From Passport to Dictionary
Went to an entertaining and informative CERC seminar about Amadeu Abril and the introduction of the .cat top level domain. (Some of the academics were clearly a bit bemused to be also told that there is a proposed .xxx TLD: the Oz Govt is clearly not amused. Via lokicarbis.)
The presenter, Peter Gerrand, gave a nice history of the domain name system (DNS) and how it works. (An earlier version of his paper is here.) The original push had been for a .ct domain for Catalonia, but that had all sorts of intense political difficulties. Abril had the inspired idea of swapping the passport for the dictionary and going for a Catalan language domain instead. Since there are Catalan speakers outside Spain, and Catalan has about 10m speakers, this was both plausible and politically much more practical. Letters of support were gained from both the Andorran and (new) Spanish governments.
.cat is now underway. (The agreement with ICANN includes a provision that it cannot be used to sell cats. Just in case you were wondering.)
An informative and amusing seminar. (And one which reinforced my firm view that the UN should not be allowed to get its corrupt, incompetent and pathologically politicised fingers on the system. And if you are asking does that mean I trust the US Department of Commerce more than the UN, the answer is a resounding yes.)
The presenter, Peter Gerrand, gave a nice history of the domain name system (DNS) and how it works. (An earlier version of his paper is here.) The original push had been for a .ct domain for Catalonia, but that had all sorts of intense political difficulties. Abril had the inspired idea of swapping the passport for the dictionary and going for a Catalan language domain instead. Since there are Catalan speakers outside Spain, and Catalan has about 10m speakers, this was both plausible and politically much more practical. Letters of support were gained from both the Andorran and (new) Spanish governments.
.cat is now underway. (The agreement with ICANN includes a provision that it cannot be used to sell cats. Just in case you were wondering.)
An informative and amusing seminar. (And one which reinforced my firm view that the UN should not be allowed to get its corrupt, incompetent and pathologically politicised fingers on the system. And if you are asking does that mean I trust the US Department of Commerce more than the UN, the answer is a resounding yes.)