Re: FYI: BOF on Internationalized Email Addresses (IEA)

Mark Crispin writes:
> Just as a few off the cuff-examples:
>
> Is ASCII formally abolished as the lingua franca of email addresses, 
> meaning that some people will be unable to use ASCII addresses?

I think the latter will some day be the case. Personally I'm not unhappy 
about it - anyone who doesn't know my alphabet is unlikely to know any 
language I also know.

> If so, how many email addresses will a diplomat (or any other 
> individual engaged in multinational business) need?

1<=n<=m, where m is the number of alphabets that individual uses.

A Chinese diplomat in Saudi Arabia might have three - one for each of 
the alphabets in which he communicates. His Indian counterpart might 
take the position that his Saudi hosts had better know the Latin 
alphabet, and have just one email address. Matter of judgment. (I'm 
misquoting an Indian newspaper, btw. Badly so.)

> If not, doesn't that create a two tier world of persons who have 
> usable international addresses and those who have domestic-only 
> addresses?

Yep. Just like some of us speak foreign languages and others don't.

As long as the email addresses are fully sufficient for communication 
with everyone with whom the user shares a language, it's okay.

--Arnt