AW: Consensus Call on Latin Sharp S and Greek Final Sigma
Georg Ochsner
g.ochsner at revolistic.com
Tue Dec 1 10:57:37 CET 2009
1) We all know, there is no sharp s on a Swiss keyboard on a Swiss airport!
2) Could you maybe include a feature in IE's phishing filter, that evaluates if it is a phishing attack or peacefully coexisting website, or would this be impossible?
1) And I think Patrik is really right that the use of sharp s is indeed quite low at the moment (it's just logical, because knowing that not all browsers support IDNs and not all keyboards have a sharp s, it's common so far to link to the ss version of one's domain...). So the issue might be smaller than expected.
Thank you
Georg
> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: idna-update-bounces at alvestrand.no [mailto:idna-update-
> bounces at alvestrand.no] Im Auftrag von Shawn Steele
> Gesendet: Dienstag, 1. Dezember 2009 10:20
> An: Patrik Fältström
> Cc: Mark Davis ☕; Vint Cerf; Harald Alvestrand; lisa Dusseault; idna-
> update at alvestrand.no
> Betreff: RE: Consensus Call on Latin Sharp S and Greek Final Sigma
>
> > I claim we get more confusion if the mapping that happens
> > is different _for the same user_ than what the user is used to
> > than for example to have the same mapping for two different users.
>
> That's exactly why there MUST be consistent mappings. It's far worse
> for the same user to have different behavior just because they're using
> an airport kiosk computer instead of their local language. That'd be a
> phisher's dream scenario. At least with consistent behavior that
> differs from the users natural expectations it won't change just because
> of some environmental thing.
>
> > And as some people pointed out, the color / colour issues and similar
> that already exists.
>
> And if I visit color.com, I don't expect it to work for colour.com if I
> happen to be in Canada, the BVI, Australia or wherever. That's because
> the rules are consistent. If color.com thinks it's important enough,
> then they could also register colour.com (and some have sued to get
> names like that when they're close enough and backed by trademark laws).
> If the IETF had made "o" == "ou", then that would've worked too. I
> couldn't register "could.com" if "cold.com" was already taken, but it
> wouldn't matter, the rules would be consistent. (& I can't register
> either of them anyway because squatters have them.)
>
> > (I have a key for 'ä' on my keyboard while others might have to press
> '¨' and then 'a'.)
>
> IME is a different layer I think. If you see äpfle on a bus and type it
> in, you should still get to the same place whether you use an NFD Mac or
> an NFC PC.
>
> > The mapping specifications, the real ones, can be developed in
> > whatever SDO that is out there. W3C? Unicode Consortium?
> > What I think I am more and more certain on is that IETF is not the
> correct venue.
>
> I agree on that!
>
> > Now, the problem I think is *NOT* the mappings, but as you
> > say Shawn, how to *specifically* handle Sharp S and final sigma.
>
> > We have two alternatives for the core protocol:
>
> > 1. Have it as PVALID
> > 2. Have it as DISALLOWED
>
> This'll be funny, since I've been so vocal, but I don't really think it
> matters much.
>
> The registrars that are interested in ß will probably bundle it with ss
> (I believe .at and .de have said as much). I also expect companies that
> care about ß to register ss if their registrar doesn't do it
> automagically. In fact if ß is interesting, then I'd expect lawsuits to
> get the alternate form when business is involved. Certainly fussball.de
> would probably be pretty miffed if fußball.de went somewhere else.
>
> There's probably a small set of users where Herr Fuss doesn't really
> care to bother with both forms, but those won't be commercial users, and
> actual cases where both go different places will probably be very low.
>
> For fuss.us that doesn't realize ß even exists, then it won't matter
> whether ß is PVALID or not. (Even if fuss.us doesn't care, nobody's
> going to brand themselves fuß.us and risk the collision, unless it's
> trademarked an they expect to get fuss.us as well.)
>
> So long term I expect pretty much no real impact, except that there'd be
> a round-about mechanism for someone to specify their preferred ß display
> name. In the short term there's risk of spoofing while multiple
> implementations exist, and I'd really prefer a more robust preferred
> display name form (that could handle CamelCase.Com or AAA.com as well).
>
> DNS is supposed to be about finding machines. There's no guarantee that
> any specific name is available for your use. Even with IDN some names
> are illegal. The Seattle Times has to settle for a form without a
> space, etc. It isn't interesting that ss and ß go to the machine at
> IPv4 123.456.789.012. It IS interesting that the users of those
> characters can get their preferred display form to work.
>
> > Even in language contexts like Swedish where it is not (ß is just
> weird,
> > but it is definitely not the same as ss).
>
> So? It's a label that gets you somewhere. If that place gives back a
> sensible display form, who cares? With NFKC in IDNA2003 there's lots of
> strange mappings that end up back at a more normal place. Who even
> knows how to type that ae character anyway? Don't use the weird form.
> (Yea, I know that the new mapping doc is less permissive than IDNA2003,
> but why does it matter?)
>
> > So for me this is a question of choice the domain holder has.
> > Can they choose to differentiate between ß and ss or not?
>
> No. If I tried to register fußball.de, I'd get sued. There's no real
> choice here. The ability to register both forms is an illusion in this
> particular case. It doesn't matter what a linguist says is proper, or
> what subtleties the IETF allows, in practice the functionality we're
> enabling can't be used.
>
> So I'm not vocal because I think that ß == ss. I'm vocal because I
> think it is a bunch of churn and risk that has no real long-term impact
> or value (unless it's a stepping stone to the Ecole & ecole both allowed
> position). Long term the end-user will still have the same experience
> no matter which choice is made.
>
> > We should not destroy and make it impossible to use ß
> > in domain names
>
> Not impossible to use ß, it just goes to the same place as ss, and it
> should allow for an ß display form (yes, I know that piece is missing).
>
> -Shawn
> _______________________________________________
> Idna-update mailing list
> Idna-update at alvestrand.no
> http://www.alvestrand.no/mailman/listinfo/idna-update
More information about the Idna-update
mailing list