By Eric Appah Marfo
Accra, April 13, GNA — Nana Kofi Asafu-Aidoo, Executive Director, Ghana Domain Name Registry (GDNR), has urged stakeholders in the Internet Industry to support the adoption of Universal Acceptance (UA) of Domain Names and e-mail addresses.
He said UA would ensure that all valid domain names, including long new Top-Level Domains (TLDs), country code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs) and email addresses could be used by all Internet-enabled applications, devices, and systems regardless of script, language, or character length.
Nana Asafu-Aidoo made the comments on Thursday during the commemoration of the 2023 Universal Acceptance Day, in Accra.
It was organised by GDNR under the auspices of the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation, on the theme, “Making all domain names and email addresses work in all software applications”.
The UA Day will consist of UA training, awareness and strategy sessions promoted by Universal Acceptance Steering Group (UASG) under the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and provide the opportunity to rally local Internet players to spread UA awareness and encourage UA adoption.
UA is a technical compliance best practice that allows people from around the world to effectively use any domain name and any email address in any application for their personal and business use.
In a speech read on his behalf, Nana Asafu-Aidoo said organisations and businesses would excel if they ensured that their systems and services worked with the continuously expanding and evolving Domain Name space.
He said UA would ensure that everyone had the ability to navigate and communicate on the Internet using the Domain Name and email address that best aligned with their interests, business, culture, language, and script.
“To sum up, I would like to encourage everyone to support Universal Acceptance. Let’s work together to ensure everyone has equal Internet access. In order to bring the next billion people online, there is the need for us to be UA-ready,” he added.
He said ccTLDs helped to promote local content creation and access, ensured that all Domain Names were treated equally and could be used by all Internet-enabled applications, devices, and systems.
The Executive Director said the role of GDNR as a ccTLD in UA was critical, adding that, the .GH registry was an essential part of the Internet infrastructure and played a vital role in enabling local content creation and access.
Mr Arnt Gulbrandsen, UA Technical Senior Manager, ICANN, said UA acceptance would promote consumer choice, improve competition, and provide broader access to end users.
He said it also offered career advantages for developers and system administrators and helped Governments and policymakers in reaching their citizens.
Mr Gulbrandsen said with the current Internet population of five billion active users and a billion more expected to come online, UA would help users to experience the full benefits of the Internet.
He said businesses that were UA-ready would be best positioned to reach growing global audiences and maximise revenue potential from the current Internet population, as well as the next billion.
Mr Gulbrandsen, therefore, urged them to internally organise themselves and assess if their business’ systems were compliant with UA standards.
“It is also important to update your own IT systems to be UA-ready, encourage your collaborators to participate and promote local UA-related discussions and create UA awareness with partner organisations and companies, aiming to update their systems to current globally inclusive standards,” he said.
He urged the Government to evaluate the possibility of including UA requirements in government procurements and reach out to Government departments involved in e-government services for citizens and ask them to incorporate UA practices to provide digital inclusivity.
Mr Gulbrandsen also advised them to coordinate with its national ccTLD managers and ICANN Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) delegates to participate in and strengthen UA-related actions.
GNA