June 29, 2010 by Andre
This week sees a number of changes to web domain naming conventions, heralding a more diverse future for URLs globally. Icann, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers have now approved web domains which include Chinese characters. This new ruling will make it much easier for Chinese speakers to navigate the web.
The new ruling continues Icann’s previous activities which saw internationalised domain names (IDNs) being created with Arabic scripts and non-Latin characters. Users in Saudi, the UEA and Egypt are now utilizing the Arabic capability in domain names. Now businesses in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong will be able to provide domains for people using Chinese characters. This move has been taken to address the fact that the majority of web users are not English speakers, even though the web is predominantly presented in the English language. The introduction of non-Latin characters opens up web accessibility, globally.
Rod Beckstrom, Head of Icann commented: “One fifth of the world speaks Chinese and that means we just increased the potential online accessibility for roughly a billion people. Many years of work by the Internet Engineering Task Force have made it possible to use domains written completely in one text. IDNs in 20 languages are being prepared, with Thai and Tamil expected to follow soon.”
A further development in domain names has been revealed, enabling pornographic sites to have their own .xxx domain. This will make it easier for pornographic sites to be identified, and also begin to cater for the massive online sex industry. According to compiled numbers from research organisations, every second $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography, and 28,258 internet users are viewing it. The changes in domain name rules are giving acknowledgement to the thriving pornography industry, offering it a unique positioning for online accessibility.
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