Fwd: ICANN News Alert -- New gTLD Batching Announcement
Hello all, please find below, more information about the Digital Archery which will be used to batch new gTLD applications into batches of probably 500 applications at a time. With a possible 2000 applications to process, some applications might only be processed much later than others and this "game" of Digital Archery will set applicants apart. Already several firms run by close ICANN insiders are proposing a paying service to "win" the Digital Archery using their automation service which they claim will ensure their client's applications are considered first. This means more sources of profit, but this also means that applications which were made possible by thanks to all of the work the community did to have Applicant Support, might be discriminated against since they will not be able to afford the automated digital archery winning service. Also, looking closely at the terms and conditions of "digital archery", (see video on http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/announcements-and-media/video/batching-demo at Time 2:37 mark) , applicants using the Digital Archery system agree legally that this is a contest of skill rather than a contest of chance. Clearly, with the Internet's differing delays depending on where you are located, and since digital archery system will be accurate to 100th second (as seen on the demo), it is *impossible* for anyone to display any kind of skill except by being physically at the data center itself. I remind you that delays on the Internet range from 3ms to 700ms or more, depending on where you are, since any satellite link will automatically induce between 300 to 700ms -- it is a physical propagation time needed. And these delays are jittery too. Is Digital Archery therefore allegedly a game of chance, not controlled by any kind of legal structure associated with games of chance, with open opportunities for cheating? There have been calls to the Board by some members in the ccNSO for Digital Archery *not* to be used and an alternative process to be followed, which may also involve *not* having any batching altogether. Others in the GNSO Council have also written to the Board about this, with similar findings or other alternative propositions. Should we support those comments? Alas, the Board correspondence page has its last entry on 21 May 2012 and the correspondence which I have been CC'ed into was sent on June 4th and on June 6th but I have asked if those have already been published. With Digital Archery starting on June 8th, should the ALAC issue a statement on this ASAP? I'd be interested in your points of view. Kind regards, Olivier (the above message includes some of my own points of view) -------- Message original -------- Sujet: ICANN News Alert -- New gTLD Batching Announcement Date : Wed, 06 Jun 2012 22:35:29 -0400 De : ICANN News Alert <communications@icann.org> Pour : <ocl@gih.com> ICANN <http://www.icann.org/> News Alert http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-06jun12-en.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------------ New gTLD Batching Announcement 6 June 2012 Given the large number of new generic top-level domain (gTLD) applications, we will divide and evaluate them in batches. The batching system is targeted to open at 00:01 UTC on 8 June 2012, and will close at 23:59 UTC on 28 June 2012. The target date for posting the batching order is 11 July 2012. The batching process will be used to determine which applications will be processed in the first batch, the second batch and so on. It will be done by: assignment of a timestamp, and the formation of batches. /Timestamp assignments/ will be done using the TLD Application System (TAS). All applicants must use their TAS credentials to log in, read and accept the batching rules, indicate their batching preference, and select their target date and time. Once these steps are completed applicants should log back into TAS to hit the target time and generate a secondary timestamp. Users will have access to a testing feature to gauge the secondary timestamp system's response time. /Batching formation/ considers an applicant's: (1) batching preference, (2) geographic region and secondary timestamp; and (3) contention among identical and "similar" applications. (1) Applicants stating a preference for "opting-out" will be placed last. (2) Geographic diversity is important in bringing more competition and choice into the domain name market. Applicants who opted in will be ranked within their geographic region (Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America/Caribbean and North America) by their secondary timestamp score. Then applications will be selected from each ICANN region using a "round robin" approach. This approach selects the best timestamp score from each region, one region at a time, on a rotating basis. If a region runs out of opted-in applications, the "round robin" continues across the remaining regions. This process continues until the batch is formed, with the opted-out applications last. (3) ICANN will then make preliminary determinations of contention sets based upon exact match. All applications in a single contention set are placed into the batch where the earliest application in the contention set is placed. Once the string similarity panel establishes complete contention sets, "similar" strings might be reassigned to an earlier batch. No applications will be demoted as a result of the promotion of others. This could result in a batch larger than 500. ICANN has taken care to provide a secure and stable platform for the batching system. Users will connect to the Citrix XenApp high-availability cluster and will then log into the batching system. Applicants will be required to agree to a set of Batching Rules, including an agreement that "ICANN reserves the right to delay an application to the last batch or to reject an application entirely if ICANN reasonably determines that the applicant abused the batching system or intentionally interfered with the performance of the system or any other applicant's use of the system." Along with this announcement ICANN is posting several additional resources to inform applicants about the batching process. These include a: set of frequently asked questions (FAQs), video demonstration, user guide, batching details and rules, and a batching basics fact sheet, which all can be found on the Batching information webpage at http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/tas/batching/. Information on security, infrastructure, and operations is also available in these materials. This message was sent to ocl@gih.com from: ICANN | 4676 Admiralty Way Suite 330 | Marina del Rey, CA 90292-6601 Email Marketing by iContact - Try It Free! <http://www.icontact.com/a.pl/144186> <http://app.icontact.com/icp/mmail-mprofile.pl?r=9829257&l=6333&s=YVM2&m=8845...>
Hello All Reading your comments and the forward certainly agree that this needs to be addressed pronto. Digital Archery has always given an indication of its fuddiness and now with the possibility of further 'discrimination' based on local speed and funds we do have more unfairness showing up in the process. So yes a statement asap that can be flagged everywhere possible. Ahh NewgTLDs!!! TT Sent via my BlackBerry from Vodacom - let your email find you! -----Original Message----- From: Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond <ocl@gih.com> Sender: alac-bounces@atlarge-lists.icann.org Date: Thu, 07 Jun 2012 12:51:02 To: ALAC Working List<alac@atlarge-lists.icann.org> Subject: [ALAC] Fwd: ICANN News Alert -- New gTLD Batching Announcement Hello all, please find below, more information about the Digital Archery which will be used to batch new gTLD applications into batches of probably 500 applications at a time. With a possible 2000 applications to process, some applications might only be processed much later than others and this "game" of Digital Archery will set applicants apart. Already several firms run by close ICANN insiders are proposing a paying service to "win" the Digital Archery using their automation service which they claim will ensure their client's applications are considered first. This means more sources of profit, but this also means that applications which were made possible by thanks to all of the work the community did to have Applicant Support, might be discriminated against since they will not be able to afford the automated digital archery winning service. Also, looking closely at the terms and conditions of "digital archery", (see video on http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/announcements-and-media/video/batching-demo at Time 2:37 mark) , applicants using the Digital Archery system agree legally that this is a contest of skill rather than a contest of chance. Clearly, with the Internet's differing delays depending on where you are located, and since digital archery system will be accurate to 100th second (as seen on the demo), it is *impossible* for anyone to display any kind of skill except by being physically at the data center itself. I remind you that delays on the Internet range from 3ms to 700ms or more, depending on where you are, since any satellite link will automatically induce between 300 to 700ms -- it is a physical propagation time needed. And these delays are jittery too. Is Digital Archery therefore allegedly a game of chance, not controlled by any kind of legal structure associated with games of chance, with open opportunities for cheating? There have been calls to the Board by some members in the ccNSO for Digital Archery *not* to be used and an alternative process to be followed, which may also involve *not* having any batching altogether. Others in the GNSO Council have also written to the Board about this, with similar findings or other alternative propositions. Should we support those comments? Alas, the Board correspondence page has its last entry on 21 May 2012 and the correspondence which I have been CC'ed into was sent on June 4th and on June 6th but I have asked if those have already been published. With Digital Archery starting on June 8th, should the ALAC issue a statement on this ASAP? I'd be interested in your points of view. Kind regards, Olivier (the above message includes some of my own points of view) -------- Message original -------- Sujet: ICANN News Alert -- New gTLD Batching Announcement Date : Wed, 06 Jun 2012 22:35:29 -0400 De : ICANN News Alert <communications@icann.org> Pour : <ocl@gih.com> ICANN <http://www.icann.org/> News Alert http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-06jun12-en.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------------ New gTLD Batching Announcement 6 June 2012 Given the large number of new generic top-level domain (gTLD) applications, we will divide and evaluate them in batches. The batching system is targeted to open at 00:01 UTC on 8 June 2012, and will close at 23:59 UTC on 28 June 2012. The target date for posting the batching order is 11 July 2012. The batching process will be used to determine which applications will be processed in the first batch, the second batch and so on. It will be done by: assignment of a timestamp, and the formation of batches. /Timestamp assignments/ will be done using the TLD Application System (TAS). All applicants must use their TAS credentials to log in, read and accept the batching rules, indicate their batching preference, and select their target date and time. Once these steps are completed applicants should log back into TAS to hit the target time and generate a secondary timestamp. Users will have access to a testing feature to gauge the secondary timestamp system's response time. /Batching formation/ considers an applicant's: (1) batching preference, (2) geographic region and secondary timestamp; and (3) contention among identical and "similar" applications. (1) Applicants stating a preference for "opting-out" will be placed last. (2) Geographic diversity is important in bringing more competition and choice into the domain name market. Applicants who opted in will be ranked within their geographic region (Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America/Caribbean and North America) by their secondary timestamp score. Then applications will be selected from each ICANN region using a "round robin" approach. This approach selects the best timestamp score from each region, one region at a time, on a rotating basis. If a region runs out of opted-in applications, the "round robin" continues across the remaining regions. This process continues until the batch is formed, with the opted-out applications last. (3) ICANN will then make preliminary determinations of contention sets based upon exact match. All applications in a single contention set are placed into the batch where the earliest application in the contention set is placed. Once the string similarity panel establishes complete contention sets, "similar" strings might be reassigned to an earlier batch. No applications will be demoted as a result of the promotion of others. This could result in a batch larger than 500. ICANN has taken care to provide a secure and stable platform for the batching system. Users will connect to the Citrix XenApp high-availability cluster and will then log into the batching system. Applicants will be required to agree to a set of Batching Rules, including an agreement that "ICANN reserves the right to delay an application to the last batch or to reject an application entirely if ICANN reasonably determines that the applicant abused the batching system or intentionally interfered with the performance of the system or any other applicant's use of the system." Along with this announcement ICANN is posting several additional resources to inform applicants about the batching process. These include a: set of frequently asked questions (FAQs), video demonstration, user guide, batching details and rules, and a batching basics fact sheet, which all can be found on the Batching information webpage at http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/tas/batching/. Information on security, infrastructure, and operations is also available in these materials. This message was sent to ocl@gih.com from: ICANN | 4676 Admiralty Way Suite 330 | Marina del Rey, CA 90292-6601 Email Marketing by iContact - Try It Free! <http://www.icontact.com/a.pl/144186> <http://app.icontact.com/icp/mmail-mprofile.pl?r=9829257&l=6333&s=YVM2&m=8845...> _______________________________________________ ALAC mailing list ALAC@atlarge-lists.icann.org https://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/alac At-Large Online: http://www.atlarge.icann.org ALAC Working Wiki: https://community.icann.org/display/atlarge/At-Large+Advisory+Committee+(ALA...)
On 7 Jun 2012, at 06:51, Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond wrote:
Already several firms run by close ICANN insiders are proposing a paying service to "win" the Digital Archery using their automation service which they claim will ensure their client's applications are considered first.
http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/tas/batching/details-06jun12-en.pdf says: " ICANN reserves the right to delay an application to the last batch or to reject an application entirely if ICANN reasonably determines that the applicant abused the batching system or intentionally interfered with the performance of the system or any other applicant's use of the system. " Wouldn't using one of these service be considered abuse of the system? It is certainly a gaming of the system. Also, if you were an applicant would you give your TAS account and password to pool.com? But that is another matter. Does anyone actually know what techniques people like pool.com use to game ICANN system? Also given the round robin plan: " Then, the best timestamp score from each region is selected, one region at a time, on a rotating basis. " Doesn't this mean that for any region that has fewer than 100 applications, all of that regions applications will be in the first batch (as long as they aren't ASP applications, though that is not specifically spelled out in the rules). I expect that this may be good for places like Africa and Latin America as I don't expect them to match the application fervor of the US. As for it being a game of chance not skill. I think that the fact that people can practice and figure out the best strategy for their location, does allow for skill to affect one's chances. avri
On 07/06/2012 15:07, Avri Doria wrote :
As for it being a game of chance not skill. I think that the fact that people can practice and figure out the best strategy for their location, does allow for skill to affect one's chances.
Roulette players in casinos learn the suite of numbers on the roulette, study the speed at which the croupier spins the wheel and the ball and pertain to know what neighbours the ball will fall in. Yet, I've never heard that this is a game of skill. Kind regards, Olivier
I think that the DA idea is a nightmare for a bunch of reasons, but my recollection is that Support Applicants are automatically being placed in the last batch, so I am not sure that ALAC has any real stake in this. Avri - your recollection?? Alan At 07/06/2012 06:51 AM, Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond wrote:
Hello all,
please find below, more information about the Digital Archery which will be used to batch new gTLD applications into batches of probably 500 applications at a time. With a possible 2000 applications to process, some applications might only be processed much later than others and this "game" of Digital Archery will set applicants apart. Already several firms run by close ICANN insiders are proposing a paying service to "win" the Digital Archery using their automation service which they claim will ensure their client's applications are considered first. This means more sources of profit, but this also means that applications which were made possible by thanks to all of the work the community did to have Applicant Support, might be discriminated against since they will not be able to afford the automated digital archery winning service.
Also, looking closely at the terms and conditions of "digital archery", (see video on http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/announcements-and-media/video/batching-demo at Time 2:37 mark) , applicants using the Digital Archery system agree legally that this is a contest of skill rather than a contest of chance. Clearly, with the Internet's differing delays depending on where you are located, and since digital archery system will be accurate to 100th second (as seen on the demo), it is *impossible* for anyone to display any kind of skill except by being physically at the data center itself. I remind you that delays on the Internet range from 3ms to 700ms or more, depending on where you are, since any satellite link will automatically induce between 300 to 700ms -- it is a physical propagation time needed. And these delays are jittery too.
Is Digital Archery therefore allegedly a game of chance, not controlled by any kind of legal structure associated with games of chance, with open opportunities for cheating?
There have been calls to the Board by some members in the ccNSO for Digital Archery *not* to be used and an alternative process to be followed, which may also involve *not* having any batching altogether. Others in the GNSO Council have also written to the Board about this, with similar findings or other alternative propositions. Should we support those comments?
Alas, the Board correspondence page has its last entry on 21 May 2012 and the correspondence which I have been CC'ed into was sent on June 4th and on June 6th but I have asked if those have already been published.
With Digital Archery starting on June 8th, should the ALAC issue a statement on this ASAP?
I'd be interested in your points of view.
Kind regards,
Olivier (the above message includes some of my own points of view)
-------- Message original -------- Sujet: ICANN News Alert -- New gTLD Batching Announcement Date : Wed, 06 Jun 2012 22:35:29 -0400 De : ICANN News Alert <communications@icann.org> Pour : <ocl@gih.com>
ICANN <http://www.icann.org/>
News Alert
http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-06jun12-en.htm
------------------------------------------------------------------------
New gTLD Batching Announcement
6 June 2012
Given the large number of new generic top-level domain (gTLD) applications, we will divide and evaluate them in batches. The batching system is targeted to open at 00:01 UTC on 8 June 2012, and will close at 23:59 UTC on 28 June 2012. The target date for posting the batching order is 11 July 2012.
The batching process will be used to determine which applications will be processed in the first batch, the second batch and so on. It will be done by: assignment of a timestamp, and the formation of batches.
/Timestamp assignments/ will be done using the TLD Application System (TAS). All applicants must use their TAS credentials to log in, read and accept the batching rules, indicate their batching preference, and select their target date and time. Once these steps are completed applicants should log back into TAS to hit the target time and generate a secondary timestamp. Users will have access to a testing feature to gauge the secondary timestamp system's response time.
/Batching formation/ considers an applicant's: (1) batching preference, (2) geographic region and secondary timestamp; and (3) contention among identical and "similar" applications.
(1) Applicants stating a preference for "opting-out" will be placed last.
(2) Geographic diversity is important in bringing more competition and choice into the domain name market. Applicants who opted in will be ranked within their geographic region (Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America/Caribbean and North America) by their secondary timestamp score. Then applications will be selected from each ICANN region using a "round robin" approach. This approach selects the best timestamp score from each region, one region at a time, on a rotating basis. If a region runs out of opted-in applications, the "round robin" continues across the remaining regions. This process continues until the batch is formed, with the opted-out applications last.
(3) ICANN will then make preliminary determinations of contention sets based upon exact match. All applications in a single contention set are placed into the batch where the earliest application in the contention set is placed. Once the string similarity panel establishes complete contention sets, "similar" strings might be reassigned to an earlier batch. No applications will be demoted as a result of the promotion of others. This could result in a batch larger than 500.
ICANN has taken care to provide a secure and stable platform for the batching system. Users will connect to the Citrix XenApp high-availability cluster and will then log into the batching system. Applicants will be required to agree to a set of Batching Rules, including an agreement that "ICANN reserves the right to delay an application to the last batch or to reject an application entirely if ICANN reasonably determines that the applicant abused the batching system or intentionally interfered with the performance of the system or any other applicant's use of the system."
Along with this announcement ICANN is posting several additional resources to inform applicants about the batching process. These include a: set of frequently asked questions (FAQs), video demonstration, user guide, batching details and rules, and a batching basics fact sheet, which all can be found on the Batching information webpage at http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/tas/batching/. Information on security, infrastructure, and operations is also available in these materials.
This message was sent to ocl@gih.com from:
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Maybe just because some application will be more "useful" to end users than other? And it will be more interesting to have them earlier? All the best Sébastien Bachollet +33 6 07 66 89 33 Blog: http://sebastien.bachollet.fr/ Mail: Sébastien Bachollet <sebastien@bachollet.com> Le 07/06/12 15:40, « Alan Greenberg » <alan.greenberg@mcgill.ca> a écrit :
I think that the DA idea is a nightmare for a bunch of reasons, but my recollection is that Support Applicants are automatically being placed in the last batch, so I am not sure that ALAC has any real stake in this.
Avri - your recollection??
Alan
At 07/06/2012 06:51 AM, Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond wrote:
Hello all,
please find below, more information about the Digital Archery which will be used to batch new gTLD applications into batches of probably 500 applications at a time. With a possible 2000 applications to process, some applications might only be processed much later than others and this "game" of Digital Archery will set applicants apart. Already several firms run by close ICANN insiders are proposing a paying service to "win" the Digital Archery using their automation service which they claim will ensure their client's applications are considered first. This means more sources of profit, but this also means that applications which were made possible by thanks to all of the work the community did to have Applicant Support, might be discriminated against since they will not be able to afford the automated digital archery winning service.
Also, looking closely at the terms and conditions of "digital archery", (see video on http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/announcements-and-media/video/batching-demo at Time 2:37 mark) , applicants using the Digital Archery system agree legally that this is a contest of skill rather than a contest of chance. Clearly, with the Internet's differing delays depending on where you are located, and since digital archery system will be accurate to 100th second (as seen on the demo), it is *impossible* for anyone to display any kind of skill except by being physically at the data center itself. I remind you that delays on the Internet range from 3ms to 700ms or more, depending on where you are, since any satellite link will automatically induce between 300 to 700ms -- it is a physical propagation time needed. And these delays are jittery too.
Is Digital Archery therefore allegedly a game of chance, not controlled by any kind of legal structure associated with games of chance, with open opportunities for cheating?
There have been calls to the Board by some members in the ccNSO for Digital Archery *not* to be used and an alternative process to be followed, which may also involve *not* having any batching altogether. Others in the GNSO Council have also written to the Board about this, with similar findings or other alternative propositions. Should we support those comments?
Alas, the Board correspondence page has its last entry on 21 May 2012 and the correspondence which I have been CC'ed into was sent on June 4th and on June 6th but I have asked if those have already been published.
With Digital Archery starting on June 8th, should the ALAC issue a statement on this ASAP?
I'd be interested in your points of view.
Kind regards,
Olivier (the above message includes some of my own points of view)
-------- Message original -------- Sujet: ICANN News Alert -- New gTLD Batching Announcement Date : Wed, 06 Jun 2012 22:35:29 -0400 De : ICANN News Alert <communications@icann.org> Pour : <ocl@gih.com>
ICANN <http://www.icann.org/>
News Alert
http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-06jun12-en.htm
------------------------------------------------------------------------
New gTLD Batching Announcement
6 June 2012
Given the large number of new generic top-level domain (gTLD) applications, we will divide and evaluate them in batches. The batching system is targeted to open at 00:01 UTC on 8 June 2012, and will close at 23:59 UTC on 28 June 2012. The target date for posting the batching order is 11 July 2012.
The batching process will be used to determine which applications will be processed in the first batch, the second batch and so on. It will be done by: assignment of a timestamp, and the formation of batches.
/Timestamp assignments/ will be done using the TLD Application System (TAS). All applicants must use their TAS credentials to log in, read and accept the batching rules, indicate their batching preference, and select their target date and time. Once these steps are completed applicants should log back into TAS to hit the target time and generate a secondary timestamp. Users will have access to a testing feature to gauge the secondary timestamp system's response time.
/Batching formation/ considers an applicant's: (1) batching preference, (2) geographic region and secondary timestamp; and (3) contention among identical and "similar" applications.
(1) Applicants stating a preference for "opting-out" will be placed last.
(2) Geographic diversity is important in bringing more competition and choice into the domain name market. Applicants who opted in will be ranked within their geographic region (Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America/Caribbean and North America) by their secondary timestamp score. Then applications will be selected from each ICANN region using a "round robin" approach. This approach selects the best timestamp score from each region, one region at a time, on a rotating basis. If a region runs out of opted-in applications, the "round robin" continues across the remaining regions. This process continues until the batch is formed, with the opted-out applications last.
(3) ICANN will then make preliminary determinations of contention sets based upon exact match. All applications in a single contention set are placed into the batch where the earliest application in the contention set is placed. Once the string similarity panel establishes complete contention sets, "similar" strings might be reassigned to an earlier batch. No applications will be demoted as a result of the promotion of others. This could result in a batch larger than 500.
ICANN has taken care to provide a secure and stable platform for the batching system. Users will connect to the Citrix XenApp high-availability cluster and will then log into the batching system. Applicants will be required to agree to a set of Batching Rules, including an agreement that "ICANN reserves the right to delay an application to the last batch or to reject an application entirely if ICANN reasonably determines that the applicant abused the batching system or intentionally interfered with the performance of the system or any other applicant's use of the system."
Along with this announcement ICANN is posting several additional resources to inform applicants about the batching process. These include a: set of frequently asked questions (FAQs), video demonstration, user guide, batching details and rules, and a batching basics fact sheet, which all can be found on the Batching information webpage at http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/tas/batching/. Information on security, infrastructure, and operations is also available in these materials.
This message was sent to ocl@gih.com from:
ICANN | 4676 Admiralty Way Suite 330 | Marina del Rey, CA 90292-6601
Email Marketing by iContact - Try It Free! <http://www.icontact.com/a.pl/144186>
<http://app.icontact.com/icp/mmail-mprofile.pl?r=9829257&l=6333&s=YVM2&m= 884550&c=165637>
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On 7 Jun 2012, at 09:40, Alan Greenberg wrote:
I think that the DA idea is a nightmare for a bunch of reasons,
I don't think it is a nightmare. I think it is fascinating for a bunch of reasons.
but my recollection is that Support Applicants are automatically being placed in the last batch, so I am not sure that ALAC has any real stake in this.
Avri - your recollection??
Yes, as i recall the ASP pushes support appiicants, other than those in contention sets to the last batch. not sure with batching how it effects ASP applicants, but it probably brings them forward.
I really don't give a damn about the method of random selection of who gets in what batch, with one exception stated below. There are many less-gamable ways to do the selection, based on data that has already been collected. Here's one super simple example that most people on this list could implement (using open source software for maximum transparency): 1) make a checksum of each received application document that is in the pool (and publish the list of checksums) 2) create a random checksum (seeded by the moment Rod presses "Enter" at a public event staged for the purpose) 3) Select the 500 applications whose checksums are numerically closest to the random one. The above example is far from perfect and anyone taking more than a minute or two could come up with something better, but even this is preferable to ICANN playing William Tell. It's transparent, and it eliminates the pool.comoffering since the batch choices are made based on pre-existing data that did not anticipate this process, and no further action on the applicant's part is necessary. Still.... to me this is a fight between applicants, and IMO there is little public interest in their competitive issues. My only concern is about the appearance that ICANN has chosen a process that service providers are claiming is game-able, and that appearance is damaging to ICANN's reputation. I agree with Olivier that simply because orgs are promising ways to game the system doesn't mean they can. Even a psychic can be correct on occasion. But it's the *appearance* that the system is so easily game-able that sends such a horrid message outside the ICANN bubble. So what is there for ALAC to say? ICANN in its (lack of) wisdom refused to consider the concept of categorizing applications before the fact, so the option of determining which subsets of applications are in the public interest is not available without starting the evaluation process. All we have is the "community" designation and IDNs. And ICANN has already said that applications requesting support won't be done in the first batch. Personally, I would limit any comment of ALAC's to 1) Demand that community and IDN applications be given advanced priority as a matter of public benefit 2) Repeat our warning of the bias against developing economies evidenced by the relegation of applications requesting support 3) Note the damage to ICANN's reputation created by the choice of a selection method that can appear to be gamed - Evan On 7 June 2012 06:51, Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond <ocl@gih.com> wrote:
Hello all,
please find below, more information about the Digital Archery which will be used to batch new gTLD applications into batches of probably 500 applications at a time. With a possible 2000 applications to process, some applications might only be processed much later than others and this "game" of Digital Archery will set applicants apart. Already several firms run by close ICANN insiders are proposing a paying service to "win" the Digital Archery using their automation service which they claim will ensure their client's applications are considered first. This means more sources of profit, but this also means that applications which were made possible by thanks to all of the work the community did to have Applicant Support, might be discriminated against since they will not be able to afford the automated digital archery winning service.
Also, looking closely at the terms and conditions of "digital archery", (see video on http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/announcements-and-media/video/batching-demo at Time 2:37 mark) , applicants using the Digital Archery system agree legally that this is a contest of skill rather than a contest of chance. Clearly, with the Internet's differing delays depending on where you are located, and since digital archery system will be accurate to 100th second (as seen on the demo), it is *impossible* for anyone to display any kind of skill except by being physically at the data center itself. I remind you that delays on the Internet range from 3ms to 700ms or more, depending on where you are, since any satellite link will automatically induce between 300 to 700ms -- it is a physical propagation time needed. And these delays are jittery too.
Is Digital Archery therefore allegedly a game of chance, not controlled by any kind of legal structure associated with games of chance, with open opportunities for cheating?
There have been calls to the Board by some members in the ccNSO for Digital Archery *not* to be used and an alternative process to be followed, which may also involve *not* having any batching altogether. Others in the GNSO Council have also written to the Board about this, with similar findings or other alternative propositions. Should we support those comments?
Alas, the Board correspondence page has its last entry on 21 May 2012 and the correspondence which I have been CC'ed into was sent on June 4th and on June 6th but I have asked if those have already been published.
With Digital Archery starting on June 8th, should the ALAC issue a statement on this ASAP?
I'd be interested in your points of view.
Kind regards,
Olivier (the above message includes some of my own points of view)
-------- Message original -------- Sujet: ICANN News Alert -- New gTLD Batching Announcement Date : Wed, 06 Jun 2012 22:35:29 -0400 De : ICANN News Alert <communications@icann.org> Pour : <ocl@gih.com>
ICANN <http://www.icann.org/>
News Alert
http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-06jun12-en.htm
------------------------------------------------------------------------
New gTLD Batching Announcement
6 June 2012
Given the large number of new generic top-level domain (gTLD) applications, we will divide and evaluate them in batches. The batching system is targeted to open at 00:01 UTC on 8 June 2012, and will close at 23:59 UTC on 28 June 2012. The target date for posting the batching order is 11 July 2012.
The batching process will be used to determine which applications will be processed in the first batch, the second batch and so on. It will be done by: assignment of a timestamp, and the formation of batches.
/Timestamp assignments/ will be done using the TLD Application System (TAS). All applicants must use their TAS credentials to log in, read and accept the batching rules, indicate their batching preference, and select their target date and time. Once these steps are completed applicants should log back into TAS to hit the target time and generate a secondary timestamp. Users will have access to a testing feature to gauge the secondary timestamp system's response time.
/Batching formation/ considers an applicant's: (1) batching preference, (2) geographic region and secondary timestamp; and (3) contention among identical and "similar" applications.
(1) Applicants stating a preference for "opting-out" will be placed last.
(2) Geographic diversity is important in bringing more competition and choice into the domain name market. Applicants who opted in will be ranked within their geographic region (Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America/Caribbean and North America) by their secondary timestamp score. Then applications will be selected from each ICANN region using a "round robin" approach. This approach selects the best timestamp score from each region, one region at a time, on a rotating basis. If a region runs out of opted-in applications, the "round robin" continues across the remaining regions. This process continues until the batch is formed, with the opted-out applications last.
(3) ICANN will then make preliminary determinations of contention sets based upon exact match. All applications in a single contention set are placed into the batch where the earliest application in the contention set is placed. Once the string similarity panel establishes complete contention sets, "similar" strings might be reassigned to an earlier batch. No applications will be demoted as a result of the promotion of others. This could result in a batch larger than 500.
ICANN has taken care to provide a secure and stable platform for the batching system. Users will connect to the Citrix XenApp high-availability cluster and will then log into the batching system. Applicants will be required to agree to a set of Batching Rules, including an agreement that "ICANN reserves the right to delay an application to the last batch or to reject an application entirely if ICANN reasonably determines that the applicant abused the batching system or intentionally interfered with the performance of the system or any other applicant's use of the system."
Along with this announcement ICANN is posting several additional resources to inform applicants about the batching process. These include a: set of frequently asked questions (FAQs), video demonstration, user guide, batching details and rules, and a batching basics fact sheet, which all can be found on the Batching information webpage at http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/tas/batching/. Information on security, infrastructure, and operations is also available in these materials.
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-- Evan Leibovitch Toronto Canada Em: evan at telly dot org Sk: evanleibovitch Tw: el56
On 07/06/2012 17:22, Evan Leibovitch wrote :
It's transparent, and it eliminates the pool.com <http://pool.com> offering since the batch choices are made based on pre-existing data that did not anticipate this process, and no further action on the applicant's part is necessary.
Not only is there an appearance that Digital Archery is gamable, but there's an industry building itself on it. http://www.circleid.com/posts/20120604_sedari_partners_digital_archery_exper... How many more? Kind regards, Olivier
Once again, I agree with Evan's points. This gambling habits (incl. manipulations) are childish, and the finance sector is a worst example for how this may devastate and ruin a world economy. If ICANN enters into such goofiness, it can only (further) damage its reputation. And the ITU-takeover lobbyists will get some more arguments that the existing model (ICANN) "is not reliable". Best, Wolf Evan Leibovitch wrote Thu, 7 Jun 2012 11:22
I really don't give a damn about the method of random selection of who gets in what batch, with one exception stated below. There are many less-gamable ways to do the selection, based on data that has already been collected.
Here's one super simple example that most people on this list could implement (using open source software for maximum transparency): 1) make a checksum of each received application document that is in the pool (and publish the list of checksums) 2) create a random checksum (seeded by the moment Rod presses "Enter" at a public event staged for the purpose) 3) Select the 500 applications whose checksums are numerically closest to the random one.
The above example is far from perfect and anyone taking more than a minute or two could come up with something better, but even this is preferable to ICANN playing William Tell. It's transparent, and it eliminates the pool.comoffering since the batch choices are made based on pre-existing data that did not anticipate this process, and no further action on the applicant's part is necessary.
Still.... to me this is a fight between applicants, and IMO there is little public interest in their competitive issues. My only concern is about the appearance that ICANN has chosen a process that service providers are claiming is game-able, and that appearance is damaging to ICANN's reputation.
I agree with Olivier that simply because orgs are promising ways to game the system doesn't mean they can. Even a psychic can be correct on occasion. But it's the *appearance* that the system is so easily game-able that sends such a horrid message outside the ICANN bubble.
So what is there for ALAC to say?
ICANN in its (lack of) wisdom refused to consider the concept of categorizing applications before the fact, so the option of determining which subsets of applications are in the public interest is not available without starting the evaluation process. All we have is the "community" designation and IDNs. And ICANN has already said that applications requesting support won't be done in the first batch.
Personally, I would limit any comment of ALAC's to 1) Demand that community and IDN applications be given advanced priority as a matter of public benefit 2) Repeat our warning of the bias against developing economies evidenced by the relegation of applications requesting support 3) Note the damage to ICANN's reputation created by the choice of a selection method that can appear to be gamed
- Evan
On 7 June 2012 06:51, Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond <ocl@gih.com> wrote:
Hello all,
please find below, more information about the Digital Archery which will be used to batch new gTLD applications into batches of probably 500 applications at a time. With a possible 2000 applications to process, some applications might only be processed much later than others and this "game" of Digital Archery will set applicants apart. Already several firms run by close ICANN insiders are proposing a paying service to "win" the Digital Archery using their automation service which they claim will ensure their client's applications are considered first. This means more sources of profit, but this also means that applications which were made possible by thanks to all of the work the community did to have Applicant Support, might be discriminated against since they will not be able to afford the automated digital archery winning service.
Also, looking closely at the terms and conditions of "digital archery", (see video on http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/announcements-and-media/video/batching-demo at Time 2:37 mark) , applicants using the Digital Archery system agree legally that this is a contest of skill rather than a contest of chance. Clearly, with the Internet's differing delays depending on where you are located, and since digital archery system will be accurate to 100th second (as seen on the demo), it is *impossible* for anyone to display any kind of skill except by being physically at the data center itself. I remind you that delays on the Internet range from 3ms to 700ms or more, depending on where you are, since any satellite link will automatically induce between 300 to 700ms -- it is a physical propagation time needed. And these delays are jittery too.
Is Digital Archery therefore allegedly a game of chance, not controlled by any kind of legal structure associated with games of chance, with open opportunities for cheating?
There have been calls to the Board by some members in the ccNSO for Digital Archery *not* to be used and an alternative process to be followed, which may also involve *not* having any batching altogether. Others in the GNSO Council have also written to the Board about this, with similar findings or other alternative propositions. Should we support those comments?
Alas, the Board correspondence page has its last entry on 21 May 2012 and the correspondence which I have been CC'ed into was sent on June 4th and on June 6th but I have asked if those have already been published.
With Digital Archery starting on June 8th, should the ALAC issue a statement on this ASAP?
I'd be interested in your points of view.
Kind regards,
Olivier (the above message includes some of my own points of view)
-------- Message original -------- Sujet: ICANN News Alert -- New gTLD Batching Announcement Date : Wed, 06 Jun 2012 22:35:29 -0400 De : ICANN News Alert <communications@icann.org> Pour : <ocl@gih.com>
ICANN <http://www.icann.org/>
News Alert
http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-06jun12-en.htm
------------------------------------------------------------------------
New gTLD Batching Announcement
6 June 2012
Given the large number of new generic top-level domain (gTLD) applications, we will divide and evaluate them in batches. The batching system is targeted to open at 00:01 UTC on 8 June 2012, and will close at 23:59 UTC on 28 June 2012. The target date for posting the batching order is 11 July 2012.
The batching process will be used to determine which applications will be processed in the first batch, the second batch and so on. It will be done by: assignment of a timestamp, and the formation of batches.
/Timestamp assignments/ will be done using the TLD Application System (TAS). All applicants must use their TAS credentials to log in, read and accept the batching rules, indicate their batching preference, and select their target date and time. Once these steps are completed applicants should log back into TAS to hit the target time and generate a secondary timestamp. Users will have access to a testing feature to gauge the secondary timestamp system's response time.
/Batching formation/ considers an applicant's: (1) batching preference, (2) geographic region and secondary timestamp; and (3) contention among identical and "similar" applications.
(1) Applicants stating a preference for "opting-out" will be placed last.
(2) Geographic diversity is important in bringing more competition and choice into the domain name market. Applicants who opted in will be ranked within their geographic region (Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America/Caribbean and North America) by their secondary timestamp score. Then applications will be selected from each ICANN region using a "round robin" approach. This approach selects the best timestamp score from each region, one region at a time, on a rotating basis. If a region runs out of opted-in applications, the "round robin" continues across the remaining regions. This process continues until the batch is formed, with the opted-out applications last.
(3) ICANN will then make preliminary determinations of contention sets based upon exact match. All applications in a single contention set are placed into the batch where the earliest application in the contention set is placed. Once the string similarity panel establishes complete contention sets, "similar" strings might be reassigned to an earlier batch. No applications will be demoted as a result of the promotion of others. This could result in a batch larger than 500.
ICANN has taken care to provide a secure and stable platform for the batching system. Users will connect to the Citrix XenApp high-availability cluster and will then log into the batching system. Applicants will be required to agree to a set of Batching Rules, including an agreement that "ICANN reserves the right to delay an application to the last batch or to reject an application entirely if ICANN reasonably determines that the applicant abused the batching system or intentionally interfered with the performance of the system or any other applicant's use of the system."
Along with this announcement ICANN is posting several additional resources to inform applicants about the batching process. These include a: set of frequently asked questions (FAQs), video demonstration, user guide, batching details and rules, and a batching basics fact sheet, which all can be found on the Batching information webpage at http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/tas/batching/. Information on security, infrastructure, and operations is also available in these materials.
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-- Evan Leibovitch Toronto Canada
Em: evan at telly dot org Sk: evanleibovitch Tw: el56 _______________________________________________ ALAC mailing list ALAC@atlarge-lists.icann.org https://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/alac
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On Thu, Jun 7, 2012 at 10:22 AM, Evan Leibovitch <evan@telly.org> wrote:
Personally, I would limit any comment of ALAC's to 1) Demand that community and IDN applications be given advanced priority as a matter of public benefit 2) Repeat our warning of the bias against developing economies evidenced by the relegation of applications requesting support 3) Note the damage to ICANN's reputation created by the choice of a selection method that can appear to be gamed
I asked for this batching business to be placed on the Ex-Com agenda, hoping for some of the arguments I see here to be aired. This thread has done a lot to cement my own feelings. Any notion that a batching process can be 'gamed' and rational people are actually betting money on it is reason enough to reject batching as injurious to process. I personally don't see much of a ALAC comment about this other than to gripe "what are you doing? Can't you see you're thrashing your already iffy reputation". Perhaps the statement could double down on relegation of support applicants to the back of the bus as insult to injury. But who would care? On second thoughts, let's take a bye on this. - Carlton ============================== Carlton A Samuels Mobile: 876-818-1799 *Strategy, Planning, Governance, Assessment & Turnaround* =============================
I fully endorse the idea of developing a statement. We can post the statement on the wiki and allow for people to comment. I am conscious of Tina Dam's statement at the last Public Meeting in Costa Rica. Any assertions should be categorically backed up. Kind Regards On Sun, Jun 10, 2012 at 1:21 PM, Carlton Samuels <carlton.samuels@gmail.com>wrote:
On Thu, Jun 7, 2012 at 10:22 AM, Evan Leibovitch <evan@telly.org> wrote:
Personally, I would limit any comment of ALAC's to 1) Demand that community and IDN applications be given advanced priority as a matter of public benefit 2) Repeat our warning of the bias against developing economies evidenced by the relegation of applications requesting support 3) Note the damage to ICANN's reputation created by the choice of a selection method that can appear to be gamed
I asked for this batching business to be placed on the Ex-Com agenda, hoping for some of the arguments I see here to be aired. This thread has done a lot to cement my own feelings.
Any notion that a batching process can be 'gamed' and rational people are actually betting money on it is reason enough to reject batching as injurious to process.
I personally don't see much of a ALAC comment about this other than to gripe "what are you doing? Can't you see you're thrashing your already iffy reputation". Perhaps the statement could double down on relegation of support applicants to the back of the bus as insult to injury. But who would care?
On second thoughts, let's take a bye on this.
- Carlton
============================== Carlton A Samuels Mobile: 876-818-1799 *Strategy, Planning, Governance, Assessment & Turnaround* ============================= _______________________________________________ ALAC mailing list ALAC@atlarge-lists.icann.org https://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/alac
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-- Salanieta Tamanikaiwaimaro aka Sala Tweeter: @SalanietaT Skype:Salanieta.Tamanikaiwaimaro Cell: +679 998 2851
For those who haven't already read it, see Antony Van Couverings CircleID post from last Sunday - http://www.circleid.com/posts/0120610_biggest_glitch_of_all_icanns_batching_... At 07/06/2012 06:51 AM, Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond wrote:
Hello all,
please find below, more information about the Digital Archery which will be used to batch new gTLD applications into batches of probably 500 applications at a time. With a possible 2000 applications to process, some applications might only be processed much later than others and this "game" of Digital Archery will set applicants apart. Already several firms run by close ICANN insiders are proposing a paying service to "win" the Digital Archery using their automation service which they claim will ensure their client's applications are considered first. This means more sources of profit, but this also means that applications which were made possible by thanks to all of the work the community did to have Applicant Support, might be discriminated against since they will not be able to afford the automated digital archery winning service.
Also, looking closely at the terms and conditions of "digital archery", (see video on http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/announcements-and-media/video/batching-demo at Time 2:37 mark) , applicants using the Digital Archery system agree legally that this is a contest of skill rather than a contest of chance. Clearly, with the Internet's differing delays depending on where you are located, and since digital archery system will be accurate to 100th second (as seen on the demo), it is *impossible* for anyone to display any kind of skill except by being physically at the data center itself. I remind you that delays on the Internet range from 3ms to 700ms or more, depending on where you are, since any satellite link will automatically induce between 300 to 700ms -- it is a physical propagation time needed. And these delays are jittery too.
Is Digital Archery therefore allegedly a game of chance, not controlled by any kind of legal structure associated with games of chance, with open opportunities for cheating?
There have been calls to the Board by some members in the ccNSO for Digital Archery *not* to be used and an alternative process to be followed, which may also involve *not* having any batching altogether. Others in the GNSO Council have also written to the Board about this, with similar findings or other alternative propositions. Should we support those comments?
Alas, the Board correspondence page has its last entry on 21 May 2012 and the correspondence which I have been CC'ed into was sent on June 4th and on June 6th but I have asked if those have already been published.
With Digital Archery starting on June 8th, should the ALAC issue a statement on this ASAP?
I'd be interested in your points of view.
Kind regards,
Olivier (the above message includes some of my own points of view)
-------- Message original -------- Sujet: ICANN News Alert -- New gTLD Batching Announcement Date : Wed, 06 Jun 2012 22:35:29 -0400 De : ICANN News Alert <communications@icann.org> Pour : <ocl@gih.com>
ICANN <http://www.icann.org/>
News Alert
http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-06jun12-en.htm
------------------------------------------------------------------------
New gTLD Batching Announcement
6 June 2012
Given the large number of new generic top-level domain (gTLD) applications, we will divide and evaluate them in batches. The batching system is targeted to open at 00:01 UTC on 8 June 2012, and will close at 23:59 UTC on 28 June 2012. The target date for posting the batching order is 11 July 2012.
The batching process will be used to determine which applications will be processed in the first batch, the second batch and so on. It will be done by: assignment of a timestamp, and the formation of batches.
/Timestamp assignments/ will be done using the TLD Application System (TAS). All applicants must use their TAS credentials to log in, read and accept the batching rules, indicate their batching preference, and select their target date and time. Once these steps are completed applicants should log back into TAS to hit the target time and generate a secondary timestamp. Users will have access to a testing feature to gauge the secondary timestamp system's response time.
/Batching formation/ considers an applicant's: (1) batching preference, (2) geographic region and secondary timestamp; and (3) contention among identical and "similar" applications.
(1) Applicants stating a preference for "opting-out" will be placed last.
(2) Geographic diversity is important in bringing more competition and choice into the domain name market. Applicants who opted in will be ranked within their geographic region (Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America/Caribbean and North America) by their secondary timestamp score. Then applications will be selected from each ICANN region using a "round robin" approach. This approach selects the best timestamp score from each region, one region at a time, on a rotating basis. If a region runs out of opted-in applications, the "round robin" continues across the remaining regions. This process continues until the batch is formed, with the opted-out applications last.
(3) ICANN will then make preliminary determinations of contention sets based upon exact match. All applications in a single contention set are placed into the batch where the earliest application in the contention set is placed. Once the string similarity panel establishes complete contention sets, "similar" strings might be reassigned to an earlier batch. No applications will be demoted as a result of the promotion of others. This could result in a batch larger than 500.
ICANN has taken care to provide a secure and stable platform for the batching system. Users will connect to the Citrix XenApp high-availability cluster and will then log into the batching system. Applicants will be required to agree to a set of Batching Rules, including an agreement that "ICANN reserves the right to delay an application to the last batch or to reject an application entirely if ICANN reasonably determines that the applicant abused the batching system or intentionally interfered with the performance of the system or any other applicant's use of the system."
Along with this announcement ICANN is posting several additional resources to inform applicants about the batching process. These include a: set of frequently asked questions (FAQs), video demonstration, user guide, batching details and rules, and a batching basics fact sheet, which all can be found on the Batching information webpage at http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/tas/batching/. Information on security, infrastructure, and operations is also available in these materials.
This message was sent to ocl@gih.com from:
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Hi Alan (and Olivier) I have already seen Antony's fulsome article - and it only deepened my disquiet about 'batching'. I'd agree with Olivier that ALAC should base its objections on the growing unfairness of the process - based on cost and distance (particularly those of us at REAL distance). And as the article pointed out (and as Adrian Kinderis' letter to the Board (and ALAC) foreshadowed) the process should have been delayed until the sorts of time savings Antony points out could have been realised. Is it too late? Holly On 13/06/2012, at 1:30 PM, Alan Greenberg wrote:
For those who haven't already read it, see Antony Van Couverings CircleID post from last Sunday - http://www.circleid.com/posts/0120610_biggest_glitch_of_all_icanns_batching_...
At 07/06/2012 06:51 AM, Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond wrote:
Hello all,
please find below, more information about the Digital Archery which will be used to batch new gTLD applications into batches of probably 500 applications at a time. With a possible 2000 applications to process, some applications might only be processed much later than others and this "game" of Digital Archery will set applicants apart. Already several firms run by close ICANN insiders are proposing a paying service to "win" the Digital Archery using their automation service which they claim will ensure their client's applications are considered first. This means more sources of profit, but this also means that applications which were made possible by thanks to all of the work the community did to have Applicant Support, might be discriminated against since they will not be able to afford the automated digital archery winning service.
Also, looking closely at the terms and conditions of "digital archery", (see video on http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/announcements-and-media/video/batching-demo at Time 2:37 mark) , applicants using the Digital Archery system agree legally that this is a contest of skill rather than a contest of chance. Clearly, with the Internet's differing delays depending on where you are located, and since digital archery system will be accurate to 100th second (as seen on the demo), it is *impossible* for anyone to display any kind of skill except by being physically at the data center itself. I remind you that delays on the Internet range from 3ms to 700ms or more, depending on where you are, since any satellite link will automatically induce between 300 to 700ms -- it is a physical propagation time needed. And these delays are jittery too.
Is Digital Archery therefore allegedly a game of chance, not controlled by any kind of legal structure associated with games of chance, with open opportunities for cheating?
There have been calls to the Board by some members in the ccNSO for Digital Archery *not* to be used and an alternative process to be followed, which may also involve *not* having any batching altogether. Others in the GNSO Council have also written to the Board about this, with similar findings or other alternative propositions. Should we support those comments?
Alas, the Board correspondence page has its last entry on 21 May 2012 and the correspondence which I have been CC'ed into was sent on June 4th and on June 6th but I have asked if those have already been published.
With Digital Archery starting on June 8th, should the ALAC issue a statement on this ASAP?
I'd be interested in your points of view.
Kind regards,
Olivier (the above message includes some of my own points of view)
-------- Message original -------- Sujet: ICANN News Alert -- New gTLD Batching Announcement Date : Wed, 06 Jun 2012 22:35:29 -0400 De : ICANN News Alert <communications@icann.org> Pour : <ocl@gih.com>
ICANN <http://www.icann.org/>
News Alert
http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-06jun12-en.htm
------------------------------------------------------------------------
New gTLD Batching Announcement
6 June 2012
Given the large number of new generic top-level domain (gTLD) applications, we will divide and evaluate them in batches. The batching system is targeted to open at 00:01 UTC on 8 June 2012, and will close at 23:59 UTC on 28 June 2012. The target date for posting the batching order is 11 July 2012.
The batching process will be used to determine which applications will be processed in the first batch, the second batch and so on. It will be done by: assignment of a timestamp, and the formation of batches.
/Timestamp assignments/ will be done using the TLD Application System (TAS). All applicants must use their TAS credentials to log in, read and accept the batching rules, indicate their batching preference, and select their target date and time. Once these steps are completed applicants should log back into TAS to hit the target time and generate a secondary timestamp. Users will have access to a testing feature to gauge the secondary timestamp system's response time.
/Batching formation/ considers an applicant's: (1) batching preference, (2) geographic region and secondary timestamp; and (3) contention among identical and "similar" applications.
(1) Applicants stating a preference for "opting-out" will be placed last.
(2) Geographic diversity is important in bringing more competition and choice into the domain name market. Applicants who opted in will be ranked within their geographic region (Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America/Caribbean and North America) by their secondary timestamp score. Then applications will be selected from each ICANN region using a "round robin" approach. This approach selects the best timestamp score from each region, one region at a time, on a rotating basis. If a region runs out of opted-in applications, the "round robin" continues across the remaining regions. This process continues until the batch is formed, with the opted-out applications last.
(3) ICANN will then make preliminary determinations of contention sets based upon exact match. All applications in a single contention set are placed into the batch where the earliest application in the contention set is placed. Once the string similarity panel establishes complete contention sets, "similar" strings might be reassigned to an earlier batch. No applications will be demoted as a result of the promotion of others. This could result in a batch larger than 500.
ICANN has taken care to provide a secure and stable platform for the batching system. Users will connect to the Citrix XenApp high-availability cluster and will then log into the batching system. Applicants will be required to agree to a set of Batching Rules, including an agreement that "ICANN reserves the right to delay an application to the last batch or to reject an application entirely if ICANN reasonably determines that the applicant abused the batching system or intentionally interfered with the performance of the system or any other applicant's use of the system."
Along with this announcement ICANN is posting several additional resources to inform applicants about the batching process. These include a: set of frequently asked questions (FAQs), video demonstration, user guide, batching details and rules, and a batching basics fact sheet, which all can be found on the Batching information webpage at http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/tas/batching/. Information on security, infrastructure, and operations is also available in these materials.
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This new post justifies my original unease and adds to that evolved from the Kinderis letter. But other than question the equity of the thing - not to mention the kinda dumb attempt to sell this DA as more than a lottery + the services being advertised to 'game' DA - I'm not sure the ALAC has much of a dog in this race. Somebody will sue.... - Carlton ============================== Carlton A Samuels Mobile: 876-818-1799 *Strategy, Planning, Governance, Assessment & Turnaround* ============================= On Tue, Jun 12, 2012 at 10:30 PM, Alan Greenberg <alan.greenberg@mcgill.ca>wrote:
For those who haven't already read it, see Antony Van Couverings CircleID post from last Sunday -
http://www.circleid.com/posts/0120610_biggest_glitch_of_all_icanns_batching_...
At 07/06/2012 06:51 AM, Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond wrote:
Hello all,
please find below, more information about the Digital Archery which will be used to batch new gTLD applications into batches of probably 500 applications at a time. With a possible 2000 applications to process, some applications might only be processed much later than others and this "game" of Digital Archery will set applicants apart. Already several firms run by close ICANN insiders are proposing a paying service to "win" the Digital Archery using their automation service which they claim will ensure their client's applications are considered first. This means more sources of profit, but this also means that applications which were made possible by thanks to all of the work the community did to have Applicant Support, might be discriminated against since they will not be able to afford the automated digital archery winning service.
Also, looking closely at the terms and conditions of "digital archery", (see video on http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/announcements-and-media/video/batching-demo at Time 2:37 mark) , applicants using the Digital Archery system agree legally that this is a contest of skill rather than a contest of chance. Clearly, with the Internet's differing delays depending on where you are located, and since digital archery system will be accurate to 100th second (as seen on the demo), it is *impossible* for anyone to display any kind of skill except by being physically at the data center itself. I remind you that delays on the Internet range from 3ms to 700ms or more, depending on where you are, since any satellite link will automatically induce between 300 to 700ms -- it is a physical propagation time needed. And these delays are jittery too.
Is Digital Archery therefore allegedly a game of chance, not controlled by any kind of legal structure associated with games of chance, with open opportunities for cheating?
There have been calls to the Board by some members in the ccNSO for Digital Archery *not* to be used and an alternative process to be followed, which may also involve *not* having any batching altogether. Others in the GNSO Council have also written to the Board about this, with similar findings or other alternative propositions. Should we support those comments?
Alas, the Board correspondence page has its last entry on 21 May 2012 and the correspondence which I have been CC'ed into was sent on June 4th and on June 6th but I have asked if those have already been published.
With Digital Archery starting on June 8th, should the ALAC issue a statement on this ASAP?
I'd be interested in your points of view.
Kind regards,
Olivier (the above message includes some of my own points of view)
-------- Message original -------- Sujet: ICANN News Alert -- New gTLD Batching Announcement Date : Wed, 06 Jun 2012 22:35:29 -0400 De : ICANN News Alert <communications@icann.org> Pour : <ocl@gih.com>
ICANN <http://www.icann.org/>
News Alert
http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-06jun12-en.htm
------------------------------------------------------------------------
New gTLD Batching Announcement
6 June 2012
Given the large number of new generic top-level domain (gTLD) applications, we will divide and evaluate them in batches. The batching system is targeted to open at 00:01 UTC on 8 June 2012, and will close at 23:59 UTC on 28 June 2012. The target date for posting the batching order is 11 July 2012.
The batching process will be used to determine which applications will be processed in the first batch, the second batch and so on. It will be done by: assignment of a timestamp, and the formation of batches.
/Timestamp assignments/ will be done using the TLD Application System (TAS). All applicants must use their TAS credentials to log in, read and accept the batching rules, indicate their batching preference, and select their target date and time. Once these steps are completed applicants should log back into TAS to hit the target time and generate a secondary timestamp. Users will have access to a testing feature to gauge the secondary timestamp system's response time.
/Batching formation/ considers an applicant's: (1) batching preference, (2) geographic region and secondary timestamp; and (3) contention among identical and "similar" applications.
(1) Applicants stating a preference for "opting-out" will be placed last.
(2) Geographic diversity is important in bringing more competition and choice into the domain name market. Applicants who opted in will be ranked within their geographic region (Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America/Caribbean and North America) by their secondary timestamp score. Then applications will be selected from each ICANN region using a "round robin" approach. This approach selects the best timestamp score from each region, one region at a time, on a rotating basis. If a region runs out of opted-in applications, the "round robin" continues across the remaining regions. This process continues until the batch is formed, with the opted-out applications last.
(3) ICANN will then make preliminary determinations of contention sets based upon exact match. All applications in a single contention set are placed into the batch where the earliest application in the contention set is placed. Once the string similarity panel establishes complete contention sets, "similar" strings might be reassigned to an earlier batch. No applications will be demoted as a result of the promotion of others. This could result in a batch larger than 500.
ICANN has taken care to provide a secure and stable platform for the batching system. Users will connect to the Citrix XenApp high-availability cluster and will then log into the batching system. Applicants will be required to agree to a set of Batching Rules, including an agreement that "ICANN reserves the right to delay an application to the last batch or to reject an application entirely if ICANN reasonably determines that the applicant abused the batching system or intentionally interfered with the performance of the system or any other applicant's use of the system."
Along with this announcement ICANN is posting several additional resources to inform applicants about the batching process. These include a: set of frequently asked questions (FAQs), video demonstration, user guide, batching details and rules, and a batching basics fact sheet, which all can be found on the Batching information webpage at http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/tas/batching/. Information on security, infrastructure, and operations is also available in these materials.
This message was sent to ocl@gih.com from:
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https://community.icann.org/display/atlarge/At-Large+Advisory+Committee+(ALA...)
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participants (10)
-
Alan Greenberg -
Avri Doria -
Carlton Samuels -
Evan Leibovitch -
Holly Raiche -
Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond -
Salanieta T. Tamanikaiwaimaro -
Sébastien Bachollet -
titi.akinsanmi＠gmail.com -
Wolf Ludwig