Internet addresses not English-only anymore

Posted May 6, 2010 at 12:06 p.m.

Associated Press | It’s now possible for websites to use addresses entirely in Arabic.

The first three domain names in non-Latin characters have been added to
the Internet’s master directories, following final approval last month
by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN.
It’s the first major change to the Internet domain name system since
its creation in the 1980s.


Until now, websites had to end their addresses with “.com” or another string using Latin characters. The change allows websites to adopt Arabic suffixes for Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Registrations are expected to begin soon.

A suffix for Russia in Cyrillic is expected to be added to the master list soon as well. Proposals for several others have received preliminary approval and should be activated by year’s end.

 

3 comments:

  1. jack (the real one) May 6, 2010 at 1:13 pm

    The Tribune’s patrons are waiting for a domain name in Chinese. However, since they are scammers, maybe not.

  2. EnglishOnly May 6, 2010 at 1:48 pm

    As fare English goes….
    Updated May 06, 2010
    California Students Sent Home for Wearing U.S. Flags on Cinco de Mayo
    Administrators at a California high school sent five students home on Wednesday after they refused to remove their American flag T-shirts and bandannas — garments the school officials deemed “incendiary” on Cinco de Mayo.
    The five teens were sitting at a table outside Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, Calif., on Wednesday morning when Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez asked two of them to remove their American flag bandannas, the Morgan Hill Times reported. The boys told the newspaper they complied, but were asked to accompany Rodriguez to the principal’s office.
    The five students — Daniel Galli, Austin Carvalho, Matt Dariano, Dominic Maciel and Clayton Howard — were then told they must turn their T-shirts inside-out or be sent home, though it would not be considered a suspension. Rodriguez told the students he did not want any fights to break out between Mexican-American students celebrating their heritage and those wearing American flags.
    Galli told NBC Bay Area, “They said we could wear it on any other day, but today is sensitive to Mexican-Americans because it’s supposed to be their holiday so we were not allowed to wear it.”

  3. Alex Colquitt May 6, 2010 at 8:12 pm

    What crap! What the hell is wrong with you people? Five lads decide to show the colors of the country to which we’ve all pledged our allegiance and some Politically Correct assassin of patriotism makes the boys remove the colors?
    Does this mean Mexican Americans can’t wear the American flag on the 4th of July?
    America! Get a grip.