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Are You Ready for ICANN55?

ICANN's Marrakech meeting begins 5-10 March 2016. Visit our meeting site to access the schedule, meeting guide & venue map, information about hotel shuttles & our ICANN55 mobile app. Unable to attend? Check the schedule for remote participation information on each session.

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Blog Posts

Dear Canada, The Internet NEEDS You

  |   By Christopher Mondini, VP, Stakeholder Engagement, Global Business and North America Region

Expectations of Service Level Expectations

  |   By David Conrad

Welcome to ICANN55 in Africa!

  |   By Pierre Dandjinou, VP of Stakeholder Engagement for Africa

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News and Announcements

Watch Fadi Chehadé's Tribute Video

Image of Fadi Chehadé

This tribute video to Fadi Chehadé features statements from Steve Crocker, Nii Quaynor, Vint Cerf, Akram Atallah, Lawrence Strickling, Cheryl Langdon-Orr and Olivier Crepin-Leblond. Click the link above to start watching.

ICANN CEO & President Fadi Chehadé’s ICANN55 Welcome Message

Fadi Chehadé Screenshot

Remote Hubs are geared towards communities and regions that would otherwise not be able to engage face to face at the ICANN Meeting. They provide an opportunity for stakeholders to bring their voice to certain topical sessions in a way that simulates the physical room experience. For more information click the above link.

Final Report on “Middle East DNS Study” Released

Final Report on the Domain Name System for the MEAC now Published

The publication of the final report on the Domain Name System (DNS) for the Middle East and Adjoining Countries (MEAC) or the “Middle East DNS Study” was completed after receiving feedback on the initial draft. The report will be discussed at ICANN55 during the DNS Industry in the Middle East session on Tuesday, 8 March from 1630-1800 WET.

CCWG-Accountability Delivers Final Report

CCWG-Accountability Delivers Final Report to Its Chartering Organizations

The CCWG-Accountability delivers a Final Report to its Chartering Organizations, aiming for consideration and approval at ICANN55 in Marrakech. Click the link above to read their statement.

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Domain Name System
Internationalized Domain Name ,IDN,"IDNs are domain names that include characters used in the local representation of languages that are not written with the twenty-six letters of the basic Latin alphabet ""a-z"". An IDN can contain Latin letters with diacritical marks, as required by many European languages, or may consist of characters from non-Latin scripts such as Arabic or Chinese. Many languages also use other types of digits than the European ""0-9"". The basic Latin alphabet together with the European-Arabic digits are, for the purpose of domain names, termed ""ASCII characters"" (ASCII = American Standard Code for Information Interchange). These are also included in the broader range of ""Unicode characters"" that provides the basis for IDNs. The ""hostname rule"" requires that all domain names of the type under consideration here are stored in the DNS using only the ASCII characters listed above, with the one further addition of the hyphen ""-"". The Unicode form of an IDN therefore requires special encoding before it is entered into the DNS. The following terminology is used when distinguishing between these forms: A domain name consists of a series of ""labels"" (separated by ""dots""). The ASCII form of an IDN label is termed an ""A-label"". All operations defined in the DNS protocol use A-labels exclusively. The Unicode form, which a user expects to be displayed, is termed a ""U-label"". The difference may be illustrated with the Hindi word for ""test"" — परीका — appearing here as a U-label would (in the Devanagari script). A special form of ""ASCII compatible encoding"" (abbreviated ACE) is applied to this to produce the corresponding A-label: xn--11b5bs1di. A domain name that only includes ASCII letters, digits, and hyphens is termed an ""LDH label"". Although the definitions of A-labels and LDH-labels overlap, a name consisting exclusively of LDH labels, such as""icann.org"" is not an IDN."