language question re: IDNs

Michael Everson everson at evertype.com
Wed Oct 7 11:21:55 CEST 2009


I received the following interesting query from the "European Registry  
of Internet Domain Names".

I had not heard the term "homoglyph bundling" before. Where does it  
come from?

On 7 Oct 2009, at 09:58, Deborah Branscum wrote:

> Dear Mr. Everson,
>
> I know you are a busy man but you are also a language fan (and that  
> is putting it mildly). So perhaps you can help me solve a mystery.
>
> I work for EURid, which manages the registry for .eu. We are  
> introducing support for IDNs in December and have put up a FAQ on  
> various issues related to IDNs.
>
> In the FAQ, EURid coined a new phrase: homoglyph bundling. (See  
> example below.) No one outside of EURid is likely to know what that  
> means. The phrase must be translated into all official EU languages  
> and none of the translators have any idea how to translate that  
> phrase either. Yikes!
>
> What phrase or word would you use?
>
> Personally, I would refer to “bundling together look-alike domain  
> names”  or something similar. What do you think? Any suggestion will  
> be most welcome.
>
> Do you like chocolate? Our main office is near Brussels. J
>
> Cheers,
> Deborah Branscum
>
> What is homoglyph bundling? Will EURid offer it?
> Homoglyph bundling is when you register an IDN and the registration  
> system automatically registers all the homoglyphs of that name for  
> you as well (if there are any). This means that a bundle of names is  
> registered at one time.
> After careful consideration EURid has decided not to offer homoglyph  
> bundling.
> Some registries offer homoglyph bundling to minimise the risk that  
> someone could register a domain name that looks just like yours.  
> EURid will not offer it because we do not allow script mixing, which  
> also greatly reduces that risk.
>
>
> Deborah Branscum
> In-house Editor/PR officer
>
>     EURid
>     S:t Eriksgatan 46 A
>     SE-112 34 Stockholm, Sweden


Michael Everson * http://www.evertype.com/



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