Smilies in domain names
Did you know that in some domain zones you can use emoticons as a domain name?
In Japan, there is a graphic language of emoji ideograms and emoticons (Emoji), which is adapted for use on web pages, when communicating on social networks and via smartphones. Some Emoji characters have been added to Unicode, and in Japan they even have emoticon keyboards.
We learned about domain names with emoticons thanks to the Coca-Cola advertising campaign in Puerto Rico. Coca-ola registered several domains with emoji in the .WS zone, which means “We smile”.
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Technically, domain names with emoticons are implemented in the same way as IDNs, i.e. Names in Cyrillic, Arabic, and other types of letters other than Latin. The Unicode symbol corresponds to a certain combination of Punycode characters allowed for use in domain names. For example, one of the Coca-Cola domains with a smiley in Punycode looks like this:
xn--h28h.ws.
In public areas (.com, .net, etc.), ICANN has banned the use of emoji for security reasons, as they can be used for phishing purposes due to external similarities. Although in reality it is unlikely that attackers would have gone in such a difficult way. It is much more common to use simple and “time-tested” substitutions, such as I (i) and l (L).
In national zones, ICANN cannot establish its own rules, so the .WS zone administrator can also offer domains with emoticons.
But, according to ICANN representatives, such domains are not supported by modern versions of the IDN protocol, through which support for non-Latin domains is realized. Therefore, domains with emoticons may not work correctly. ICANN also noted that Emoji characters cannot be registered as top-level domains under the New gTLD program.
In Japan, there is a graphic language of emoji ideograms and emoticons (Emoji), which is adapted for use on web pages, when communicating on social networks and via smartphones. Some Emoji characters have been added to Unicode, and in Japan they even have emoticon keyboards.
We learned about domain names with emoticons thanks to the Coca-Cola advertising campaign in Puerto Rico. Coca-ola registered several domains with emoji in the .WS zone, which means “We smile”.
')
Technically, domain names with emoticons are implemented in the same way as IDNs, i.e. Names in Cyrillic, Arabic, and other types of letters other than Latin. The Unicode symbol corresponds to a certain combination of Punycode characters allowed for use in domain names. For example, one of the Coca-Cola domains with a smiley in Punycode looks like this:
xn--h28h.ws.
In public areas (.com, .net, etc.), ICANN has banned the use of emoji for security reasons, as they can be used for phishing purposes due to external similarities. Although in reality it is unlikely that attackers would have gone in such a difficult way. It is much more common to use simple and “time-tested” substitutions, such as I (i) and l (L).
In national zones, ICANN cannot establish its own rules, so the .WS zone administrator can also offer domains with emoticons.
But, according to ICANN representatives, such domains are not supported by modern versions of the IDN protocol, through which support for non-Latin domains is realized. Therefore, domains with emoticons may not work correctly. ICANN also noted that Emoji characters cannot be registered as top-level domains under the New gTLD program.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/251549/
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