Variant Issues Project -- Arabic case study team report - UAE response

[Abdulrahman Al Marzouqi <a.almarzouqi@xxxxxxxxxx>]

To: idn-vip-arabic@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:idn-vip-arabic@xxxxxxxxx>


This has reference to the ICANN published report completed by the Arabic case 
study team for public comment dated 7th October 2011 regarding the subject 
above.

The TRA has been established pursuant to the Federal Law by Decree No 3 of 2003 
to oversee the telecommunications sector in the UAE.
The TRA is represented in the Government Advisory Committee (GAC) on behalf of 
the UAE Government and also represented in the ccNSO as a member. The TRA is 
currently the delegate and manager of .ae ccTLD as well as dotEmarat (.امارات) 
IDN ccTLD through the .ae Domain Name Administration (.aeDA). The TRA also 
actively participates in other internet and domain name events and organization 
such as APTLD and IGF. More information can be found about the TRA at 
www.tra.gov.ae<http://www.tra.gov.ae> and www.aeda.ae.

At the outset, the TRA of the United Arab Emirates (the “TRA”) would like to 
sincerely thank ICANN for their usual effort to share and consult with the 
concern parties and public before deciding on important matters and TRA 
particularly welcome the ICANN invitation to comment and participate in order 
to determine its position on the use of ZWNJ for TLDs & Interchangeable Case.
The TRA would like to express its opinion in two important issues appearing in 
this report as mentioned below.


COMMENT #1 - ZWNJ

TRA stands against allowing ZWNJ for TLDs since supporting (ZWNJ) which is not 
know by the Arabic internet user will cause confusion and complex problems.

In addition to the above:


      I.        It is not clear and visible to all users, specially 
non-technical

    II.        Not available in the keyboard and it needs multiple key presses, 
which will complicate the typing

   III.        Using the ZWNJ will raises  new  bidirectional display issues

  IV.        Using ZWNJ could be treated as space instead of linguistic word


In summary and taking into consideration the Internet community interest in the 
UAE, the TRA is against using ZWNJ in TLDs and we believe that it will be 
negative effects on the internet user in the Arabic World.


COMMENT #2 - Interchangeable Case

We would like to emphasize on the importance of point 3 (Interchangeable Case)  
 to be considered as a very solid variant case. Speaking of Arabic language in 
particular, alternative spelling is a common practice within the Arabic 
language Internet user communities. Although the condition of using  Alef Vs 
Alef with Hamza Above or Below is well defined in Arabic grammar 
(linguistically known as Hamzat Qataa Vs Hamzat Wasel), such condition is not 
widely implemented by the Arabic Internet community at large. Users in many 
occasions use the wrong character due to the lack of grammar awareness or 
simply they use the shape without hamza for the sake of simplicity in typing. 
This is cultural typing behavior within the internet user community which 
cannot be changed and should be considered.


We recommend amending the report with an appendix for the Interchangeable Case 
similar to other cases.  Example shown in the below tables


Arabic Letter Alef Group
Unicode Code Point

Unicode Name

Character

U+0622

ARABIC LETTER ALEF WITH MADDA ABOVE

آ

U+0623

Arabic Letter ALEF with HAMZA above

أ

U+0625

ARABIC LETTER ALEF WITH HAMZA BELOW

إ

U+0627

ARABIC LETTER ALEF

ا


Arabic Letter Heh Group
Unicode Code Point

Unicode Name

Character

U+0647

ARABIC LETTER HEH

ه

U+0629

ARABIC LETTER TEH MARBUTA

ة


Arabic Letter Yeh Group
Unicode Code Point

Unicode Name

Character

U+064A

ARABIC LETTER YEH

ي

U+0649

ARABIC LETTER ALEF MAKSURA

ى


On behalf of the UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority,

Regards,
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Abdulrahman Al Marzooqi
Manager Internet Advancement
Technology Development Affairs

عبدالرحمن المرزوقي
مدير تطوير الانترنت
إدارة شؤون تطوير التكنولوجيا



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