[nc-idn] FYI: Briefing Paper on Internet Keyword Issues (ICANN IDN Committee)

[Alexander Svensson <alexander@svensson.de>]

http://www.icann.org/committees/idn/idn-keyword-paper.htm

Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) Committee 
Briefing Paper on Internet Keyword Issues
15 February, 2002

OVERVIEW 
Recent commercial initiatives in the non-DNS Internet identifier market have 
caused considerable concern around the potential for Internet user confusion 
between domain names (including either ASCII or "internationalized" hostnames) 
and certain Internet "keyword" offerings.

This briefing paper provides background information, defines the potential 
problems, and reviews the policy considerations and issues from an ICANN 
perspective. It is accompanied by a statement from the ICANN IDN Committee 
advising strongly against the introduction of Internet keywords using the dot 
(".") as a separator, on the grounds that (1) that format would generate 
needless user confusion with DNS domain names, and (2) there is a vast range of 
alternatives to the dotted notation format that now characterizes DNS hostnames.

DEFINITION 
An Internet "keyword" can be defined as an alias (possibly localized) for a 
fully-qualified domain name or URL. In many of these systems, one keyword 
matches exactly one DNS name. Hence, there is no categorization function (in the 
traditional sense) involved, nor is there a search process that could yield more 
than one DNS domain name. 


STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 
According to some reports, several commercial providers of non-DNS Internet 
identifiers are considering the marketing of proprietary non-ASCII Internet 
keyword services that would appear to users in a dotted notation format - i.e., 
a format in which different segments (or "labels") of the keyword are separated 
by a period (or dot, "."). Such keywords could take the form of multiple 
character strings connected by a dot, such as: 

<??.??>

It is entirely conceivable that such a service would involve the marketing of 
non-ASCII keywords in which the final segment is a generic word in a non-English 
language, such as "company" or "museum" - in other words, a term corresponding 
to an existing or potential DNS top-level domain. 

Given the widespread lack of familiarity among users with the technical details 
of the domain name system, keywords in dotted notation format are likely to be 
confused for domain names by many users. Domain names (or, more accurately, "DNS 
hostnames") are immediately recognizable to the public in large part due to 
their unique taxonomy, characterized by the DNS's use of the period to separate 
different hierarchically organized labels. For that reason, it is reasonable to 
conclude that many Internet users are likely to confuse '<non-ASCII>.<non-
ASCII>' keyword offerings with domain names.

The danger behind such confusion lies in the possibility that a purchaser of a 
<non-ASCII>.<non-ASCII> keyword will be surprised, in the future, to find that 
an identical string has been made available directly in the DNS, and registered 
by someone else. Such an outcome is entirely possible, because the advancing IDN 
standards within the Internet Engineering Task Force ("IETF") will likely permit 
the use of non-ASCII characters (encoded to ACE equivalents) in top-level domain 
labels.

In sum, the use of a dotted notation format in proprietary keyword services 
threatens to create significant user confusion (and consequent user unhappiness) 
by blurring the distinction between Internet keywords and DNS domain names. 
Given the likely evolution of the DNS to accommodate non-ASCII characters, there 
is a potential that identical strings could be registered and used as domain 
names and keywords. 

Indeed, some might argue that the only plausible purpose behind the use of 
periods as separators is to generate user confusion, in an attempt to stake a 
"first claim" to any new and matching IDN namespace in the DNS.


RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN KEYWORDS AND THE DNS 
While the IDN Committee is strongly concerned about the likelihood of user 
confusion from the use of a dotted notation format in Internet keywords, it does 
not suggest that ICANN should somehow expand its role to include the 
coordination of proprietary keyword services.

In general, ICANN is responsible for coordination of the DNS and IP address 
allocation systems. ICANN is not responsible for policy matters that arise in 
the Internet layers above the DNS, such directory services, search services, and 
the content of Internet communications. Even if ICANN wanted to get involved in 
such matters (and it does not), it has no practical authority to implement 
policies there.

Thus, ICANN does not have any direct policy responsibility for proprietary 
keyword systems that may cause the user to think that she is registering or 
using a DNS domain name. A keyword system is a separate technology layer that 
operates above and independently from the DNS. 

STATEMENT ON INTERNET KEYWORD ISSUES 
In response to the foregoing analysis, the IDN Committee has issued 
recommendations in a Statement on IDN Keyword Issues.