全中文互联网网址呼之欲出

A Truly Chinese Internet on Tap as ICANN Goes International

Replete with its own thriving news portals, social media and gaming sites, the Chinese Internet could take a major step toward becoming fully Chinese by the end of the year.

中国有自己欣欣向荣的新闻门户网站、社交媒体网站和游戏网站，到今年年底时，中国互联网有可能朝全面中文化迈出一大步。

Speaking in an interview Wednesday, Fady Chehadé, president of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) the private body that oversees the basic design of the Internet ─ said the organization would roll out Chinese character options for top-level domains in the second half of 2013.

互联网名称与数字地址分配机构(ICANN)的总裁法迪•切哈德(Fady Chehad口)周三在接受采访时说，该机构将在2013年下半年允许选择用汉字注册顶级域名。ICANN是一家监管互联网基本设计的私人机构。

A top-level domain is the part of a web address that appears after the dot, such as .com, .net and .edu. ICANN had previously approved only a limited number of address endings using the Roman alphabet but is currently working on introducing a whole array of new address endings both in English and other languages, including Chinese, Arabic, Korean, Russian and Japanese.

所谓顶级域名是互联网网址中出现在中点后面的部分，如 .com、.net和.edu等。ICANN以前只批准过为数不多一些使用罗马字母的域名后缀，但它现在正致力于既推出英文域名后缀，也推出使用其他语言的域名后缀，这些语言包括中文、阿拉伯文、韩文、俄文和日文。

Although Chinese characters can already be used in the main part of a web address, Chinese websites have tended to stick with Roman URLs. Mr. Chehadé said many companies and organizations have been waiting for Chinese language address endings before launching full character addresses.

虽然中文已经能够被用于网址的主要部分，但中国网站还是倾向于坚持使用由罗马字母组成的网址。切哈德说，许多公司和组织一直在等待中文域名后缀获批后推出自己的全中文网址。

“In China the numbers will be staggering once we release the all Chinese character” domain names, he said.

他说，一旦我们公布全中文域名，中国全中文网址的数量将是惊人的。

But there’s more to the top-level domain expansion than linguistic convenience. For years, ICANN and the U.S. have resisted efforts by China, Russia and a number of other countries to wrest away control over Internet addresses. Los Angeles-based ICANN was created in 1998 at the behest of the U.S. Department of Commerce to take over management of the Internet’s domain name system, which had previously controlled by the U.S. government. Opponents of ICANN argue that each country should be able to manage the Internet addresses in their own territories.

不过顶级域名的扩容问题并不只是提供语言上的便利这么简单。多年来，ICANN和美国一直在抵制中国、俄罗斯和世界其他一些国家旨在从其手中夺走网址控制权的努力。总部位于洛杉矶的ICANN于1998年在美国商务部的命令下成立，以接管互联网域名体系的管理，这一管理权此前控制在美国政府手中。ICANN的反对者声称，每个国家都应该有权管理其本国领土内的互联网网址

The fight came to a head at the World Conference on International Telecommunications in December, when a coalition including China, Russia and Saudi Arabia put forward a proposal to give more control over the Internet to the United Nation’s International Telecommunication Union. In response The U.S. and a number of other countries walked away from an agreement that would have given more power to the ITU, ensuring ICANN’s continued leadership as the arbiter of domain names.

双方的争斗在去年12月召开的国际电信世界大会(World Conference on International Telecommunications)上达到最高潮，当时由中国、俄罗斯和沙特阿拉伯等国组成的一个联盟向大会提交了一份议案，要求将更多的互联网控制权交给联合国下属的国际电信联盟(International Telecommunication Union)。作为对这一提案的回应，美国和其他一些国家拒绝签署一项协议。这一协议一方面会给予国际电信联盟更多权力，同时也会确保ICANN继续作为互联网域名方面的仲裁人而发挥领导作用。

Critics of granting more power to organizations like the ITU say it could lead to charges for transmitting data across borders as well as greater censorship of the Internet.

那些对于将更多权力授予国际电信联盟等组织持批评态度的人说，此举有可能导致今后要对跨境数据传输收费，并有可能加大互联网审查。

The language additions are part of ICANN’s push to reduce global opposition to its regulatory power by leaving behind its U.S. roots and becoming a more international organization. This week ICANN also announced it would establish an “engagement center” in Beijing to work with the Chinese government on issues like protecting URL trademarks.

增加新语言是ICANN降低全球对其监管权力抵制的行动之一。ICANN正在通过摆脱美国根基的影响、成为更加国际化的机构，以应对全球对其监管的反对。ICANN本周还宣布，将在北京建立一个合作中心，与中国政府在保护URL商标等问题上开展合作。

“There has been a time when maybe the engagement between ICANN and China was tentative, but I think we’ve crossed that line,” said Mr. Chehadé. “What we haven’t done well, which we’ve changed, is to just get to people around the planet and show them what we’re doing.”

切哈德说，曾经有一段时间，ICANN与中国的合作是试探性的，但是我认为我们已经度过了那个阶段。我们曾经难以吸引全世界的人或是向他们展示我们所做的事，但现在情况已经改变。

According to a list of applications on ICANN’s website, the Chinese characters for benevolence, cell phone and company are among those being applied for by companies. Organizations and companies pay $185,000 as part of an application fee for a chance to take control of the various new Internet suffixes.

根据ICANN网站上的一个申请名单，企业申请的后缀包括指代善心、手机和公司的汉字。各组织和企业需要支付18.5万美元的申请费才能有机会获得对各种新的互联网后缀的控制权。

Chinese Internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Sina Corp., which operate competing microblogging services known as weibo, have both applied for the extension .weibo in both its Roman and Chinese iterations. (ICANN encourages those vying for the same suffixes to negotiate to share them.)

中国的互联网巨头腾讯控股(Tencent Holdings Ltd.)和新浪(Sina Corp.)运营着彼此竞争的微博业务。他们都申请在罗马字母和汉语的版本中加入.weibo（ICANN鼓励竞争同一后缀的公司通过谈判共享）。