A Real World-Wide Web of Possibilities

It just means I have to study my Korean, but fossilized corporate and government organizations can’t really know now how ICANN might have helped or hindered them. Stafford Lumsden shines a light on ICANN’s decision to allow-non-Latin characters in domain addresses.

In the appropriately hi-tech South Korean capital of Seoul, the body’s chief executive, Rod Beckstrom, announced moves to allow internet domain names (the end of web addresses – .com, .co.uk, etc) to be registered in languages using characters other than the 26 of the Latin alphabet. Heralding the changes as the “internationalisation of the internet”, Mr Beckstrom was in grandiose mood. He added: “This represents one small step for Icann, but one big step for half of mankind.”

I’m surprised by the negativity expressed by the likes of Nik Trapani or Susan Moeller. It’s not a loss for English or “standards”. It’s a victory for decentralization, of Gutenberg-sized possibilities, of ending bigotry – and for foreign language teachers and services. But, if reactionaries must shuffle their feet glumly, they can cheer bureaucratic inertia and the scourge of intellectual piracy.