• Dinsdag, Oktober 5, 2021

Asian language top-level domains coming to the internet.

The Board of ICANN has approved the delegation of two Chinese-character country code top-level domain names to China, two to Taiwan, and one to Hong Kong.

During ICANN’s board meeting today in Brussels, ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom called it a historic moment:

Just one brief remark and that is to say this is a truly historic moment. More than one out of five people who walk on this planet speak Chinese as a first language. In addition to all the incredible engineering work that’s gone on for many years, the policy work, the work by linguists and the work in the last six months by the operators in China of this proposed IDN ccTLD and the intense work of the board of ICANN and staff and the community have been remarkable. And it’s exciting for all of us, I think, to be here and to see the root truly embrace the world.

The board’s vote on the IDNs was followed by not just applause, but standing ovations according to the transcript of the meeting.