International Domain Names on the way from Nominet

June 2005

Domain names worldwide are currently limited to using the letters A-Z,digits 0-9 and hyphens. It currently excludes the use of accented letters, other character sets or symbols. This potentially leads to difficulties in creating local domain names in, for example, Asian or Eastern European languages where symbols are frequently used.

IDN has the potential to allow internationalised domain names that accommodate many more of the writing systems used around the world. This could allow domain names with accents (), with letters from other alphabets () or even comprising symbols, such as Chinese, Russian or Greek.

Pro-IDN arguments question why businesses on the internet should be prevented from selecting localised domain names, particularly if the organisation is targeting a specific local market whose first language may not be English. There is also the sentiment that the Internet is a global resource, and should not continue to be dominated by Western organisations.