Icann’s address decision ‘significant for internet internationalisation’

Shared web hosting users will most likely have an opinion on the recent Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers’ (Icann) decision to fast-track a proposal to provide internationalised versions of two letter country domains.

According to Bill Thompson, an independent journalist and regular commentator on the BBC World Service programme Digital Planet, the announcement marks an important moment in the internationalisation of the whole internet.

He told the BBC that it has taken a long time for this decision to come about, but said this was understandable considering the problems with re-engineering such a big part of the network infrastructure without damaging anything.

Mr Thompson claimed that in the next five years, most new internet users will come from non English-speaking countries.

"It’s good to see that those of us who have helped build the network so far are making it more welcoming for them," he added.

Peter Dengate Thrush, chairman of Icann, recently described his organisation’s decision as the biggest technical change to the internet since it was created.

Written by Mick Woods.