ICANN puts an end to its digital archery game
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After the revelation of the new generic Top Level Domains which have been requested, the question remains: now what? The nearly 2000 applications must be examined one by one, the public will have its say, and the applications must be processed. But in what order?
The system of "first come, first served" was rejected a priori - the timestamp of the submission of the application would not be taken into account. Indeed, this would have encouraged the applicants to apply fast, rather than thoroughly, and subsequently would have made the processing more difficult.
Therefore ICANN had invented a clever game of "digital archery", which would generate a second timestamp. The applicant had to indicate on a special system a time in the near future. And when that moment approached, he had to log in again, and push at the right moment on the "submit" button, to achieve the second time stamp. The difference between the chosen time and the registered time would determine the order in which the applications would be processed - just as in archery, where the arrow which is closest to the bull's-eye indicates who has won.
Immediately a new industry was born, the "digital archery specialists"! Although the principle is sound, in practice the system turned out to be not workable. Geographical conditions, problems with servers, hampered the game. Moreover it was found that, with only a few days left before the closure of the system (28 June), only 20% of the applications had a second time stamp. Therefore, ICANN decided to end the digital archery.
It is not yet known how ICANN will proceed further. It is yet another obstacle to the introduction of the new gTLD's. But don't worry: the procedure may sometimes resemble a procession of Echternach, but the new domains will come for sure - there is too much demand for these new domains, which entail so many opportunities...
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Posted on : 09/07/2012
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