AfterDawn: News

First domains with non-Latin characters get activated

Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates have become the first three countries to get Internet addresses in non-Latin characters, being approved in Arabic this week by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

Registrations for websites using the new domains will start soon, and Egypt has already given approval to three companies to use the new Arabic suffix.



"Introducing Arabic domain names is a milestone in Internet history,"says Egyptian Communication and Information Technology Minister Tarek Kamel said in a statement. "This great step will open up new horizons for e-services in Egypt as well as boosting the number of online users and enabling Internet service providers to enter new markets by eliminating language barriers."

Until the recent decision, all websites had to end with ".com" or ".org" among other strings using Latin characters, which could get confusing for nations with no familiarity with the characters.

ICANN noted that the middle east has only about 20 percent on their populations online, on average, a far cry from the over 60 percent seen in most developed nations.

Additionally, a suffix for Russia in Cyrillic is expected to be the fourth new domain accepted soon. By the end of 2010, suffixes for Jordan, Qatar, Tunisia, Palestine, Hong Kong, Thailand and Sri Lanka are also expected to be approved.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 9 May 2010 22:35

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• 33 comments

• hikaricor

  Another interesting way to phish people..

  9.5.2010 23:09 #1

• kfir1

  Even if its in non latin internet addresse these tards still need to "READ and WRITE". This is not a milestone. These 4th world countries needs to be educated to the 21st century and leave their mindset from the medieval times.
  
  Here's how it goes.
  1. Education (not the kuran but western)
  2. Then internet

  9.5.2010 23:26 #2

• KillerBug

  WTF...Like .com or .net or .org are part of english? Sure, they are short for company, network, and organization...but you still have to memorize the letters.
  
  There is a story of a tower to the heavens that god struck down. His punishment to man was the many languages, and the wars caused by them. While I can't comment on the events of the story, I do agree that different languages are a curse upon man (and women), and anything that helps to strengthen these divides is a bad thing.

  10.5.2010 00:00 #3

• DDR4life

  Originally posted by KillerBug: ... Sure, they are short for company, network, and organization ... I was under the impression that .coms were commercial. As in commerce.
  
  Although, with all the advertisements and banners on most pages maybe they should consider changing them to .ads
  
  

  10.5.2010 02:58 #4

• Mrguss

  For all the people that do not speak English in the whole world. This is a milestone backward for humanity.
  
  English is not my first language: But English is the Universal Language of the World and make use of Latin characters.....so for all those people that do not speak English is to bad for you.
  
  Get out from under your rock and be International.
  

  +4000

  10.5.2010 03:34 #5

• Ghostdog

  Originally posted by DDR4life:
  Although, with all the advertisements and banners on most pages maybe they should consider changing them to .ads
  
  Haha, .ads :D I laughed.
  
  But getting back on topic;
  Here in the "west" we view the world through western goggles and from our own point of view. It´s easy to say "get with latin and learn english you third-world tossers" (although kfir1 seems to think that the arab-world is actually a 4th world region?), but forcing something completely foreign upon millions of people just to let them join in on this whole amazing internet-thing would likely create even more animosity towards western culture. If these changes facilitate access to the internet for a large number of people in the "4th" world, that´s a good thing in my book. Internet -> freedom of information -> openness -> development.

  10.5.2010 07:51 #6

• ville30

  Great, another milestone for islamic terrorists hell bent on bombing the crap out of the western world.
  

  10.5.2010 09:56 #7

• kfir1

  Originally posted by Ghostdog: Originally posted by DDR4life:
  Although, with all the advertisements and banners on most pages maybe they should consider changing them to .ads
  
  Haha, .ads :D I laughed.
  
  But getting back on topic;
  Here in the "west" we view the world through western goggles and from our own point of view. It´s easy to say "get with latin and learn english you third-world tossers" (although kfir1 seems to think that the arab-world is actually a 4th world region?), but forcing something completely foreign upon millions of people just to let them join in on this whole amazing internet-thing would likely create even more animosity towards western culture. If these changes facilitate access to the internet for a large number of people in the "4th" world, that´s a good thing in my book. Internet -> freedom of information -> openness -> development. Ghostdog
  
  I would guess you have not been in the middle east. I live there and spent my childhood years till high school. I can say that they are in the "stone age".
  
  Anything that is western to them is EVIL, except for the educated ones. They seem to be stuck in the CRUSADE age. Why is that? That's because all they read is the kuran and hold the western world for their problems. They have nobody to blame except the WEST. How can you deal with this mindset?
  
  LEAVE THEM ALONE WITH THEIR MISERIES.

  10.5.2010 11:53 #8

• Paula_X

  nah.. don't leave them alone.. nuke them back to the cretaceous .. the stone age (as used by a US general) is not applicable as they haven't evolved that far yet :D .. while we are at it we could deport all the catholics and evangelicals out to the middle east to join them.. more sub-neanderthals we can do without.. I have no time for superstitious rubbish ruining peoples lives..
  
  
  
  

  http://en.windows7sins.org/

  10.5.2010 12:02 #9

• slickwill

  I think most sites will still stick to the Latin Alphabet for their URL. Unless they only want a certain group of people that speak a certain language to only access the site.
  
  I don't see the point b/c it's only 26 letters, it doesn't take that long to learn.

  10.5.2010 14:47 #10

• Mrguss

  Originally posted by slickwill: I think most sites will still stick to the Latin Alphabet for their URL. Unless they only want a certain group of people that speak a certain language to only access the site.
  
  I don't see the point b/c it's only 26 letters, it doesn't take that long to learn. I agree: English is the most simple language to learn.
  
  Now if you think Chinese: they have +800 characters.
  Or the funny way to write backwards.....is just for the birds.
  

  +4000

  10.5.2010 15:33 #11

• ThePastor

  Seems fine to me... it'll just make it easier for me to avoid those sites!

  10.5.2010 17:35 #12

• IPRFenix

  Originally posted by Mrguss: Originally posted by slickwill: I think most sites will still stick to the Latin Alphabet for their URL. Unless they only want a certain group of people that speak a certain language to only access the site.
  
  I don't see the point b/c it's only 26 letters, it doesn't take that long to learn. I agree: English is the most simple language to learn.
  
  Now if you think Chinese: they have +800 characters.
  Or the funny way to write backwards.....is just for the birds. Actually for Chinese..
  "The number of Chinese characters contained in the Kangxi dictionary is approximately 47,035, although a large number of these are rarely used variants accumulated throughout history. Studies carried out in China have shown that literacy in the Chinese language requires a knowledge of between three and four thousand characters." (There are dictionaries containing over 100,000 characters, that were released around 2004)
  3000 to 4000 characters, versus 26. That's 115 to 150 times as much that you have to remember to achieve literacy.
  
  I don't know the order of how much or in what order they learn in china. But I sort of do know for Japanese..
  
  For Japanese you have to learn 46 "basic" Hiragana and 46 "basic" Katakana, and 1006 Kanji (Kyōiku kanji) in elementary school. Then another 939 Kanji in highschool (Jōyō kanji). Then there's Jinmeiyō kanji, which is not learned at any "specific" time (to my knowledge..), but is another 983 Kanji that are used for names.
  "approximately 2,000 to 3,000 characters are in common use in Japan."
  
  26 characters, versus thousands, to achieve literacy.
  English is easy. If you have a drive to learn it, you can memorize the alphabet in less than a day. You really can't do that with Hanzi/Kanji...
  

  10.5.2010 17:46 #13

• KillerBug

  You forgot about something else the Japanese kids have to learn in elementary school...ENGLISH! The Japanese government knows that English is vital to the future of the students, as well as the country as a whole. If you go to Japan on vacation, you don't need a translator because you will be with English speaking persons wherever you go (though they might pretend not to speak English if they don't want to talk to you).
  
  If it were not for the back-asswards fascist that run China, they would have the same program.
  
  These languages were terribly inefficient and problematic...even before the invention of the keyboard. By limiting the number of characters, you also limit the number of written words, but you do not limit the number of spoken words. As such, many written words translate to various different spoken words. For example, the character "&;" might mean tree, forest, or logger...all depending on context, assuming that the writer provided enough context, as this could get very confusing in a story about a logger cutting down a tree in the forest. On top of that, in modern Japan/China/etc, users are forced to use a Latin keyboard in order to type in the English equivelant of the language they want, then they have to confirm what one they want with a mouse...this is a terrible way of typing, but it is the only way of typing in Chinese or Japanese.
  
  Arabic isn't quite as bad as Chinese or Japanese, but there are still 28 letters, with 3-4 versions of each (where English only has 2 states, lowercase and uppercase). There are also 7 "modified" versions of these letters that are used to make certain sounds in certain words. Also, the characters used are clearly intended to be difficult to learn (as to restrict it to the ruling class in the early days). And they are awful on a computer screen, with many characters being only one or two pixels different from another character. You might say the only good thing about written Arabic is the fact that you can make a keyboard for it...or you might say the best part of written Japanese is that it has forced the Japanese to learn English.

  11.5.2010 06:14 #14

• Ghostdog

  Originally posted by kfir1: Originally posted by Ghostdog: Originally posted by DDR4life:
  Although, with all the advertisements and banners on most pages maybe they should consider changing them to .ads
  
  Haha, .ads :D I laughed.
  
  But getting back on topic;
  Here in the "west" we view the world through western goggles and from our own point of view. It´s easy to say "get with latin and learn english you third-world tossers" (although kfir1 seems to think that the arab-world is actually a 4th world region?), but forcing something completely foreign upon millions of people just to let them join in on this whole amazing internet-thing would likely create even more animosity towards western culture. If these changes facilitate access to the internet for a large number of people in the "4th" world, that´s a good thing in my book. Internet -> freedom of information -> openness -> development. Ghostdog
  
  I would guess you have not been in the middle east. I live there and spent my childhood years till high school. I can say that they are in the "stone age".
  
  Anything that is western to them is EVIL, except for the educated ones. They seem to be stuck in the CRUSADE age. Why is that? That's because all they read is the kuran and hold the western world for their problems. They have nobody to blame except the WEST. How can you deal with this mindset?
  
  LEAVE THEM ALONE WITH THEIR MISERIES. Apologies kfir1, I incorrectly assumed you were just another angry misguided westerner.
  
  I do agree that theocracy is harmful for a countries development, but I don´t think the matter is as simple as just blaming the Qur'an.

  11.5.2010 07:25 #15

• kfir1

  Originally posted by Ghostdog: Originally posted by kfir1: Originally posted by Ghostdog: Originally posted by DDR4life:
  Although, with all the advertisements and banners on most pages maybe they should consider changing them to .ads
  
  Haha, .ads :D I laughed.
  
  But getting back on topic;
  Here in the "west" we view the world through western goggles and from our own point of view. It´s easy to say "get with latin and learn english you third-world tossers" (although kfir1 seems to think that the arab-world is actually a 4th world region?), but forcing something completely foreign upon millions of people just to let them join in on this whole amazing internet-thing would likely create even more animosity towards western culture. If these changes facilitate access to the internet for a large number of people in the "4th" world, that´s a good thing in my book. Internet -> freedom of information -> openness -> development. Ghostdog
  
  I would guess you have not been in the middle east. I live there and spent my childhood years till high school. I can say that they are in the "stone age".
  
  Anything that is western to them is EVIL, except for the educated ones. They seem to be stuck in the CRUSADE age. Why is that? That's because all they read is the kuran and hold the western world for their problems. They have nobody to blame except the WEST. How can you deal with this mindset?
  
  LEAVE THEM ALONE WITH THEIR MISERIES. Apologies kfir1, I incorrectly assumed you were just another angry misguided westerner.
  
  I do agree that theocracy is harmful for a countries development, but I don´t think the matter is as simple as just blaming the Qur'an. It just saddens me to see how the middle east government, not Israel, suppresses it's population and uses religion as a mainstay to stay in power. Case in point the palestinians in the west bank and gaza.

  11.5.2010 11:14 #16

• Joshewah

  I'll just flat out say it. Religion the primary cause of most problems human's have ever had. Not just islam, but all religions.
  
  It's the most dangerous lie ever told.
  

  X360 - iXtreme1.4 ||| Xbox - EvoX Dash ||| PS2 - CC 2.0 PRO SLE ||| Dreamcast ...lol ||| PSP - 5.00 M33-3 ||| NDS - M3 Simply/EZ Flash 3-1 ||| Rooted HTC Hero

  11.5.2010 23:08 #17

• ThePastor

  Religion has its issues, to be sure. But people have been killing people since long before any existing religion and a great many people have been killed for reasons other than religion in the modern world. To blame "most humans' have ever had" on religion is simplistic and just not true. Did Hitler kill for religion? China or Japan? What about Russia? The Muslims and the Christians have nothing on these true killing machines.
  

  Unfortunately for them, all Blu-ray protections have been broken and BD rips can be found around the Internet, usually before the retail even hits shelves.

  12.5.2010 13:03 #18

• Paula_X

  You can't call Israel blameless either.. they treat the rightful inhabitants of the occupied territories like dirt and expect them to love them... IF they had invested in Gaza and the West bank to bring the standard of living up to the same as across Israel instead of encouraging resettlement, slum conditions and exploiting the Palestinians as cheap labour worth nothing more, then maybe the situation would be so different and Israel might actually have some friends in that part of the world.
  
  Don't forget.. before 1946 Palestine was a British Protectorate .. and peaceful. The Middle East mess is down mostly to the British drawing lines on maps where none had existed before.
  
  Anyhow.. as for the "extra" characters.. no problem for me.. I have 57 locales loaded because I use chinese and japanese pron and warez links lists all the time.. so I need all the characters loaded anyway.
  

  http://en.windows7sins.org/

  12.5.2010 13:41 #19

• Mrguss

  The way I think:
  
  Religions and War is just another Business as Usual....nothing more than a "Cool Blood Business" same as Politics.
  
  I believe in God....but not to make Money out of it !
  

  +4000

  12.5.2010 17:34 #20

• KillerBug

  It is hard to believe that there is a god when there is so much religion.

  12.5.2010 23:56 #21

• rking_ad

  The Earth is a perfect flat square, only science and occasionally gravity bend the light on how it is perceived somewhat differently.
  
  Does anybody know how to write the above in Kufu?
  
  I don't know why there is an order to the English alphabet, especially when we have to scramble them profusely to make words.

  13.5.2010 08:42 #22

• Crescentstar

  I usually don't bother commenting, but I just had to say, for everyone complaining about the people in the Middle East just sucking it up and learning English,
  1. most people there are more educated than most of the populace in the "west" (as holds true for most eastern nations, actually), this includes English.
  
  2. why don't we throw these racial slurs around and make all the ILLEGAL, JOB STEALING spanish/mexican yahoos in the US learn English? I sure as heck HATE having to see everything become spanish-ized in MY ENGLISH speaking nation. Well?
  
  honestly, stupid hypocrites...

  13.5.2010 12:56 #23

• Mrguss

  Originally posted by Crescentstar: Why don't we throw these racial slurs around and make all the ILLEGAL, JOB STEALING spanish/mexican yahoos in the US learn English? I sure as heck HATE having to see everything become spanish-ized in MY ENGLISH speaking nation. Well?
  
  honestly, stupid hypocrites... .....Well ?
  
  This is a Free world. Anybody in the world not matter where we born, we have the right to go to any place in the world: WHO CAN STOP US ?.
  As long you work hard, legalize yourself, speak and obey the laws of the Land......that's it!
  
  As a Human you can prove to yourself and anybody else that you can DO BETTER JOB even if you making less money that anybody else. 'cos life is a competition where Only The Good Ones Win.
  
  Now if you do not like competition and your love to somebody else feed you in your mouth 'cos you are handicap or wherever cup of tee you are drinking.....why not open your own Business and stop be a stupid complainer employee.
  
  I have American employees working for me today.
  
  PS. Speak, read, write English is important here in USA and everywhere in the world 'cos is the more international Language. Not 'cos a stupid ignorant person toll you so....in special all those kind of people that only speak only one language.
  
  The More languages you speak or the more open minded and prepared you are....the better and easy you will be able to compete, have a Good Job, Good Life and be a Winner out there.
  
  The more you complaint and do nothing about it (I SAY DO....NOT JUST TALK) the more low life you will be....and you will see many people bypass you bye.
  
  This happen on any country of the world: If you are Good you will be ahead, if not: you just gonna fall behind.
  
  Honestly: we are out of topic....my fall.
  

  +4000

  13.5.2010 15:27 #24

• Mrguss

  .

  13.5.2010 15:27 #25

• Mrguss

  .

  13.5.2010 15:27 #26

• Mrguss

  .

  13.5.2010 15:27 #27

• Mrguss

  .

  13.5.2010 15:28 #28

• Mrguss

  .

  13.5.2010 15:28 #29

• Mrguss

  .

  13.5.2010 15:31 #30

• Mrguss

  .

  13.5.2010 15:31 #31

• Mrguss

  .

  13.5.2010 15:32 #32

• KillerBug

  "This is a Free world. Anybody in the world not matter where we born, we have the right to go to any place in the world: WHO CAN STOP US ?.
  As long you work hard, legalize yourself, speak and obey the laws of the Land......that's it!"
  
  1.) Not a free world...and most countries are anything but free.
  2.) You do not have the rights to go everywhere, and many never have the rights to go anywhere at all.
  3.) The governments and their goons can stop us.
  4.) Playing by the rules and working hard do not count for much. Cheating the system, scamming people, and lying...that is how you get ahead...just ask any politician or lawyer, and they will lie to you and say this is untrue.
  
  "'cos life is a competition where Only The Good Ones Win. "
  
  You got that backwards...life is a race where the evil ones crush the good. The good guys never win, and if the side that started out good does win, they are almost always turned bad in the process. Good cannot win, the best we can ever hope for is a temporary stalemate.

  15.5.2010 00:41 #33