Weird characters in domain names?

[TommyWillB]

I have the idea that you can NOT use weird characters in domain names, but this Safari oddity makes me think otherwise.

This does not behave the same in IE or Firefox, but type this URL in to Safari: http://xn--2-8ba.net/

This goes to a domain name for sale page... But the odd part is that Safari now shows the URL as http://2¢.net/

So what's going on here, and is it actually possible to register a domain name as 2¢.net or would you need to register xn--2-8ba.net?


MODS: This is a Web-related question, but I'm thinking the networking folks would be more likely to have the answer... Move it, if you think this is the wrong forum.

 

[TommyWillB]

I don't fully understand this yet, but there is a lot of info here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationalized_domain_names
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homograph_spoofing_attack

...now all I need to do is understand what it's saying...

 

[TommyWillB]

Ahh... this is the one that explains it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punycode

This is the important detail that explains why Safari/IE/Firefox all behave differently:

the burden of translation lies entirely with the user application (for example, the Web browser).

So now in the context of the spoofing attack reference above...

Isn't the fact that Safari converts TO punycode a spoofing risk?

(It seems Firefox addresses the issue by always showing the punycode in the URL. This effectively means the user will see something odd and not get confused.)