So, what is Universal Acceptance ? It is the state where all valid domain names and email addresses are accepted, validated, stored, processed and displayed correctly and consistently by all Internet-enabled applications, devices and systems.
The Universal Acceptance Steering Group is an Internet community initiative that was founded in February 2015 and tasked with undertaking activities that will effectively promote the Universal Acceptance of all valid domain names and email addresses. The UASG was established by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), and it receives financial and administrative support from ICANN.
The group’s primary objective is to help software developers and website owners understand how to update their systems to keep pace with an evolving Domain Name System (DNS).
When businesses are UA-ready, their systems and services will work with the continuously expanding domain name space. It also helps businesses set themselves up for future opportunities and success by supporting their customers using their customers’ chosen identities.
When a company is UA-ready, email addresses in any script from any domain name can be used. When a site is UA-ready, it will allow customers with domain names in new top-level domains to successfully use the site and its forms.
Limitations based on some old assumptions are still there and are preventing a larger and increasing group of users from accessing the the entire area of internet. Internet users trying to use the generic Top Level Domain (gTLD), whose names may be many characters long or in non-Latin scripts, can face an inability to access or register the sites.
This problem must be solved, and Universal Acceptance realized, in order to achieve a truly global, scalable Internet. It will be considered complete when any person can register and use a domain name in any top-level domain in widely distributed web browsers, email clients, in setting up accounts for Internet services and other services.
