DUBAI - The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the body in charge of assigning online addresses approved to allow the use of Arabic and many of the world's scripts, a decision that could lead to a dramatic rise in the number of Internet users, news agency Reuters reported. Initially, it will allow Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs) using scripts such as Arabic, Chinese, Korean for the country code designators at the end of an address name.
ICANN approved the change in a meeting at Seoul. The programme will be
rolled out in stages, starting Nov. 16 and eventually the use of IDNs
will be expanded to all types of Internet address names.
"This is only the first step, but it is an incredibly big one and an historic move toward the internationalisation of the Internet," ICANN's President and CEO Rod Beckstrom was quoted as saying.
"We have just made the Internet much more accessible to millions of people in regions such as Asia, the Middle East and Russia."
ICANN was set up in 1998 and operated under the aegis of the U.S. Commerce Department. It decides what names can be added to the Internet's top level domains (TLDs) such as .com as well as country designations.
Last month, the U.S. government agreed to changes that in effect meant ICANN would no longer report solely to the United States.