[db-wg] Status of the language: attribute

Dear DB-WG members,

My name is Jan-Erik Eriksson, representing the ccTLD AX

I would like to express our strong support for the continuance of the, currently beta state, attribute 'language:' for the inetnum and inet6num object type in the RIPE DB.

Background:

AX is the ISO country code for the Åland Islands. 

The Åland Islands is an autonomous, demilitarized and neutralized region belonging to Finland. Its official language is Swedish. Åland are governed according to the Act on the Autonomy of Åland and international treaties. The autonomy is well developed and in many ways Åland function like a sovereign state. The symbols of the autonomy can be seen in the own national flag, stamps, the Parliament building and internet top-level domain (.ax).

Our special situation as a Swedish speaking area with the country of Finland have and still are imposing great challenges for s in the on-line world. Typically web services, ads, media and other on-line content is presented to our users in the wrong language.

To solve these issues today the only way is to approach the presenter of that content, for instance Google, and lobby for them to handle this situation. As you all understand, this task is impossible considering the number of parties that we would need to contact.

In this respect, the language attribute, if supported by the RIPE/Internet community, could serve as a de facto source of reference for both operators, content providers and geoip suppliers.

We also believe there are other multi-language countries in Europe that could benefit from using this attribute, should there be a widespread adoption of its use.

Sincerely,

Jan-Erik Eriksson
CTO
Ålands Telekommunikaton Ab

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