Domain news: Indian characters to be used in web addresses

Domain names will be written in Indian languages by June 2010, one expert has suggested.

According to a government spokesperson, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) – which recently decided to allow the use of non-Latin characters in web addresses - and the government of India are working together to make this goal a reality.

He said a policy document for International Domain Names in Indian languages had been evolved over the last three years, reports Indlaw.com.

The spokesperson added that "a large number" of issues still need to be deliberated upon and discussed.

"Given the complexity of Indian writing systems, safeguards have to be introduced to ensure that the common man is secure as far as possible from phishing and spoofing attacks," he added.

"The syllabic structure of Indian languages, variant tables and restriction rules are some of the major focal areas."

In other news related to domain name consultancies, Egypt recently applied to ICANN to use non-Latin characters in web addresses.

Written by Debra Hastings-Henry