IDN domains are encoded in what is known as Unicode, which makes the rendering of foreign language characters, like Chinese or Greek characters or Latin characters with diacritics, possible. Unicode however must be converted to Punycode, which is an ASCII (English alphabet) compatible encoding for IDNs, in order for the domain (and site) to resolve on the internet. This is because the internet infrastructure and DNS (Domain Name System) presently only works with ASCII (English language alphabet) characters. This conversion from Unicode to Punycode and back is presently handled by an IDN supporting web browser. Some web browsers that support IDNs include Firefox, Opera and Internet Explorer 7. A plugin can also be downloaded from Verisign to enable a browser to “resolve” IDN domains and e-mail.
In order to be able to view the foreign language characters that make up an IDN on a computer, a computer must have the relevant fonts and scripts installed. These can be added in Windows via the control panel in the language options/languages section.
Register IDN domains at Moniker.
Verisign, the .com and .net registry, created the first testbed for IDN domains in late 2000. .Com and .net IDN domains are presently offered in most languages. These domains are currently available only in the form of IDN.extension, with the name part of the domain in the foreign language and the tld in an English extension like .com, .net etc. Other registries also offer IDNs but with less language support. Afilias (the .info registry) and Neulevel (the .biz registry) presently offer .info and .biz domains in German script, and PIR, the .org registry, offers support for a small but growing number of languages. Many ccTLDs (country code domains) also offer IDN support. China and the .cn ccTLD may be the most developed in this respect, as one can register both partial (IDN.com, IDN.cn) and full (IDN.IDN) domains.ICANN (the internet governing body) is currently looking at how to resolve IDNs on the internet in the long term and how to create top level IDN domains (.IDNs). One proposal, by Verisign, addresses the creation of fully multilingual domains, in the IDN.IDN form, with name and extension in the foreign language, by altering dname records to make both the .com IDN and the .IDN foreign extension (for .com) resolve as one. Another way being looked at is the insertion of IDN labels into the DNS system or root.
IDN is not without issues, and one big one has been what is known as IDN spoofing or homograph attacks. IDN spoofing is the deliberate creation of domains that have look alike characters from different language scripts in order to create URLs that look like others. This is a serious security issue, and it is being addressed in a number of ways including by limiting how scripts can be mixed in domain names, by only resolving names in Unicode if a browser is set for that language and by checking sites against lists of valid/invalid sites.
Many feel that IDN has a bright future. There is a lot of support for it by people who don’t speak English as a first language and by those who feel that the internet should realize its potential as a truly international medium. IDN is likely to remain one of the most important and discussed internet related issues for some time.