The Top Level Domain (TLD) “XN—3BST00M” is an internationalized country code top-level domain (ccTLD) in the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet. It is represented in ASCII compatible encoding (ACE) as “XN—3BST00M”, which is translated through the Punycode algorithm to “香港”, a Chinese phrase pronounced as “Hong Kong” in English.
Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) were developed because of a significant demand for domain names represented in local languages, particularly those languages that do not use the Latin script. IDNs have provided many non-English speaking users the capability to navigate the web in their native languages.
“XN—3BST00M” is an example of an IDNA string which starts with a prefix ‘XN—’, followed by an encoded string that represents the Unicode characters of the domain in ASCII format. Internationalizing Domain Names in Applications (IDNA) refers to a mechanism defined in 2003 for handling internationalized domain names containing non-ASCII characters.
Encoded by the Punycode algorithm, ‘XN—3BST00M’ represents the Chinese phrase “香港”. Punycode is a protocol for encoding Unicode strings into ASCII that was designed for use in domain names. The word ‘香港’ is pronounced as “Hong Kong”, and it is the Chinese name for the Special Administrative Region of China.
The TLD ‘XN—3BST00M’ is assigned and maintained by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), a function performed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The IANA maintains a Root Zone Database that is an authoritative record of top-level domain delegations. ‘XN—3BST00M’ or ‘香港’ is included in the root zone as an internationalized country code top-level domain for Hong Kong.
The technical operations of ‘XN—3BST00M’ registrar are managed by Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation (HKIRC). HKIRC is responsible for the administration and assignment of domain names under this TLD, including policy-making related to domain name registration.
To summarize, “XN—3BST00M” is the Punycode representation of the ccTLD for Hong Kong in Chinese characters, which is crucial for enhancing internet accessibility and usability for those who operate in a non-Latin script language.
Sources used:
1. ICANN – Understanding the Domain Name System (DNS)
2. IANA’s Root Zone Database
3. Information about Punycode by Internet Society
4. Overview of Internationalized Domain Names by the World Intellectual Property Organization
5. The website of Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation (HKIRC)
