Paul Robinson writes: > Something *should* be done, but your argument has a hint of > 'I never want anything done, ever' about it, which is putting people off. I have put a huge amount of effort into evaluating the costs of various IDN proposals. Please read http://cr.yp.to/proto/idnc3.html before you make any more comments about what I'm trying to do. I have been trying to fix obsolete 7-bit IETF specifications for years. I have been advocating for a year that the IDN WG _immediately_ declare 7-bit software to be obsolete. See the DRUMS archives for more examples. I have a detailed web page, http://pi.cr.yp.to, tracking 8-bit bugs in a variety of programs. I've spent quite a bit of time talking to other implementors about this. It has been more than three years since I suggested an easy Sendmail fix to Eric Allman. You may be aware that I'm the author of the mail software with the Internet's largest increase in SMTP-server deployment over the past 18 months (reaching #2 in total deployment, behind only Sendmail), and the DNS software with the Internet's largest increase in domain-name deployment over the past 18 months (reaching #2 in total deployment, behind only BIND). My programs relay 8-bit data without trouble, even though certain people obviously don't understand why this is important. I want internationalized domain names (and mailbox names and so on) to work. But I can't support the IDNA proposal; IDNA is a disaster. I also can't accept having _any_ protocol move forward over so many objections. Even the strongest desire to _do something_ is less important than the requirement to obtain consensus for any change. ---D. J. Bernstein, Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science, University of Illinois at Chicago