RE: [gnso-idn-wg] Item 4.2.2 - Subbiah

["Ram Mohan" <rmohan@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Colleagues,
I believe this is a laudable idea.  It may need a bit more tweaking before
it is implementable.

If the goal is to ensure that local language authorities/communities voices
are heard, our current draft document already address it adequately - by
stating that for all new IDN gTLD applications, ICANN should consult these
authorities/communities.

It seems to me that the various examples stated (INFITT, CDNC, JET, etc) all
had the explicit or tacit approval and involvement from the respective
governments involved.  However, I can say that if two governments decided
that they did not see a language the same way, the views of any private
organization hold little sway.  We have the happy circumstance that this is
not the case now for Tamil or CJK; it appears to me, however, that our task
is to make recommendations that work for both the best and the worst cases.

I worry that folks from the language diaspora, who may or may not be
organized into a committee or organization that speaks in a disciplined and
unified way, could get disenfranchised by such a process.  For instance, in
the case of Tamil, there are a significant number of language speakers in
far-flung nations such as Belgium, Ghana, Syria and Guatemala, among others.

If the goal is to ensure that ICANN must not even consider any application
that has not first been "blessed" by a language community, then this is a
new topic that needs new discussion, rather than amend an existing topic
that already has some broad support to it.

-Ram
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Ram Mohan
e: rmohan@xxxxxxxxxxxx | m: +1.215.431.0958
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-----Original Message-----
From: owner-gnso-idn-wg@xxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-gnso-idn-wg@xxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of subbiah
Sent: Sunday, March 18, 2007 5:16 AM
To: gnso-idn-wg@xxxxxxxxx; GNSO.SECRETARIAT@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gnso-idn-wg] Item 4.2.2 - Subbiah

Item 4.2.2


Given that alternative views have been expressed for the possible 
right's of a country regarding IDN gTLDs in that country's scripts, I 
would like to propose that some of these rights should also be given to 
the language community. The two areas where language community input 
would be particularly useful maybe the "approval" of a gTLD IDN string 
in its script and also its rights to influence the definitions/tables of 
its scripts/languages. Obviously such language communities must speak 
with a united or near-unanimous voice before ICANN accepts input.

There are two ways to accomplish this operationally:

(1) Amend the first two alternative views to replace the word "country" 
with "language community" and specifically define "language community" 
in this context to include the relevant country/countries.

Or simply add a new alternative view (which can be at Support level if 
there is some support) as follows:

*(2) Alternative View/ Support/ Agreement: To also accept a language 
community's responsibility to approve any gTLD strings featuring its 
particular script or influence the definitions/tables of its scripts if 
that language community is speaking with a united or near-unanimous voice.

Subbiah


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