Changing the values of domain names and the need for mapping

[Cary Karp]

> The main question for this group is what those actions are. Some
> actions would cause lack of interoperability with current names,
> others would cause new requirements on current domain name owners,
> and others would be just fine. Without knowing what these registries
> plan, this WG cannot decide the stability effects of our decisions
> here.

Have I really understood this correctly?  In order for us to be able to
articulate constraints that the registries will need to implement, the
registries first need to tell us how they intend to implement those
constraints. ??

> Well, we can take this discussion to the DNSOP WG, but I think this
> list is certainly more appropriate. The operational affects of our
> decisions is indeed something we need to consider, so it is
> reasonable to expect details of operational plans to appear here.

The largest part of those plans involve marketing and client relations
issues that cannot possibly be of concern here. Any time a new
character is made available for registration, a registry that decides
to support it is going to need to deal (often via registrars) with
people who would have preferred to include it in names they had
previously registered, and who are now concerned about somebody else
getting the form initially desired.

This happens on a large scale when a registry introduces support for
IDN, and incrementally for every new character that is added
thereafter. I would have thought it corollary to accommodating an
ever-expanding UCS, that registries will have an on-going need to
decide what elements of the growing repertoire they wish to support.
How on earth can we know that nothing is ever going to become available
in that process that will trigger issues such as those presently
attaching to the Eszett and the final form sigma?

I am personally unable to grasp how these two have thrown us into us
into such a tizzy. We're talking about an industry that managed a
successful transition from bq-- to xn--. How much of the development of
IDNA2003 was contingent upon the IETF having prior knowledge of the
rollover plans of the gTLD Big Boys?

/Cary