MINC Chairman and CEO Khaled Fattal issues a challenge to the ICANN board of directors during the ICANN meeting San Juan Puerto Rico to adopt a resolution that clarifies ICANN’s vision and position on what IDNs (internationalized Domain Names) are meant to achieve and whom they are supposed to serve first and foremost. he did so during the open forum held on June 28, 2007.
MINC Chairman and CEO Khaled Fattal issued this challenge to ICANN due to the great confusion surrounding IDNs for years in many aspects such as technical and policy developments which till now had no direct mission statement or vision adopted by ICANN on the crucial question as to whom IDNs are meant to serve and what is the objective of developing and deploying IDNs.
In delivering his challenge chairman Fattal said:
" What are IDNs meant to achieve and whom are they meant to serve first and foremost? I want you to consider this individually as ICANN board members. I want you to consider it collectively as a board of a highly respected international organization?"
He then added:"
Why this is exceptionally important, and why it is on your table and not any other subcommittee, in my opinion, it is because that clarity would go very far to put at rest many minds, in the hundreds of millions, in understanding what IDNs are supposed to achieve.
Chairman Fattal expressed what he believes the real objective for IDNS should be and whom they are supposed to serve above all, he said :"
I believe that IDNs are meant to be seen, used, and viewed as a tool to enable communities and language communities around the world that have been left out of the Internet because of the English -- of the language barrier, for no other reason than it has been that's the way it was. But at least we need to recognize that's really what the objective is."
He added:
" I actually believe that -- and I would put the challenge to the ICANN board members individually, knowing that they are -- their role is that of leadership -- if the ICANN board was to actually propose this and adopt it as a resolution and making it as a mission of ICANN in deployment of IDNs, I will put it to you that you would have a far greater chance of bringing in believers in the system than doubters. If we can put it to rest that IDNs are meant to bring in those communities from the dark into the Internet world and that it's meant to be first and foremost -- I didn't say "exclusively," but first and foremost -- to help them come into this phenomenon, then you will have a far greater chance of success, knowing how daunting the challenge is."
Chairman Fattal concluded with applause from the forum audience by saying.
And on a last point, I think if the wisdom of the ICANN board to go that far can be seen ASAP, the challenges that are equally daunting, if not more daunting for the subcommittees, and the other tracks, like the GNSO and the ccNSO, in recognizing what needs to be discussed, what needs to be debated, and what course to be taken, would put things in a big perspective.
And on a final note, so that it does not appear as if I am singling out those who actually hope to make benefit or profit from IDNs, I say if your role can actually help empower and bring in those communities and you can make money, I salute you. That's my final comment.
>>VINT CERF: Thank you very much, Khaled.
[ Applause ]
In response to this challenge ICANN board member Mr Steve Goldstein responded with clear support for MINC Chairman Fattal's challenge by stating:
"Mr. Fattal. I think that the sentiments that you expressed are shared by every board member. I don't think there's any dispute about that. My own personal feeling is that the purpose of the Internationalized Domain Names would be to empower people to take advantage of the latest technology in their native language."
ICANN board member Mr Goldstein's position was expressed in the ensuing exchanges between himself, Chairman Khaled Fattal, ICANN Chairman Vint Cerf :
>>VINT CERF: We have -- yes, Steve.
>>STEVE GOLDSTEIN: Thank you, Vint.
I would just like to respond to the gentleman who spoke about Internationalized Domain Names. Yes, I'm sorry, I don't remember your name. You don't have to get up.
>>VINT CERF: That's Khaled Fattal. His name is Khaled Fattal.
>>STEVE GOLDSTEIN: Mr. Fattal. I think that the sentiments that you expressed are shared by every board member. I don't think there's any dispute about that. My own personal feeling is that the purpose of the Internationalized Domain Names would be to empower people to take advantage of the latest technology in their native language. So maybe those aren't exactly the words you expressed, but those would be my feelings. And I thank you very much for having said that.
>>KHALED FATTAL: Actually, I would like to thank you for going on the record of expressing your position.
I think you are really showing the international community that your role as an ICANN board member is truly that of a leadership role. Because I actually made a mistake. I neglected in something I wanted to do in my intervention -- I forgot to do it, but I wanted to ask each and every individual board member to express their position and their sentiment. And by the way, it is sentiment. I want to hear your sentiment. The people want to hear your sentiment. So from that point of view, it is far more than sentiment.
It is actually an acknowledgment which can become a position by ICANN in how IDNs will be deployed.
This is what I believe is necessary.
Thank you, Vint, and I --
>>VINT CERF: Thank you, Khaled.
-----------------------------------------
--------
>>VINT CERF: Thank you. Khaled.
>>KHALED FATTAL: On a serious note, IDNs, IDNs, IDNs.
>>KHALED FATTAL: I'm speaking to you here with the many hats that I actually wear. As chairman and CEO of MINC, CEO of live multilingual translator. Member on ICANN committee on IDNs, active member of the Arabic community, active member of the ICANN community and citizen of the international community whose native language is not English.
>>VINT CERF: So can you slow down a little bit so that the transcribers can keep up with you.
>>KHALED FATTAL: It's all right. I'll provide them the text.
The reason for this elaborate description, Vint, is what I am going to be discussing and proposing to the ICANN board, there's an element of validity and credibility behind it.
I recognize the daunting technical task ahead of us for implementation of IDNs. That's conceded. I recognize that.
But there's a bigger issue here at hand, and I think the only people that can really address it and resolve it and put it in its proper context, it is the ICANN board.
And here I'm going to pose the question to you, and I'm going to put it in the simplest format as possible.
What are IDNs meant to achieve and whom are they meant to serve first and foremost? I want you to consider this individually as ICANN board members. I want you to consider it collectively as a board of a highly respected international organization.
Why this is exceptionally important, and why it is on your table and not any other subcommittee, in my opinion, it is because that clarity would go very far to put at rest many minds, in the hundreds of millions, in understanding what IDNs are supposed to achieve.
I believe that IDNs are meant to be seen, used, and viewed as a tool to enable communities and language communities around the world that have been left out of the Internet because of the English -- of the language barrier, for no other reason than it has been that's the way it was.
But at least we need to recognize that's really what the objective is.
I actually believe that -- and I would put the challenge to the ICANN board members individually, knowing that they are -- their role is that of leadership -- if the ICANN board was to actually propose this and adopt it as a resolution and making it as a mission of ICANN in deployment of IDNs, I will put it to you that you would have a far greater chance of bringing in believers in the system than doubters. If we can put it to rest that IDNs are meant to bring in those communities from the dark into the Internet world and that it's meant to be first and foremost -- I didn't say "exclusively," but first and foremost -- to help them come into this phenomenon, then you will have a far greater chance of success, knowing how daunting the challenge is.
And on a last point, I think if the wisdom of the ICANN board to go that far can be seen ASAP, the challenges that are equally daunting, if not more daunting for the subcommittees, and the other tracks, like the GNSO and the ccNSO, in recognizing what needs to be discussed, what needs to be debated, and what course to be taken, would put things in a big perspective.
And on a final note, so that it does not appear as if I am singling out those who actually hope to make benefit or profit from IDNs, I say if your role can actually help empower and bring in those communities and you can make money, I salute you. That's my final comment.
Thank you very much.
>>VINT CERF: Thank you very much, Khaled.
[ Applause ]
>>VINT CERF: Could we have the next comment.
‘’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’
‘’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’
Okay. We have -- yes, Steve.
>>STEVE GOLDSTEIN: Thank you, Vint.
I would just like to respond to the gentleman who spoke about Internationalized Domain Names. Yes, I'm sorry, I don't remember your name. You don't have to get up.
>>VINT CERF: That's Khaled Fattal. His name is Khaled Fattal.
>>STEVE GOLDSTEIN: Mr. Fattal. I think that the sentiments that you expressed are shared by every board member. I don't think there's any dispute about that. My own personal feeling is that the purpose of the Internationalized Domain Names would be to empower people to take advantage of the latest technology in their native language.
So maybe those aren't exactly the words you expressed, but those would be my feelings. And I thank you very much for having said that.
>>KHALED FATTAL: Actually, I would like to thank you for going on the record of expressing your position.
I think you are really showing the international community that your role as an ICANN board member is truly that of a leadership role. Because I actually made a mistake. I neglected in something I wanted to do in my intervention -- I forgot to do it, but I wanted to ask each and every individual board member to express their position and their sentiment. And by the way, it is sentiment. I want to hear your sentiment. The people want to hear your sentiment. So from that point of view, it is far more than sentiment.
It is actually an acknowledgment which can become a position by ICANN in how IDNs will be deployed.
This is what I believe is necessary.
Thank you, Vint, and I --
>>VINT CERF: Thank you, Khaled.
Unfortunately, we won't have time to express sentiments right at the moment because we have an important action to take now. And that's to prepare the stage for a RALO signing.
This is the final North American RALO which puts into place the operation of ALAC as it was originally intended.
So I'm going to call this meeting to a close.
You will note that many topics did not get discussed that were -- and reports were not made that were originally planned.
I'll call on all those who were planning to make those reports orally to prepare written materials and we'll put that up on the Web site for reference. And I ask now that whoever is preparing the RALO signing, organize it now because several of us have to leave at 12:15.
[ 12:00 ]
About MINC
Formed in 2000, MINC is the Multilingual Internet Names Consortium, aims to promote a multilingual Internet through the facilitation of research development, education and deployments of Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) and other naming systems of Internet navigation. MINC’s work dates back to mid 90’s to promote the Multilingualization of the Internet, the internationalization of Internet names including but not limited to multilingual Internet domain names and keywords. Over the years, MINC has established a wide range of links with international organizations, stakeholder organizations and other processes including The United Nations, the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS), ICANN, ITU, WIPO, IETF, as well as language groups such as JDNA (Japanese), CDNA (Chinese), INFITT (Tamil), Euro-LINC (European Languages), CYINC (Cyrillic), GLWG (Georgian), RLWG (Russian ) as well as The Arabic language and scripts WG (Arabic) and ULWG (Urdu). Our language groups develop their own language and variant tables, and coordinate with each other on these tables. They also discuss other IDN related issues like the development of Dispute Resolution Policies and the use of IDN in software applications. For more information about MINC, please refer to the website at http://www.minc.org or contact MINC secretariat at hvx04@nrmx.lit.
About MINC ICMC
Formed in 2006, MINC's International Coordination Mechanism Council (ICMC) aims to coordinate with all local authorities and jurisdictions and known operators of IDN TLDs in various local jurisdictions, for a an equitable multilingual Internet and information society based on mutual respect, local empowerment and the right of all people for self-E-determination as a function of their human rights.
ICMC Technical Coordination;
This MINC ICMC ad hoc committee coordinates the technical parameters involved in supporting a truly multilingual domain name system. All deployments of IDN should be Internet RFC- compliant and registered and tracked with MINC's IDN database.