Re: [idn] Chinese Domain Name Consortium (CDNC) Declaration

["D. J. Bernstein" <djb@cr.yp.to>]

Dave Crocker writes:
> for example, MICROS0FT.COM was done.

I can see the difference between O and 0, even without a slash through
the 0; the O is more square. I bet you can see the difference too.

In contrast, a properly printed uppercase B is identical to a properly
printed uppercase Beta. A font designer would have to be illiterate to
distinguish them.

Some people say that the B-B problem is inherent in internationalized
domain names. That's simply not true. We can

   * declare that uppercase letters are obsolete, although software will
     still have to accept uppercase ASCII for compatibility, and

   * allow selected characters that don't cause visual confusion, such
     as lowercase beta.

Yes, people will be prohibited from using other characters. Yes, we will
have to be very careful. Yes, we will have to review each character
individually, paying attention to what we're actually doing. This is the
price of doing the job right.

A similarly careful approach will also let us move directly to UTF-8
instead of this special-purpose-character-set insanity. Yes, sendmail
corrupts bytes 128 through 159, but it doesn't corrupt lowercase beta.

---Dan