Eszett ( was AW: Esszett, Final Sigma, ZWJ and ZWNJ)

Georg Ochsner g.ochsner at revolistic.com
Tue Feb 24 18:32:43 CET 2009


Hello,

- PLEASE let us SPLIT threads when it comes to Eszett, Final Sigma, ZWJ and
ZWNJ. The various postings show that they are very different (different
languages, different character sets, different most effected registries
etc.).


Because I am a native German speaker, I would like to add some points to the
Eszett thread:

- For me there is no common definition what "bits on the wire" exactly
means, but taking it literally I think it is obvious that bits on a wire
will change if the WG's output will be implemented. (What bigger change of
bits can be made, than prohibiting characters (hence entire existing
domains) and allowing new ones?)

- The possibility of adding Eszett was discussed long before the WG agreed
on the charter and it was intended that the charter should not rule this
possibility out.

- After really detailed discussion there was a consensus call and a duly
result in favor of making Eszett PVALID, including the vote of Denic! I am
afraid, if we start not accepting consensus call results, then this WG will
_talk_ for many more years. 

- I am sure that the native German speaking registries (Denic, nic.at and
SWITCH) are very well aware of what's going on and should be free to make
their own, individual decision on how to implement Eszett. They have teams
of native speakers, they know the legal situation in their countries and
they have the data of registered domains under their zones!

- I think, describing clearly the changes made from IDNA2003 to IDNA2008 and
giving some examples of handling them is as far as the WG must/should go.
The rest as said should be left open to the registries.

- If the WG gives some examples on how to handle the new characters/Eszett -
and I think there is nothing wrong with that - maybe the list of
possibilities should include:
 - waiting to allow Eszett until IDNA2008 has spread significantly, i.e.
that all current versions of the most common browsers have implemented
IDNA2008
 - not to add Eszett at all on registry/zone level (like the Swiss registry
SWITCH will most probably do, as I suppose)
 - to wait and see how the German speaking registries handle the Eszett, if
another (generic) registry is not sure about it


Best regards
Georg



-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: idna-update-bounces at alvestrand.no
[mailto:idna-update-bounces at alvestrand.no] Im Auftrag von Vint Cerf
Gesendet: Samstag, 21. Februar 2009 22:02
An: idna-update at alvestrand.no
Betreff: Esszett, Final Sigma, ZWJ and ZWNJ

Folks,

My reading of the consensus is that the WG has discussed and generally  
accepted that Esszett, Final Sigma, ZWJ and ZWNJ can be made PVALID.  
For registries that formerly mapped Esszett or Final Sigma, the  
solutions are:

1. block registration of Esszett and Final Sigma at the registry level  
(in which case any former registration forms are still valid but will  
not be found by entering the newly PVALID characters)

2. Bundle Esszett with "ss" and Final Sigma with lower case ("sigma")  
(and do so retrospectively for all prior registrations of the mapped  
forms).

With regard to ZWJ and ZWNJ, these would be PVALID but constrained by  
CONTEXTJ rules as to their valid usage.

As I read the charter, the WG has the latitude to adopt these  
recommendations.

It has been pointed out that there are consequences of not mapping  
characters per IDNA2003. One example relates to the appearance of,  
e.g., Esszett in a URL. A side-effect of the mapping under IDNA2003 is  
that the Esszett character would be converted to "ss" and this would  
match a registration of a domain name that contained Esszett since the  
registered form would have been mapped prior to registration into the  
"ss" form. It seems beneficial to articulate to the best of our  
ability such side-effects as an aid to users, software writers,  
registries and registrars who may need to define policies for  
registration limitations or adopt other compensating practices.

Vint


Vint Cerf
Google
1818 Library Street, Suite 400
Reston, VA 20190
202-370-5637
vint at google.com




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