Anne, I do not believe this is a policy issue that needs to go back to the council because it really amounts to implementation. The policy aspect of this IG was that ICANN should not refuse to do it because it may give certain applicants to participate some kind of advantage (which I did not see in the rationale). That said I am DEEPLY CONCERNED about their not being user testing by any third party other than ICANN staff especially in light of the very significant problems and security issues associated with the Registry Services Testing (RST 2.0) in place for the RSP Pre-evaluation program. For those that have not paid attention to that, ICANN launched that in October, and has still yet to work out all of the bugs. It got so severe that the system was taken down for more than a month and finally brought back online on November 19th. ICANN announced that the technical issue allowed a limited number of RST users to view identifiable organizational information of another RST user, thus enabling those users to know another applicant that is using the system.” [Sound familiar to the Great 2012 Glitch]. As a result, ICANN unilaterally pushed back the date of publication of the RSP successful evaluation list from December 9 (tomorrow) until January 31, 2026. Bugs and “known issues” generating false positive and false negative results are still being generated through the RST system and from what I have been told (as I am not working with any RSP going through that testing), there has been a lack of communication from ICANN staff on (a) when the issues will be resolved, (b) whether the system which is creating false positives will prevent RSPs from passing the required tests (when clearly everyone knows that they should be passing, and more concerning to me, (c) whether this hurts new RSPs that are “failing RST” due to issues with the software. Lars - you can’t be surprised that the rationale here which says that you will have robust internal testing does little to boost our confidence in the application system especially if, like you said, there is no time to have a beta test and you are concerned about your ability to keep sensitive data private. Can you let us know whether there will be any third party (non-ICANN staff; non-ICANN contractors involved building the system) that will be conducting user testing? Who within ICANN is the lead responsible for such testing and can you give us an understanding of what user testing will be employed? Sincerely, Jeffrey J. Neuman Founder & CEO JJN Solutions, LLC +1.202.549.5079 Jeff@jjnsolutions.com ________________________________ From: Anne ICANN via SubPro-IRT <subpro-irt@icann.org> Sent: Monday, December 8, 2025 1:44 PM To: Lars Hoffmann <lars.hoffmann@icann.org> Cc: Antonietta Mangiacotti via SubPro-IRT <subpro-irt@icann.org>; Steve Allison <steve.allison@icann.org>; Eduardo Alvarez <eduardo.alvarez@icann.org> Subject: [SubPro-IRT] Re: Implementation Guidedance 14.4 Thanks Lars. As you know, in response to an inquiry from staff when the ODA was being prepared, the Council stated that whenever Implementation Guidance cannot be followed, the Council should be advised of the rationale and have the ability to provide input. In this case re the guidance for beta testing, where we do NOT have an issue of policy intent and interpretation (as we did with IGO/INGO), I leave it to Susan and others as to how best to communicate the deviation from Implementation Guidance to Council and the timing of same. We have a Council meeting Thursday but i think the agenda is full (deferring to Susan a Council Chair.) Looking forward to the updates on the window etc! Anne Anne Aikman-Scalese GNSO Councilor NomCom Non-Voting 2022-2026 anneicanngnso@gmail.com<mailto:anneicanngnso@gmail.com> On Mon, Dec 8, 2025 at 7:23 AM Lars Hoffmann via SubPro-IRT <subpro-irt@icann.org<mailto:subpro-irt@icann.org>> wrote: Dear All, We would also like to share the agendas for the next two meetings: * Meeting #170<https://icann-community.atlassian.net/wiki/x/AYCjIg> (9 December, 13:00-14:30 UTC) * Outreach, Engagement, and Communications Update * Implementation Guidance 14.4 (paper/rationale attached to this email) * Opening and Duration of the Application Window * Meeting #171<https://icann-community.atlassian.net/wiki/x/AoA2JQ> (11 December, 18:00-20:00 UTC) * Excess/Deficit * Name Collision procedures Best regards, Lars _______________________________________________ SubPro-IRT mailing list -- subpro-irt@icann.org<mailto:subpro-irt@icann.org> To unsubscribe send an email to subpro-irt-leave@icann.org<mailto:subpro-irt-leave@icann.org> _______________________________________________ By submitting your personal data, you consent to the processing of your personal data for purposes of subscribing to this mailing list accordance with the ICANN Privacy Policy (https://www.icann.org/privacy/policy) and the website Terms of Service (https://www.icann.org/privacy/tos). 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