Non Latin scripts such as Hebrew, Hindi, Korean and many others will finally find their way to internet addresses, as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICAN) has authorized the use of such scripts while assigning website addresses. ICAN is a non-profit organization, that is responsibility to create norms and protocol for internet addresses.

The latest decision from ICAN is expected revolutionize the internet as, non Latin scripts in domain names will be able to attract more users and provide them with a sense of proximity towards their regions. The decision to inculcate such scripts was voted for by the 15 members of the organization and the vote went unopposed, thereby clearing the way for this concept to finally become a reality.

According to Rod Beckstrom (CEO, ICAN),

“This represents one small step for ICANN, but one big step for half of mankind who use non-Latin scripts, such as those in Korea, China and the Arabic speaking world as well as across Asia, Africa, and the rest of the world.”

The whole concept of Latin characters in domain names has been in existence since 1980s and has been comprised of alphabets from A-Z, the 10 mathematical numerals and a hyphen. This norm has been rigidly followed for more than 20 years and at the same time, this norm has also been a reason, that internet hasn’t been able to reach the far inland places in Asia, Africa and other countries, where their respective national languages take precedence over English.

However, with the addition of non-Latin scripts to the domain names, ICAN has made it quite easier for the users countries like China, Thailand, Saudi Arabia and Japan to access the web, the languages used in these countries do not necessarily work along the lines of Latin scripts.

Via Associated Press.