Internet now speaks Arabic!

Since ICANN has voted in favor of non Latin domain names, the governments or their designees can apply for the approval of such names starting today.

Egypt is already set to launch is first Arabic Internet domain name. The new suffix named ‘masr’ means Egypt.

“It is a great moment for us... The internet now speaks Arabic," stated Kamel, Egypt’s information technology minister.

The first International web addresses are expected in 2010.

Extending access to large number of users
The new domain names stem from the decision taken by ICANN, a nonprofit body that regulates the functioning of Internet.

ICANN had late last month approved the use of non Latin characters like Hebrew, Korean, Chinese, and Hindi in the domain names, in a move to make Web friendlier for large number of users around the world.

The use of non-Latin characters are expected to extend access and content in developing nations, where large part of the population is devoid of Internet.

Speaking on the same lines at the meeting of Internet Governance Forum in Sharm el-Sheikh, Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang said that there are around approximately 300 million Arabic speakers in the world but only one 1 percent of the content online is in Arabic script.

Reader’s reactions
The announcement by ICANN last month to open domain names to non-Latin characters has stirred quite a number of readers online. Though there are many who are looking forward to new domain names, there are some who have disapproved ICANN’s move.

A reader named tikiteko posted his view on engadget.com, saying, “I think the internet is good without the special characters. It is simpler, easier, and way more accessible. Imagine now that smartphones are on the raise. Imagine how hard would it be for someone on a smartphone or a cellphone to get access to those sites.”

Another reader named Eli commented on the same site, “In my opinion this further divide the cultures from one another.”