Re: Tilde

tedd wrote:
> The result will be "~.com" (TILDE OPERATOR DOT COM).
> 
> At the bottom of the page, please do a Whois Query for Domain. The 
> result will show that the domain name is currently registered with 
> TUCOWS and has been for several years.

I see. This is a testbed registration. If it is old enough, Verisign
will support for some time. However, before the testbed goes into
production, Verisign reserves the right to abandon registrations which
don't match the policy. See

http://www.verisign.com/products-services/naming-and-directory-services/naming-services/internationalized-domain-names/idn-standards/idn-character-variants/page_001485.html

for the phases they plan to implement. In phase III, applicants
will have to specify a language tag. If the label then does not
match the characters allowed, the registration will be denied.

> Considering all, are you saying that this domain name will never be 
> allowed to be used (as you say, "in production use") like current 
> "standard" domains?

Correct - atleast not at one-under-toplevel. Local administrators
may, of course, establish other policies for assigning host names
and subdomains.

> As such, the individual who registered and paid for 
> this domain name, and is still paying renewals, will never to be allowed 
> to use it?

I believe at some point, renewal will not be possible. See the
description of phase III.

> That's my desire -- but I'm not as involved as you, and your peers, in 
> the IDNS process and it's hard for me to figure out what's relevant and 
> what's not. For example, Versign reported that they notified registrars 
> who have invalid IDN registrations on April 9, 2003. As such, if the 
> above noted domain was invalid, as you claim, then shouldn't the 
> registered owner have been notified of such by now?

I believe (without factually knowing) that there are two levels of
"incorrectness". One is failure to follow nameprep procedures, by
using characters that are forbidden in nameprep, or by not using the
proper normal form. I believe such registration have been eliminated
by now. A registration for TILDE OPERATOR is allowed, according to
nameprep, so it wasn't eliminated.

I believe that such registration still does not follow the policies
for .com or .net (or any other gTLD where IANA has approved IDN
operations). How Verisign plans to deal with the testbed
registrations, and in what time frame, I don't know.

> And, if what you claim is common knowledge in your industry, then why is 
> Versign, and it's accredited registrars, still receiving money for 
> registrations and renewals for domain names that they know can never be 
> used? This doesn't sound right, does it?

The registration is still available, and the name is still being
resolved. However, in .com and .net, the entire thing also is still
a testbed.

Why Verisign charges for testbed participation, I don't know. Probably
because users are willing to pay.

Regards,
Martin