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The following letter was sent to ICANN from NetNames on 4 June 2012 over the digital archery plan for splitting new gTLD applications into batches.

From: NetNames
To: Dr. Steven D. Crocker, Chair, ICANN Board of Directors; Mr. Cherine Chalaby, Chair, ICANN New gTLD Program Committee

Re: Digital Archery

Paris, June 4 2012

Dear Steve, Dear Cherine,

We are writing to you to express our serious concerns over the proposed batching process that ICANN has indicated it will initiate on June 8, 2012.

Group NBT has been involved in the new gTLD program since its inception. As a member of the GNSO community, we have devoted a significant amount of time and resources to our participation in the bottom-up development process that has led to this major program becoming a reality.

The following letter was sent from MelbourneIT to ICANN on 30 May 2012 over the digital archery plan to batch new gTLD applications.

From: MelbourneIT
To: ICANN Board New gTLD Program Committee

Re: "Digital Archery" batching method

30 May 2012

ICANN has recently revealed that there are over 2000 applications in ICANN's TLD Application System (TAS), and that ICANN plans to open the "digital archery" process for batching applications on 8 June 2012, before the publication of the new gTLD applications on 13 June 2012, and conclude the process on 28 June 2012.

Melbourne IT recommends that ICANN delay the implementation of a batching solution until the community has had a chance to review the published applications for new gTLDs, and fully consider the implications of the batching method. Given the applications will be published for public comment on 13 June 2012, the ICANN meeting in Prague would be an ideal time for the community to re-consider whether the chosen batching solution is still appropriate.

Possible implications of the "digital archery" batching solution include:

The following letter was sent regarding the 'digital archery' batching process for new gTLDs from ICANN's intellectual property constituency on 9 May 2012.

To: ICANN Board New gTLD Program Committee
From: Steve Metalitz, IPC President

Re: "Digital Archery" batching method

May 9, 2012

I write at the direction of the Intellectual Property Constituency (IPC), to urge ICANN to reconsider use of the "digital archery" method for batching new gTLD applications for evaluations.

On May 4, ICANN announced that over 2000 new gTLD applications have been received. Since the evaluation system is only designed to handle about 500 applications at once, it is clear now that batching is not just a theoretical possibility, but a necessity, at least under the evaluation system ICANN has adopted.

How digital archery threatens to become the organization's Battle of Hastings

Harold's demise as captured in the Bayeux Tapestry: is ICANN about to make the same mistake as the last Anglo-Saxon king of England?

Harold Godwin's army was already tired. The same day word arrived that Duke William II had landed on the English coast seeking the throne, the king's men had fought at the Battle of Stamford Bridge.

Determined to show he was in charge, Harold raced down to the village of Hastings, ignoring advice to let his men rest and to spend a day gathering reinforcements. Just a few hours later, he was dead, famously struck in the eye by an arrow; an event forever recorded in the Bayeux Tapestry.

If you don't get in the first batch of new gTLD applications, you may as well pack and go home.

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As you can see below, in live testing of the TAS system, we achieved a digital archery score accurate to a thousandth of a millisecond, or one sillisecond. No one can do it faster - not even ICANN!

But act fast!

901 applications accounted for; 999 to go

Details of the 1,900 applications for new gTLDs have started to emerge

A huge collective sigh of relief waved across the Internet industry on 30 May as the registration system for new Internet extensions finally closed.

Having faced years of delays over the process to liberalize the top-level of the Internet, new gTLD applicants had been cruelly denied their moment of pleasure six weeks earlier when on the day it was supposed to close, domain name overseer ICANN announced it had found a "glitch" in its software and was taking the whole process offline.

Two to read, three to watch, three to note

Watch out! It's 15 working days until the next ICANN meeting

Three times a year ICANN floods the Internet community with documents. This Monday 4 June was one of those days. The next will be on 24 September.

The reason behind the flood is quite simple: it is 15 working days until ICANN's meeting on Prague and according to the organization's Document Publication Operational Policy [pdf], staff is obliged to provide documents before the cut-off if they want them to be discussed at the meeting.

ICANN announced that it was on track to close the delayed application window for new Internet extensions on 30 May, and that it now plans to release information on all the applicants for new gTLDs on 13 June. The organization also make clear it intends to move forward with its controversial plan to break the estimated 2,000 applications into batches of around 500. The batching system will use the same software that broke down in April and caused a six-week delay in closing applications.