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

From: Dave Crocker <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2003 07:41:11 -0800

Patrik,

Thanks for putting this BOF together.

PF>       Where should the IETF tackle it?

I am not sure I understand this question.  Please clarify.

PF>    What are the next steps for the IETF?

Would it help to have a draft charter for the meeting?  (I realize that the
presence of such different specifications makes a charter at least a bit
challenging, but it seems to help to have a draft, to make things concrete.)

d/
--
 Dave Crocker <dcrocker-at-brandenburg-dot-com>
 Brandenburg InternetWorking <www.brandenburg.com>
 Sunnyvale, CA  USA <tel:+1.408.246.8253>

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From: Patrik Fältström <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 26 Oct 2003 20:55:08 +0100

At the IETF in Minneapolis, there will be a BOF on Internationalized 
Email Addresses (IEA).

It is *preliminary* on the agenda on Monday, November 10, 2003 at 
1530-1730.

Chairs:  Pete Resnick, Patrik Fältström
Mailing list:[email-masked] (other salient lists include [email-masked])
Agenda:

Agenda Bashing (Chairs)                5 min.
Topic Introduction (Chairs)           10 min.
Proposals
   IDNA-Based (Paul Hoffman)           15 min.
   Infrastructure-Based (John Klensin) 15 min.
   IRI-Based (Michel Suignard)         15 min.

Discussion                            60 min.

Topics for discussion:

   Are there other solutions which have been specified?

   The solutions present the problem at different scopes;

      Where should the IETF tackle it?

      Are some short-term, and other long-term?

      Can the solutions be staged or co-exist?

      If staged, how to migrate from one to another?

   What are the next steps for the IETF?

NB:  This BoF is exploratory in nature, and it is not intended that the 
IETF will finalize a decision in this venue.  It was proposed to foster 
a community discussion, not charter a working group or pick a winner. 
If further work is required, step one would be identifying individuals 
willing to carry that work forward.

Reading material:
   draft-hoffman-imaa-03.txt
   draft-klensin-emailaddr-i18n-01.txt
   draft-duerst-iri-04.txt

Pete and myself hope people will come with a lot of constructive 
comments and ideas.

         Patrik, co-chair of the bof

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From: Keith Moore <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2003 10:52:22 -0500

> Would it help to have a draft charter for the meeting?  

let's back up a step further.

what problem are we trying to solve here?

Keith

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From: Marc Blanchet <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2003 12:00:01 -0500

> what problem are we trying to solve here?

to me, that (problem we are trying to solve) would be part of the
introduction in the charter...

so I guess some initial proposal for:
- what are we trying to solve
- what would be the way to solve it

would be a good starting point together with the "state-of-the-art"
presentations.

Marc.

> Keith

------------------------------------------
Marc Blanchet
Hexago
tel: +1-418-266-5533x225
------------------------------------------
http://www.freenet6.net: IPv6 connectivity
------------------------------------------

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From: Keith Moore <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2003 13:44:03 -0500

Mark,

Thanks for taking a stab at a problem statement.  I'd like to drill down
on this just a bit.

What is the source of the "growing need"?  Is it:

a. for users of many languages (particularly those not using Latin alphabets)
   email addresses are difficult to remember
b. for users of many languages (particularly those not using Latin alphabets)
   email addresses are difficult to transcribe or type
c. users want to use their names in email addresses
d. users are confused by apparently arbitrary restrictions on use of 
   characters in email addresses, and this leads to mistakes
e. on computer systems employing non-ASCII names for other purposes (e.g.
   login or account names) these do not map well to ASCII email addresses

or something else that I don't see?

> As presently constituted, email addresses are limited to the 26 Latin
> alphabetics, 10 digits, and a limited number of special characters in
> the ASCII character set.  There is a growing need to use additional
> characters, specifically Latin characters with diacriticals and
> non-Latin characters, in email addresses to better serve the needs of
> the multi-national Internet community.  However, the restrictions of
> ASCII email addresses have served as a "lingua franca" since everybody
> can enter ASCII email addresses, and there is an ongoing need for this
> as well.  The problem to be solved is the resolution of these two
> needs.

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From: Mark Crispin <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2003 09:13:29 -0800 (PST)

> what problem are we trying to solve here?

I agree with Keith.  This isn't to say that I dispute that there is a
problem to be solved -- indeed, I think that the problem is apparent to
all -- but we must have a problem statement that we all agree upon before
we even think about solutions.

I don't think that references to drafts of proposed solutions suffice as a
problem statement.  Leaving aside questions of possible bias (= present a
problem in such a way that this is the obvious best solution), having the
problem statement in a draft (which by its nature is an ephemeral
document) muddies the issues.

The problem statement should consist of a single paragraph (and preferably
in one or two sentences), separate from any proposed solution, and stated
in a charter which is approved by everyone.

Here's a start at such a statement:

As presently constituted, email addresses are limited to the 26 Latin
alphabetics, 10 digits, and a limited number of special characters in the
ASCII character set.  There is a growing need to use additional
characters, specifically Latin characters with diacriticals and non-Latin
characters, in email addresses to better serve the needs of the
multi-national Internet community.  However, the restrictions of ASCII
email addresses have served as a "lingua franca" since everybody can enter
ASCII email addresses, and there is an ongoing need for this as well.  The
problem to be solved is the resolution of these two needs.

-- Mark --

http://staff.washington.edu/mrc
Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate.
Si vis pacem, para bellum.

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From: Pete Resnick <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2003 10:37:21 -0600

On 10/27/03 at 10:52 AM -0500, Keith Moore wrote:

>>DC: Would it help to have a draft charter for the meeting?

As was mentioned in the draft agenda at 
<http://www.ietf.org/ietf/03nov/iea.txt>, we want to simply start the 
discussion, not immediately attempt to charter a working group.

>what problem are we trying to solve here?

Please have a look at draft-hoffman-imaa, 
draft-klensin-emailaddr-i18n, and draft-duerst-iri. Certainly the 
first two have very explicit descriptions of the problem.

pr
-- 
Pete Resnick <http://wwww.qualcomm.com/~presnick/>
QUALCOMM Incorporated - Direct phone: (858)651-4478, Fax: (858)651-1102

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From: [email-masked] (WJCarpenter)
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2003 09:30:46 -0800

mc> As presently constituted, email addresses are limited to the 26
mc> Latin alphabetics, 10 digits, and a limited number of special
mc> characters in the ASCII character set.  There is a growing need to

upper and lower case alphabetics
-- 
[email-masked] (WJCarpenter)    PGP 0x91865119
38 95 1B 69 C9 C6 3D 25    73 46 32 04 69 D6 ED F3