[writing system]]s are encoded by computers in [[Variable-width encoding|multibyte]] [[Unicode]]. Internationalized domain names are stored in the [[Domain Name System]] (DNS) as [[ASCII]] strings using [[Punycode]] transcription.

The DNS, which performs a lookup service to translate mostly user-friendly names into network addresses for locating Internet resources, is restricted in practice{{efn|{{IETF RFC|2181}}, ''Clarifications to the DNS Specification'': section 11 explicitly allows any binary string. Non-ASCII encodings such as [[UTF-8]] have indeed been (privately) used over DNS per {{IETF RFC|6055}}. The system of internet domain name registration is, however, totally incapable of handling non-ASCII encodings, hence the restriction; see also {{IETF RFC| 5890}} §§ 2.2, 2.3 on the format of names.}} to the use of ASCII characters, a practical limitation that initially set the standard for acceptable domain names. The internationalization of domain names is a technical solution to translate names written in language-native scripts into an ASCII text representation that is compatible with the DNS. Internationalized domain names can only be used with applications that are specifically designed for such use; they require no changes in the infrastructure of the Internet.

IDN was originally proposed in December 1987 by Martin Dürst<ref>{{cite news|author=Dürst, Martin J.|title=Internet Draft: Internationalization of Domain Names|newspaper=Ietf Datatracker |url=https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-duerst-dns-i18n-00|date=December 10, 1996|publisher=The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), Internet Society (ISOC)|access-date=2009-10-31}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Dürst, Martin J.|title=URLs and internationalization|url=http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/uri/1996Dec/0038.html|date=December 20, 1996|publisher=World Wide Web Consortium|access-date=2009-10-30}}</ref> and implemented in 1990 by Tan Juay Kwang and Leong Kok Yong under the guidance of Tan Tin Wee.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}} After much debate and many competing proposals, a system called ''Internationalizing Domain Names in Applications'' (IDNA)<ref>{{Cite IETF |rfc=3490 |title=Internationalizing Domain Names in Applications (IDNA) |first1=P. |last1=Faltstrom |first2=P. |last2=Hoffman |first3=A. |last3=Costello |date=March 2003}}</ref> was adopted as a standard, and has been implemented in several [[top-level domain]]s.

In IDNA, the term ''internationalized domain name'' means specifically any domain name consisting only of labels to which the IDNA ToASCII [[algorithm]] (see below) can be successfully applied. In March 2008, the [[IETF]] formed a new IDN working group to update<ref>{{cite news |url=https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-idnabis-protocol |title=Internationalized Domain Names in Applications (IDNA): Protocol (RFC 5891 Draft)|author=John Klensin |newspaper=Ietf Datatracker |author-link=John Klensin |date=January 6, 2010 | publisher=[[Internet Engineering Task Force]] | access-date=2016-08-12}}</ref> the current IDNA protocol. In April 2008, [[Afilias]] together with [[UN-ESCWA]] and the [[Public Interest Registry]] (PIR) launched the Arabic Script in IDNs Working Group (ASIWG), which comprised experts in DNS, [[ccTLD]] operators, business, academia, as well as members of regional and international organizations, drawn from [[Egypt]], [[The Gambia|Gambia]], [[Iran]], [[Jordan]], [[Tunisia]], [[Algeria]], [[Sudan]], [[Somalia]], [[Djibouti]], [[Kuwait]], [[Pakistan]], [[Saudi Arabia]], [[Syria]], [[United Arab Emirates|UAE]] and [[Malaysia]]. Chaired by Afilias's Ram Mohan, ASIWG aimed to develop a unified IDN table for the [[Arabic script]], and is an example of community collaboration that helps local and regional experts engage in global policy development, as well as technical standardization.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.unescwa.org/sites/www.unescwa.org/files/publications/files/ictd-09-7-e.pdf|title=Internet Governance: Challenges and Opportunities for the ESCWA Member Countries|last=Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA)|first=United Nations|date=15 June 2009|work=United Nations|access-date=7 Dec 2019}}</ref>

In October 2009, the [[ICANN|Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers]] (ICANN) approved the creation of [[internationalized country code top-level domain]]s (IDN ccTLDs) in the Internet that use the IDNA standard for native language scripts.<ref>{{cite press release|title=ICANN Bringing the Languages of the World to the Global Internet|url=http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-30oct09-en.htm|date=October 30, 2009|publisher=Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)|access-date=2009-10-30}}</ref><ref name=BBC-200910>{{cite news|title=Internet addresses set for change |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8333194.stm|date=October 30, 2009|publisher=BBC News|access-date=2009-10-30}}</ref> In May 2010, the first IDN ccTLDs were installed in the [[DNS root zone]].<ref name="ICANN-2010-05-05">{{cite press release|title=First IDN ccTLDs now available|url=https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2010-05-05-en|date=May 5, 2010|publisher=Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)|access-date=2010-05-06}}</ref>

==Internationalizing Domain Names in Applications==
Internationalizing Domain Names in Applications (IDNA) is a mechanism defined in 2003 for handling internationalized domain names containing non-[[ASCII]] characters.

Although the [[Domain Name System]] supports non-ASCII characters, applications such as [[e-mail]] and [[web browser]]s restrict the characters that can be used as domain names for purposes such as a [[hostname]]. Strictly speaking, it is the network protocols these applications use that have restrictions on the characters that can be used in domain names, not the applications that have these limitations or the DNS itself.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}} To retain backward compatibility with the installed base, the IETF IDNA Working Group decided that internationalized domain names should be converted to a suitable ASCII-based form that could be handled by web browsers and other user applications.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}} IDNA specifies how this conversion between names written in non-ASCII characters and their ASCII-based representation is performed. {{citation needed|date=January 2020}}

An IDNA-enabled application can convert between the internationalized and [[ASCII]] representations of a domain name. It uses the ASCII form for DNS lookups but can present the internationalized form to users who presumably prefer to read and write domain names in non-ASCII scripts such as Arabic or Hiragana. Applications that do not support IDNA will not be able to handle domain names with non-ASCII characters, but will still be able to access such domains if given the (usually rather cryptic) ASCII equivalent.

== Guidelines for the Implementation of Internationalized Domain Names ==
A technical community working group to create the first IDN Guidelines was created<ref>Mohan, Dam, Karp, Kane & Hotta, [http://www.icann.org/general/idn-guidelines-20jun03.htm IDN Guidelines 1.0], ICANN, June 2003</ref> in August 2002, consisting of Ram Mohan (Afilias), Hiro Hotta (JPRS), Pat Kane (Verisign), Cary Karp (.museum) and Tina Dam (ICANN). Version 1.0 of these Guidelines was published<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mohan, Dam, Karp, Kane & Hotta |date=20 June 2023 |title=Guidelines for the Implementation of Internationalized Domain Names {{!}} Version 1.0 |url=https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/idn-guidelines-2003-06-20-en |website=ICANN}}</ref> on 20 June 2003, coinciding with the launch of deployment of IDNs under the IETF's Proposed Standard reflected in RFCs 3490, 3491, and 3492. After the publication of the Guidelines, it was possible to register [[.jp]] domains using this system in July 2003 and [[.info]]<ref>Mohan, Ram, [https://www.iana.org/domains/idn-tables/tables/info_de_1.0.html German IDN], [http://www.afilias.info/register/idn/DE-INFO_IDN_Language_Table-v1-1.pdf German Language Table] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061218142725/http://www.afilias.info/register/idn/DE-INFO_IDN_Language_Table-v1-1.pdf |date=2006-12-18 }}, March 2003</ref> domains in March 2004. Several other top-level domain registries started accepting registrations in 2004 and 2005. These Guidelines have been updated<ref>Mohan, Dam, Karp, Kane, Hotta, El Bashir, [http://www.icann.org/general/idn-guidelines-14nov05.htm IDN Guidelines 2.0], ICANN, November 2005</ref> to respond to [[phishing]] concerns as well as to accommodate<ref>{{Cite web |last=ICANN |date=Sep 22, 2022 |title=IDN Guidelines v4.1 |url=https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/idn-guidelines-22sep22-en.pdf |website=ICANN}}</ref> IDN variants. An ICANN working group focused on country-code domain names at the top level was formed in November 2007<ref>{{cite news|author=Jesdanun, Anick (Associated Press) |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=3813334 |title=Group on Non-English Domains Formed |date=2 November 2007 |access-date=2 November 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220044332/https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=3813334 |archive-date=December 20, 2008 }}</ref> and promoted jointly by the country code supporting organization and the Governmental Advisory Committee.

Additionally, ICANN supports the community-led [[Universal Acceptance]] Steering Group, founded by Ram Mohan in 2015, which seeks to promote the usability of IDNs and other new gTLDS in all applications, devices, and systems.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/universal-acceptance-2012-02-25-en|title=ICANN – Universal Acceptance|date=February 25, 2012|website=ICANN}}</ref>

[[Mozilla Application Suite|Mozilla]] 1.4, [[Netscape Navigator|Netscape]] 7.1, and [[Opera (web browser)|Opera]] 7.11 were among the first applications to support IDNA. A browser plugin is available for Internet Explorer 6 to provide IDN support. Internet Explorer 7.0<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/internet-explorer/ie-developer/|title=Internet Explorer for Developers|date=October 22, 2021|website=learn.microsoft.com}}</ref> and [[Windows Vista]]'s URL APIs provide native support for IDN.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/intl/handling-internationalized-domain-names--idns|title=Handling Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) - Win32 apps|date=January 7, 2021|website=learn.microsoft.com}}</ref>

===ToASCII and ToUnicode===
{{More citations needed section|date=July 2025}}

The conversions between ASCII and non-ASCII forms of a domain name are accomplished by a pair of algorithms called ToASCII and ToUnicode. These algorithms are not applied to the domain name as a whole, but rather to individual labels. For example, if the domain name is www.example.com, then the labels are ''www'', ''example'', and ''com''. ToASCII or ToUnicode is applied to each of these three separately.

ToASCII leaves ASCII labels unchanged. It fails if the label is unsuitable for the Domain Name System.  For labels containing at least one non-ASCII character, ToASCII applies the [[Nameprep]] algorithm. This converts the label to lowercase and performs other normalization. ToASCII then translates the result to ASCII, using [[Punycode]].<ref name="rfc3492">RFC 3492, ''Punycode: A Bootstring encoding of Unicode for Internationalized Domain Names in Applications (IDNA)'', A. Costello, The Internet Society (March 2003)</ref> Finally, it prepends the four-character string "<code>xn--</code>".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.atm.tut.fi/list-archive/ietf-announce/msg13572.html |title=Completion of IANA Selection of IDNA Prefix |author=Internet Assigned Numbers Authority |author-link=Internet Assigned Numbers Authority |website=www.atm.tut.fi |date=2003-02-14 |access-date=2017-09-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100427154004/http://www.atm.tut.fi/list-archive/ietf-announce/msg13572.html |archive-date=2010-04-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref> This four-character string is called the ASCII Compatible Encoding (''ACE'') prefix.  It is used to distinguish labels encoded in Punycode from ordinary ASCII labels.  The ToASCII algorithm can fail in several ways.  For example, the final string could exceed the 63-character limit of a DNS label. A label for which ToASCII fails cannot be used in an internationalized domain name.

The function ToUnicode reverses the action of ToASCII, stripping off the ACE prefix and applying the Punycode decode algorithm. It does not reverse the Nameprep processing, since that is merely a normalization and is by nature irreversible. Unlike ToASCII, ToUnicode always succeeds, because it simply returns the original string if decoding fails. In particular, this means that ToUnicode does not affect a string that does not begin with the ACE prefix.

===Example of IDNA encoding===
IDNA encoding may be illustrated using the example domain <code>Bücher.example</code>. ({{langx|de|Bücher|lit=books}}.) This domain name has two labels, ''Bücher'' and ''example''. The second label is pure ASCII and is left unchanged. The first label is processed by Nameprep to give <code>bücher</code>, and then converted to [[Punycode]] to result in <code>bcher-kva</code>. It is then prefixed with <code>xn--</code> to produce <code>xn--bcher-kva</code>. The resulting name suitable for use in DNS records and queries is therefore <code>xn--bcher-kva.example</code>.

== Arabic Script IDN Working Group (ASIWG) ==
{{tone|section|date=May 2020}}
The Arab region, encompassing approximately 5% of the global population, exhibits a disproportionately low internet usage rate. As of the late 2000s, internet penetration within the Arab world stood at approximately 11% of the population, significantly below the global average of 21.9%. Despite this, the region experienced substantial internet usage growth between 2000 and 2008, registering a 1,426% increase, far exceeding the global average of 305.5% for the same period.

Factors influencing internet adoption in the Arab region include but are not limited to, linguistic accessibility. The availability of Domain Name System (DNS) services in Arabic script (Internationalized Domain Names, IDNs) is posited to have the potential to further stimulate internet usage. IDN implementation is anticipated to provide Arab internet users with the ability to register domains in their native language and script, thereby facilitating the development of localized applications and services. This advancement is expected to broaden access and enhance the relevance of internet resources for Arab-speaking populations.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/idn-2012-02-25-en|title=Internationalized Domain Names - ICANN|website=www.icann.org|access-date=2019-12-08}}</ref>

In April 2008, [[Afilias]] together with [[UN-ESCWA]] and the [[Public Interest Registry]] (PIR) launched the Arabic Script in IDNs Working Group (ASIWG), which comprised experts in DNS, [[ccTLD]] operators, business, academia, as well as members of regional and international organizations, drawn from Egypt, Gambia, Iran, Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, Sudan, Somalia, Djibouti, Kuwait, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, UAE and Malaysia. Chaired by Afilias's Ram Mohan, ASIWG aimed to develop a unified IDN table for the [[Arabic script]], the first of its kind.

The ASIWG's work led to the creation of the first Root Zone Generation Rules (RZ-LGR-1) and covered the Arabic script. It represented the first harmonized repertoire for the Arabic script, not including combining marks or code point sequences, leading to a simplified and technically sound outcome that resulted in the integration of Arabic script into the Root Zone of the Internet.<ref>{{Cite web |last=ICANN |date=Sep 22, 2022 |title=Root Zone Label Generation Rules |url=https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/root-zone-lgr-2015-06-21-en |website=ICANN}}</ref>

==Top-level domain implementation==
In 2009, ICANN decided to implement a new class of top-level domains, assignable to countries and independent regions, similar to the rules for [[country code top-level domains]]. However, the domain names may be any desirable string of characters, symbols, or glyphs in the language-specific, non-Latin alphabet or script of the applicant's language, within certain guidelines to assure sufficient visual uniqueness.

The process of installing IDN country code domains began with a long period of testing in a set of subdomains in the [[.test|<code>test</code>]] top-level domain. Eleven domains used language-native scripts or alphabets, such as "δοκιμή",<ref>[http://isvc3.icann.org/reports/2007/testetal-report-01aug2007.html IANA Report on Delegation of Eleven Evaluative Internationalised Top-Level Domains]{{Dead link|date=January 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> meaning ''test'' in [[Greek alphabet|Greek]].

These efforts culminated in the creation of the first [[internationalized country code top-level domain]]s (IDN ccTLDs) for production use in 2010.

In the Domain Name System, these domains use an [[ASCII]] representation consisting of the prefix "<code>xn--</code>" followed by the [[Punycode]] translation of the [[Unicode]] representation of the language-specific alphabet or script glyphs. For example, the [[Cyrillic]] name of Russia's IDN ccTLD is "рф". In Punycode representation, this is "<code>p1ai</code>", and its DNS name is "<code>xn--p1ai</code>".

==Non-IDNA or non-ICANN registries that support non-ASCII domain names==
Other registries support non-ASCII domain names. The company ThaiURL.com in Thailand supports ".com" registrations via its own IDN encoding, [[ThaiURL]]. However, since most modern browsers only recognize IDNA/Punycode IDNs, ThaiURL-encoded domains must be typed in or linked to in their encoded form, and they will be displayed thus in the address bar. This limits their usefulness; however, they are still valid and universally accessible domains.

Several registries support Punycode [[emoji]] characters as [[emoji domain]]s.

==ASCII spoofing concerns==
{{Main|IDN homograph attack}}
The use of Unicode in domain names makes it potentially easier to [[spoofing attack|spoof]] websites as the visual representation of an IDN string in a web browser may make a spoof site appear indistinguishable from the legitimate site being spoofed, depending on the font used. For example, the Unicode character U+0430 – [[A (Cyrillic)|Cyrillic small letter a]] – can look identical to the Unicode character U+0061 ([[a|Latin small letter a]]), used in English. As a concrete example, using [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic letters]] [[A (Cyrillic)|а]], [[Ye (Cyrillic)|е]], [[Dotted I (Cyrillic)|і]], [[Er (Cyrillic)|р]] ([[a]]; then "Ie"/"Ye" U+0435, looking essentially identical to Latin letter [[e]]; then U+0456, essentially identical to Latin letter [[i]]; and "Er" U+0440, essentially identical to Latin letter [[p]]), the URL wіkіреdіа.org is formed, which is virtually indistinguishable from the visual representation of the legitimate wikipedia.org (possibly depending on typefaces).

==Top-level domains accepting IDN registration==
Many top-level domains have started to accept internationalized domain name registrations at the second or lower levels. Afilias (.INFO) offered the first gTLD IDN second-level registrations in 2004 in the German language.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.iana.org/domains/idn-tables/tables/info_de_1.0.html|title=.INFO German Character Table|website=www.iana.org|access-date=2017-04-11}}</ref>

DotAsia, the registrar for the TLD [[.asia|Asia]], conducted a 70-day [[sunrise period]] starting May 11, 2011 for second-level domain registrations in the [[CJK characters|Chinese, Japanese and Korean scripts]].<ref name="Dot-Asia releases IDN dates">[http://www.managingip.com/Article/2807532/Search/Dot-Asia-releases-IDN-dates.html?Keywords=IDN&OrderType=1&PeriodType=0&StartMonth=1&StartYear=1999&EndMonth=7&EndYear=2011&ScopeIndex=0&PartialFields=(CATEGORY_850_IDS%3a11520).(CATEGORYIDS%3a11399)&Brand=InternetIP Dot-Asia releases IDN dates], Managing Internet IP, April 14, 2011.</ref>

==Timeline==

{{Update section|date=January 2022}}
* December 1996: Martin Dürst's original Internet Draft proposing [[Comparison of Unicode encodings#UTF-5|UTF-5]] (the first example of what is known today as an ASCII-compatible encoding (ACE)) – UTF-5 was first defined at the University of Zürich<ref>{{cite news|url=https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-duerst-dns-i18n-00|title=draft-duerst-dns-i18n-00 – Internationalization of Domain Names |date=17 March 1998 |publisher=Tools.ietf.org |access-date=2010-07-29|last1=Dürst |first1=Martin J. |newspaper=Ietf Datatracker }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.minc.org/about/history/ |title=minc.org |publisher=Archive.minc.org |date=2019-12-12 |access-date=2022-10-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.connect-world.com/articles/old_articles/Dr-TanTinWee.htm |title=the leading Telecom magazine, ICT magazine, Telecom magazine, ICT and Telecom |publisher=Connect-World |access-date=2010-07-29 |archive-date=2008-07-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080723195844/http://www.connect-world.com/articles/old_articles/Dr-TanTinWee.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* March 1998: Early research on IDN at National University of Singapore (NUS), Center for Internet Research (formerly Internet Research and Development Unit – IRDU) led by Tan Tin Wee (T. W. Tan)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.internethalloffame.org//inductees/tan-tin-wee |title=Tan Tin Wee |website=Internet Hall of Fame}}</ref> (IDN Project team – Tan Juay Kwang and Leong Kok Yong) and subsequently continued under a team at Bioinformatrix Pte. Ltd. (BIX Pte. Ltd.) – an NUS spin-off company led by S. Subbiah.
* June 1998: Korean Language Domain Name System is developed by Kang, Hee-Seung at KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.itfind.or.kr/Report01/200302/IITA/IITA-2386/IITA-2386.pdf |title=APAN-KR |website=IITA}}</ref>
* July 1998:
** Geneva INET'98 conference with a BoF{{clarify|date=January 2022}} discussion on iDNS and APNG General Meeting and Working Group meeting.
** Asia Pacific Networking Group (APNG, now still in existence<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.apng.org |title=APNG |publisher=APNG |access-date=2010-07-29}}</ref> and distinct from a gathering known as APSTAR)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.apstar.org |title=The community of Asia Pacific Internet Organization |publisher=Apstar.Org |access-date=2010-07-29}}</ref> iDNS Working Group formed.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.apng.org/old/commission/idns/ |title=Asia Pacific Networking Group Chairman's Commission on Internationalization of DNS |website=www.apng.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060422155224/http://www.apng.org/old/commission/idns/ |archive-date=April 22, 2006}}</ref>
* October 1998:
** [[James Seng]], a former student of Tan Tin Wee at Sheares Hall, NUS, and student researcher at Technet and IRDU, Computer Center, NUS, was recruited by CEO S. Subbiah to lead further IDN development at BIX Pte. Ltd.
** iDNS Testbed launched by BIX Pte. Ltd. under the auspices of APNG with participation from [[CNNIC]], [[Japan Network Information Center|JPNIC]], KRNIC, TWNIC, THNIC, HKNIC, and SGNIC led by [[James Seng]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.minc.org/about/history/idns/idomain/ |title=iDOMAIN - TestBed of iDNS implementations in the Asia Pacific|website=www.minc.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030823041046/http://www.minc.org/about/history/idns/idomain/ |archive-date=2003-08-23}}</ref>
** Presentation of Report on IDN at Joint APNG-APTLD meeting, at APRICOT'99
* March 1999: Endorsement of the IDN Report at APNG General Meeting 1 March 1999.
* June 1999: Grant application by APNG jointly with the Centre for Internet Research (CIR), the National University of Singapore, to the International Development Research Center (IDRC), a Canadian Government funded international organization to work on IDN for IPv6. This APNG Project was funded under the Pan Asia R&D Grant administered on behalf of IDRC by the Canadian Committee on Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS). Principal Investigator: Tan Tin Wee of National University of Singapore.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.apng.org/old/commission/idns/ipv6/ |title=iDNS for IPv6 |website=www.apng.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060811114532/http://www.apng.org/old/commission/idns/ipv6/ |archive-date=August 11, 2006}}</ref>
* July 1999:
** Walid R. Tout (WALID Inc.) filed IDNA patent application number US1999000358043 "Method and system for internationalizing domain names". Published 30 January 2001.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.delphion.com/details?&pn=US06182148__ |title=Method and system for internationalizing domain names (US6182148) |publisher=Delphion.com |access-date=2010-07-29 |archive-date=2010-07-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100715221107/http://www.delphion.com/details?&pn=US06182148__ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
** Internet Draft on UTF5 by James Seng, Martin Dürst and Tan Tin Wee.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-jseng-utf5-00 |title=draft-jseng-utf5-00 – UTF-5, a transformation format of Unicode and ISO 10646 |newspaper=Ietf Datatracker |publisher=Tools.ietf.org |date=1999-07-27 |access-date=2010-07-29}}</ref> Renewed 2000.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-jseng-utf5-01 |title=draft-jseng-utf5-01 – UTF-5, a transformation format of Unicode and ISO 10646 |newspaper=Ietf Datatracker |publisher=Tools.ietf.org |date=2000-01-28 |access-date=2010-07-29}}</ref>
* August 1999: APTLD and APNG forms a [[working group]] to look into IDN issues chaired by Kilnam Chon.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.minc.org/about/history/idns/iname/ |title=iNAME project of APTLD and APNG |website=www.minc.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030823041200/http://www.minc.org/about/history/idns/iname/ |archive-date=2003-08-23|access-date=2023-08-20}}</ref>
* October 1999: BIX Pte. Ltd. and National University of Singapore together with New York Venture Capital investors, [[General Atlantic Partners]], spun off the IDN effort into 2 new Singapore companies – i-DNS.net International Inc. and i-Email.net Pte. Ltd. that created the first commercial implementation of an IDN solution for both domain names and IDN email addresses respectively.
* November 1999: [[IETF]] IDN Birds-of-Feather{{clarify|date=January 2022}} in Washington was initiated by i-DNS.net at the request of IETF officials.
* December 1999: i-DNS.net International Pte. Ltd. launched the first commercial IDN. It was in [[Taiwan]] and in [[Chinese character]]s under the top-level IDN TLD ".gongsi" (meaning loosely ".com") with endorsement by the Minister of Communications of Taiwan and some major Taiwanese ISPs with reports of over 200 000 names sold in a week in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, [[China]], Australia and USA.
* Late 1999: Kilnam Chon initiated Task Force on IDNS which led to the formation of MINC, the Multilingual Internet Names Consortium.<ref>{{cite web 
  |url= http://www.i-dns.net/newsroom/news/IN000724-01.html.ko.ksc
  |title= Internationalisation of the Domain Name System: The Next Big Step in a Multilingual Internet
  |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> 
  |date= 24 July 2000
  |website=NEWS 
  |publisher=  i-DNS.net
  |access-date=2016-08-13
}}</ref>
* January 2000:
** [[IETF]] IDN Working Group formed chaired by [[James Seng]] and [[Marc Blanchet]].
** The second-ever commercial IDN launch was IDN TLDs in the Tamil Language, corresponding to .com, .net, .org, and .edu. These were launched in India with IT Ministry support by i-DNS.net International. These used non-standardized character sets, and were soon deprecated.
* February 2000: Multilingual Internet Names Consortium (MINC) Proposal BoF{{clarify|date=January 2022}} at IETF Adelaide.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.minc.org/oldminc/old//meetings/minc_20000327.html |title= Proposal BoF - Meeting Summary|website=www.minc.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041110195336/http://www.minc.org/oldminc/old//meetings/minc_20000327.html |archive-date=2004-11-10|access-date=2023-08-20}}</ref>
* March 2000: APRICOT 2000 Multilingual DNS session.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.apricot.net/apricot2000/index2.html |title=APRICOT 2000 in Seoul |publisher=Apricot.net |access-date=2010-07-29}}</ref>
* April 2000: WALID Inc. (with IDNA patent-pending application 6182148) started Registration & Resolving Multilingual Domain Names.
* May 2000: Interoperability Testing WG, MINC meeting. San Francisco, chaired by Bill Manning and Y. Yoneya, 12 May 2000.{{citation needed|date=August 2016}}
* June 2000: Inaugural Launch of the Multilingual Internet Names Consortium (MINC) in Seoul<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.minc.org |title=Multilingual Internet Names Consortium |publisher=MINC |access-date=2010-07-29}}</ref> to drive the collaborative roll-out of IDN starting from the Asia Pacific.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.minc.org/about/history/ |title=History of MINC  |website=www.minc.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040126052853/http://www.minc.org/about/history/ |archive-date=2004-01-26|access-date=2023-08-20}}</ref>
* July 2000:
** Joint Engineering TaskForce (JET) was initiated in Yokohama to study technical issues led by JPNIC (K.Konishi)and TWNIC (Kenny Huang).
** Official formation of CDNC ([[Chinese Domain Name Consortium]]) to resolve issues related to and to deploy [[Han Character]] domain names, founded by [[CNNIC]], [[TWNIC]], HKNIC and [[MONIC]] in May 2000.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cdnc.org/english/introduction/index.html |title=Chinese Domain Name Consortium |publisher=CDNC |date=2000-05-19 |access-date=2010-07-29}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cdnc.org/english/news/index.html |title=Chinese Domain Name Consortium |publisher=CDNC |access-date=2010-07-29}}</ref>
* March 2001: [[ICANN]] Board IDN Working Group formed.
* July 2001:
** Japanese Domain Name Association: JDNA Launch Ceremony (July 13, 2001) in Tokyo, Japan.
** Urdu Internet Names System (July 28, 2001) in Islamabad, Pakistan, Organised Jointly by SDNP and MINC.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://urduworkshop.sdnpk.org/ |title=urduworkshop.sdnpk.org<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2022-07-10 |archive-date=2016-01-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160106084833/http://urduworkshop.sdnpk.org/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
** Presentation on IDN to the Committee Meeting of the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, National Academies USA (JULY 11–13, 2001) at University of California School of Information Management and Systems, Berkeley, California.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nap.edu/books/0309096405/html/390.html |title=Signposts in Cyberspace: The Domain Name System and Internet Navigation |publisher=National Academies Press |date=2001-11-07 |access-date=2010-07-29 |archive-date=2008-07-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706151434/http://www.nap.edu/books/0309096405/html/390.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* August 2001: MINC presentation and outreach at the Asia Pacific Advanced Network annual conference, Penang, Malaysia, 20 August 2001
* October 2001: Joint MINC-CDNC Meeting in Beijing 18–20 October 2001.
* November 2001: [[ICANN]] IDN Committee formed,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.icann.org/en/committees/idn/|title=ICANN {{!}} Archives {{!}} Committees {{!}} Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) Committee|website=archive.icann.org|access-date=2017-04-11}}</ref> Ram Mohan (Afilias) appointed as Charter Member and lead.
* December 2001: Joint ITU-WIPO Symposium on Multilingual Domain Names organized in association with MINC, 6–7 December 2001, International Conference Center, Geneva.
* January 2003:
** ICANN IDN Guidelines Working Group formed with membership from Afilias (Ram Mohan), Verisign (Pat Kane), .museum (Cary Karp), JPRS (Hiro Hotta), members of leading gTLD and ccTLD registries.
** Free implementation of stringprep, Punycode, and IDNA are released in GNU Libidn.
* March 2003: Publication of RFC 3454, RFC 3490, RFC 3491 and RFC 3492.
* June 2003: Publication of ICANN IDN guidelines for registries.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.icann.org/general/idn-guidelines-20jun03.htm |title=Guidelines for the Implementation of Internationalized Domain Names – Version 1.0 |website=ICANN}}</ref> Adopted by .cn, .info, .jp, .org, and .tw registries.
* May 2004: Publication of RFC 3743, Joint Engineering Team (JET) Guidelines for Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) Registration and Administration for [[Chinese character|Chinese]], Japanese, and Korean.
* March 2005: First Study Group 17 of ITU-T meeting on Internationalized Domain Names.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.itu.int/md/T05-SG17-050330/sum/en |title=ITU-T SG17 Meeting Documents |publisher=Itu.int |access-date=2010-07-29}}</ref>
* May 2005: .IN ccTLD (India) creates an expert IDN Working Group to create solutions for 22 official languages. Ram Mohan (Afilias) was appointed lead for technical implementation. C-DAC appointed a linguistic expert.
* April 2006: ITU Study Group 17 meeting in Korea gave final approval to the Question on Internationalized Domain Names.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/newslog/Multilingual+Internet+Work+Progresses.aspx |title=ITU-T Newslog – Multilingual Internet Work Progresses |publisher=Itu.int |date=2006-05-04 |access-date=2010-07-29 |archive-date=2010-05-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100529143600/http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/newslog/Multilingual+Internet+Work+Progresses.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* June 2006: Workshop on IDN at ICANN meeting at Marrakech, Morocco.
* November 2006: ICANN GNSO IDN Working Group created to discuss policy implications of IDN TLDs. Ram Mohan (Afilias) elected Chair of the IDN Working Group.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gnso.icann.org/en/drafts/idn-wg-fr-22mar07.htm |title=GNSO IDN WG|publisher=icann.org |date=2007-03-22 |access-date=2010-08-30}}</ref>
* December 2006: ICANN meeting in São Paulo discusses status of {{clarify span|text=lab tests of IDNs within the root.|date=January 2022}}
* January 2007: Tamil and Malayalam variant table work completed by Ram Mohan ([[Afilias]]) and India's [[Centre for Development of Advanced Computing|C-DAC]].
* March 2007: ICANN GNSO IDN Working Group completes work, [[Ram Mohan]] presents a report at ICANN Lisboa meeting.<ref>Mohan, Ram, [http://gnso.icann.org/correspondence/gnso-idn-wg-outcomes-ram.pdf GNSO IDN Working Group, Outcomes Report] (PDF), ICANN</ref>
* October 2007: Eleven IDNA [[top-level domain]]s were added to the [[root nameserver]]s in order to evaluate the use of IDNA at the top level of the DNS.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.icann.org/en/announcements/details/on-its-way-one-of-the-biggest-changes-to-the-internet--internet-users-have-key-role-in-testing-the-operation-of-exampletest-in-11-languages-9-10-2007-en|title=On Its Way: One of the Biggest Changes to the Internet &#124; Internet users have key role in testing the operation of example.test in 11 languages|website=www.icann.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.icann.org/en/announcements/details/my-name-my-language-my-internet-idn-test-goes-live--icann-launches-global-test-of-internationalized-domain-names-15-10-2007-en|title=My Name, My Language, My Internet: IDN Test Goes Live &#124; ICANN launches global test of Internationalized Domain Names|website=www.icann.org}}</ref>
* January 2008: ICANN: Successful Evaluations of .test IDN TLDs.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.icann.org/en/announcements/details/successful-evaluations-of-test-idn-tlds-31-1-2008-en|title=Successful Evaluations of .test IDN TLDs|website=www.icann.org}}</ref>
* February 2008: IDN Workshop: IDNs in Indian Languages and Scripts,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.icann.org/en/meetings/delhi2008/node/88.html|title=IDN Workshop: IDNs in Indian Languages and Scripts {{!}} New Delhi 2008|website=archive.icann.org|language=en|access-date=2017-04-11}}</ref> ICANN, DIT, Afilias, C-DAC, NIXI lead.
* April 2008:
** [[IETF]] IDNAbis WG chaired by [[Vint Cerf]] continues the work to update IDNA.<ref>[[Purlnet:IDNAbis|IDNAbis overview]] (2008)</ref>
** Arabic Script IDN Working Group (ASIWG)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.icann.org/en/topics/idn/meetings.htm|title=ICANN {{!}} Archives {{!}} Internationalized Domain Names Meetings|website=archive.icann.org|access-date=2017-04-11}}</ref> founded by Ram Mohan ([[Afilias]]) and Alexa Raad ([[Public Interest Registry|PIR]]) in Dubai.
* June 2008:
** ICANN board votes to develop final fast-track implementation proposal for a limited number of IDN ccTLDS.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://isoc-ny.org/wiki/ICANN_-_Paris/IDN_CCTLD_discussion|title=ICANN - Paris/IDN CCTLD discussion - Wiki|website=isoc-ny.org}}</ref>
** Arabic Script IDN Working Group (ASIWG) membership<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.icann.org/en/meetings/paris2008/en/node/114.html|title=ASIWIG Meeting {{!}} Paris 2008|website=archive.icann.org|language=en|access-date=2017-04-11}}</ref> expands to Egypt, Iran, Kuwait, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, UAE, Malaysia, UN ESCWA, APTLD, ISOC Africa, and invited experts Michael Everson and John Klensin.
* October 2008: ICANN seeks interest in IDN ccTLD fast-track process.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.icann.org/en/announcements/details/icann-seeks-interest-in-idn-cctld-fast-track-process-2-10-2008-en|title=ICANN Seeks Interest in IDN ccTLD Fast-Track Process|website=ICANN}}</ref>
* September 2009: ICANN puts IDN ccTLD proposal on agenda for Seoul meeting in October 2009.<ref>[http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-2-30sep09-en.htm Proposed Final Implementation Plan: IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process], 30 September 2009</ref>
* October 2009: ICANN approves the registration of IDN names in the root of the DNS through the IDN ccTLD Fast-Track process at its meeting in Seoul, 26–30 October 2009.<ref>[http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/14274/new-media/regulator-approves-multi-lingual-web-addresses Regulator approves multi-lingual web addresses], Silicon Republic, 30.10.2009</ref>
* January 2010: ICANN announces that Egypt, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates were the first countries to have passed the Fast-Track String Evaluation within the IDN ccTLD domain application process.<ref name="ICANN-2010-01-21">{{cite web
|url=http://icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-21jan10-en.htm
|title=First IDN ccTLDs Requests Successfully Pass String Evaluation
|date=2010-01-21
|publisher=ICANN
}}</ref>
* May 2010: The first implementations{{clarify|reason=of what?|date=January 2022}} go live. They are the ccTLDs in the Arabic alphabet for Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.<ref name="ICANN-2010-05-05"/>
* August 2010-: The [[IETF]] publishes the updated "IDNA2008" specifications as [[Request for Comments|RFC]] 5890–5894.
* December 2010: ICANN Board IDN Variants Working Group formed<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/idn-variants-2012-02-25-en|title=Board IDN Variants Working Group – ICANN|website=www.icann.org|language=en|access-date=2017-04-11}}</ref> to oversee and track the IDN Variant Issues Project. Members of the working group are Ram Mohan (chair), Jonne Soininen, Suzanne Woolf, and Kuo-Wei Wu.
* February 2012: [[International email]] was standardized, utilizing IDN.<ref>{{cite IETF | title = Overview and Framework for Internationalized Email | rfc = 6530 | author = J. Klensin | date = February 2012 | publisher = [[Internet Engineering Task Force|IETF]] | access-date =January 14, 2017 }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Internationalized Resource Identifier]]
* [[List of Internet top-level domains]]
* [[Percent-encoding]]

==References==
{{notelist}}
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IETF RFC|3454|link=no}} "Preparation of Internationalized Strings ('stringprep')"
* {{IETF RFC|5890|link=no}} "Internationalized Domain Names for Applications (IDNA): Definitions and Document Framework"
* {{IETF RFC|5891|link=no}} "Internationalized Domain Names in Applications (IDNA): Protocol"
* {{IETF RFC|5892|link=no}} "The Unicode Code Points and Internationalized Domain Names for Applications (IDNA)"
* {{IETF RFC|5893|link=no}} "Right-to-Left Scripts for Internationalized Domain Names for Applications (IDNA)"
* [http://www.icann.org/topics/idn.html ICANN Internationalized Domain Names].
* [https://www.iana.org/assignments/idn/ IDN Language Table Registry]
* [https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr36/ Unicode Technical Report #36 – Security Considerations for the Implementation of Unicode and Related Technology]

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[[Category:Internationalized domain names| ]]