Domain names to be released in Indian languages

Initial registrations for domain names in Indian languages are expected to commence in January 2008. 5 languages, Hindi, Tamil, Sanskrit, Bengali and Punjabi have been planned for the initial launch, or what is known in the industry as the 'sunrise' period.

In all 22 languages across 11 scripts have been planned in what will be the most complex roll out of domain names ever seen. Testing is in progress on the internationalised domain name (IDN) and measures are in place to limit phishing issues.

The guidelines for roll out are being framed by the NIXI along with IT ministry, C-DAC and Internet Service Providers Association of India. "The same letter may exist both in Tamil and Hindi. Also, within a language it can be represented visually through different set of Unicode characters. We are trying to make the IDNs phishing and spoofing proof," Aggarwal added.

Currently, any letter in a Devanagiri, Gurmukhi or any other regional script font can be created visually using different codes. Simply put, if Ram.com is created using one script, the same can be created visually by using a different set of codes. It may lead to a rise in phishing or spoofing of identities.

But NIXI is drafting a counter policy on the same. "To counter this, we will block alternate identities of the same name, which can be created by different codes, except the original identity for every user. We will have a scientific formula on how the visual representation of each character in the domain name will be made. Also, we will have a simple dispute resolution policy," he adds.