<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; "><a href="http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-30oct09-en.htm">http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-30oct09-en.htm</a></span></p>
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<h2 style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-family:
"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">ICANN Bringing
the Languages of the World to the Global Internet</span></h2>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Fast
Track Process for Internationalized Domain Names Launches Nov 16</span></p>
<p style="margin-top:11.25pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:
0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">30
October 2009</span></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Seoul:</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> The first Internet addresses
containing non-Latin characters from start to finish will soon be online thanks
to today's approval of the new Internationalized Domain Name Fast Track Process
by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers board.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"The coming introduction
of non-Latin characters represents the biggest technical change to the Internet
since it was created four decades ago," said ICANN chairman Peter Dengate
Thrush. "Right now Internet address endings are limited to Latin
characters – A to Z. But the Fast Track Process is the first step in bringing
the 100,000 characters of the languages of the world online for domain
names."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">ICANN's Fast Track Process
launches on 16 November 2009. It will allow nations and territories to apply
for Internet extensions reflecting their name – and made up of characters from
their national language. If the applications meet criteria that includes
government and community support and a stability evaluation, the applicants
will be approved to start accepting registrations.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"This is only the first
step, but it is an incredibly big one and an historic move toward the
internationalization of the Internet," said Rod Beckstrom, ICANN's President
and CEO. "The first countries that participate will not only be providing
valuable information of the operation of IDNs in the domain name system, they
are also going to help to bring the first of billions more people online –
people who never use Roman characters in their daily lives."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">IDNs have been a topic of
discussion since before ICANN's inception. It's taken years of intense
technical testing, policy development, and global co-operation to prepare the
Fast Track process for its coming launch.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"Our work on IDNs has
gone through numerous drafts, dozens of tests, and an incredible amount of
development by volunteers since we started this project. Today is the first
step in moving from planning and implementation to the real launch," said
Tina Dam, ICANN's Senior Director for IDNs. "The launch of the Fast Track
Process will be an amazing change to make the Internet an even more valuable
tool, and for even more people around the globe."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">More information of the Fast
Track program is available online at: <a href="http://www.icann.org/en/topics/idn/fast-track/">http://www.icann.org/en/topics/idn/fast-track/</a></span></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">About ICANN: </span></strong><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman"">ICANN is responsible for the global coordination of the
Internet's system of unique identifiers like domain names (like .org, .museum
and country codes like .uk) and the addresses used in a variety of Internet
protocols that help computers reach each other over the Internet. Careful
management of these resources is vital to the Internet's operation, so ICANN's
global stakeholders meet regularly to develop policies that ensure the
Internet's ongoing security and stability. ICANN is an internationally
organized, public benefit non-profit company. For more information please visit:
<a href="http://www.icann.org/">www.icann.org</a>. </span></p>
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