By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer
NEW YORK - Weeklong discussions in India about the creation of online domain names entirely in languages other than English led to greater understanding but no major decisions, the chief executive of the Internet's key oversight agency said Friday.
At issue is a proposed "fast-track" mechanism for specific countries to get non-English suffixes — the "" part of Internet addresses. For example, many Internet users in China would like to see a Chinese-character equivalent of the ".cn" suffix.
Under one scenario, each country would be entitled to one non-English suffix while work continues on resolving broader challenges, such as how to make sure a domain in one language isn't inadvertently offensive in another.
Addresses partly in foreign languages are sometimes possible today, but the suffix for now is limited to 37 characters: a-z, 0-9 and the hyphen.
Supporters say demand for non-English names — to expand Internet usage to those who cannot speak English or at least type English characters — is so great they cannot afford to wait the few years it might take to settle those questions.
Critics of giving those countries "fast-track" status worry that they would get an unfair advantage over those that must wait until the full guidelines are developed.
"At the beginning of the week, various groups mapped out their extreme positions," said Paul Twomey, chief executive of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the U.S. group tasked with overseeing domain name issues. "By the end of the week, it became a more reasonable conversation."
Twomey said a working group may make recommendations by ICANN's next major meeting in Paris in June. ICANN's board took no action on new domains Friday as the meetings wrapped up in New Delhi.
Twomey said he does not expect ICANN to start accepting bids for specific names until the end of this year at the earliest.
ICANN also has been working on procedures for creating new domain names in English to join the more than 250 already in existence. Those rules are still being formulated.
The board took no action on a proposed ".post" for postal services, the only application still pending from 2004.
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