[UA-discuss] [UA-EAI] Issue needs discussion and closure

[Mark Svancarek]

Please let me clarify - SMTPUTF8 mail is for everyone.  All systems should use the up to date standards.  But actually there will always be friction when attempting to use languages and scripts with someone who doesn't know that language or script.  Today, that friction is felt by users of non-latinate languages, and they just have to endure it.  In the future the friction will be limited to folks like you and me on those occasions when we share contact info with international people who we meet on business and at conferences.

-----Original Message-----
From: Vittorio Bertola [mailto:vittorio.bertola at open-xchange.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2018 07:17
To: Mark Svancarek <marksv at microsoft.com>; Arnt Gulbrandsen <arnt at gulbrandsen.priv.no>
Cc: ua-eai at icann.org; ua-discuss at icann.org
Subject: RE: [UA-EAI] [UA-discuss] Issue needs discussion and closure

> Il 12 marzo 2018 alle 18.50 Mark Svancarek <marksv at microsoft.com> ha scritto:
> Agree that we must always remind folks that EAI is (mainly) not for ICANN people who travel the world and are multilingual and know other multilingual people. EAI is (mainly) for people who speak only one language, read one language in a single writing system, and communicate only with people who speak/read/communicate with similar people.


Well, why? I mean, once EAI is widely supported, why should Indian or Japanese or Russian people still use ASCII email addresses at all? Of course people mostly email friends and local companies in their same script and language, which they'd do with an email address in their own script, but then, why would they need a separate ASCII email address for the rare cases when they have to email someone in a different part of the planet?

In the end, the email address is a label and does not necessarily have semantic value (even today, there are people with addresses like j43 at yrwx.com) - and if it has, it may even be false or misleading (paypal at example.com is not likely to be Paypal). You just use it and pass it on as it is - you may not even need to type it once, if you receive it by electronic means, including an incoming email. So what difference does it make if it is in a script that you can or cannot read?

Regards,
-- 

Vittorio Bertola | Head of Policy & Innovation, Open-Xchange vittorio.bertola at open-xchange.com Office @ Via Treviso 12, 10144 Torino, Italy