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A Study on the Failure Factors of Popular Use of International Domain Names (IDNs): Focusing on the International Standardization Process

LEE, Jinrang 1

1한국외국어대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This research analyzes the international standardization process by observing the international communication sources in order to understand the reason of its current poor use. Using the ‘organizing theory’frame, we observe the initial discourse on the need of internationalized domain names in ICANN and the process of negotiation for technical choice of layers. Lastly, we take Korean domain names as a case study in order to understand the conflict and the cooperation of different stakeholders. We summarize the factors of failure of IDN as follows. First, the need of IDN in the beginning was raised around non-English speaking countries, in Asia and Middle East, with the discourse on ‘digital divide solution and cultural value’ICANN rather pursues the ‘technical stability of Internet Infrastructure’, which made its standardization take as long as 10 years. As a result, a variety of standards and services are proposed in the marketplace, which engendered inefficient competition and domain name-related disputes such as cybersquatting, technical instability and confusion of users. In addition, the government agencies fail to present the appropriate policies adjusting multiple interests of different stakeholders.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.