In a statement just issued by Akram Atallah, COO of ICANN it appears ICANN was first notified on the problem with the TAS system that allowed users to see other users files on March 19th.
As we know ICANN didn’t shut the system down until April 12th.
Here is the statement:
“As we have reported, ICANN has learned of a technical issue with the TLD application system software, or TAS, that allowed a limited number of users to view some other users’ file names and user names in certain scenarios. We temporarily shut the system down on 12 April 2012 to protect applicant data, and to look into the technical issue and fix it.”
“As part of that process, we are sifting through the thousands of customer service inquiries received since the opening of the application submission period. This preliminary review has identified a user report on 19 March that appears to be the first report related to this technical issue.”
Although we believed the issues identified in the initial and subsequent reports had been addressed, on 12 April we confirmed that there was a continuing unresolved issue and we shut down the system.
We are still aggressively looking into the issue, and we will publish additional information as soon as it can be confirmed.
We recognize the importance of reopening the application system as soon as possible. We will announce no later than 23:59 GMT/UTC on Monday, 16 April, whether we will be able to reopen on Tuesday, 17 April 2012.
Thank you for your patience as we work to resolve this issue.””
So ICANN won’t tell us if they are opening up the TAS system on Tuesday until the last second on Monday.
The bigger problem seems that someone reported the problem to ICANN on March 19th and ICANN didn’t notice the report, read the report or deal with the report for three weeks, leaving the system open to users to be able to view other users information.
No Bueno.
This is a big money venture for the applicants and ICANN is off to a pretty horrible start.
“whether we will be able to reopen on Tuesday” [that is clearly not a given]
Why Tuesday ?
Does ICANN want to wait to see what gets filed in court on Monday ?
“we are sifting through the thousands of customer service inquiries”
Can you imagine where the ICANN Applicant Program goes from here ?
How many people will be demading a refund who did not even pay ?
How many people will now claim their applications were lost ?
Will the U.S. Government finally step in and start the entire process over ?
or just point to their similar parallel FCC processes that run smoothly…
Mike does it ever start to feel weird advising people to send $185k to ICANN?
JP
You’re taking about RightoftheDot.com?
If so all our clients have come to us wanting to apply for a new gTLD.
We did go out and talk people into applying.
Actually we did give clients and potential clients a long list of potential problems and risks, including that the whole process might get stopped by a court.
I also point clients and potential clients to this post I wrote back in January
http://www.thedomains.com/2012/01/10/icann-on-threat-of-litigation-on-new-gtlds-to-applicants-you-take-the-risk/
Well then, they were warned. Just goes to show that folks believe in these tlds so strongly they are willing to put up with just about anything for any price.
“the whole process might get stopped by a court”
That is not the ICANN.WAY
ICANN is bringing in a new CEO in to Start Over
You have to give him a couple of years to get up to speed.
He will have to have time to appoint his cronies and select the best Applicants.
He has very little experience with the DNS, ICANN or the Internet.
This is all getting very sticky !!
This will be a good discussion for our panel: New Domains (gTLD’s) New Business Opportunities
at the DomainingEurope Conference in Valencia the 26th of april 2012
ICANN to Convene North America Regional Registry/Registrar Event
On 17-18 May 2012, ICANN and its gTLD registration services providers will meet in Los Angeles, USA.
Occupy.ICANN
“Certainly, we all know that the misuse of personal data can cause financial harm. Personal data lost through security breaches can lead to identity theft and financial fraud. The financial cost of these incidents is quite apparent.”
“A key element in our thinking at the Commerce Department on all Internet policy issues has been the need to preserve the trust of all actors on the Internet.”
http: //www. ntia. doc. gov/speechtestimony/2012/address-assistant-secretary-strickling-hudson-institute
Pathetic…those clowns.
Yup, the fox that guards the chicken coop…help yourself to the $$$
domainclowns–guess who owns that!
ICANN Circles the Wagons
“On 10 April 2012, the Board established the New gTLD Program Committee, comprised of all voting members of the Board that are not conflicted with respect to the New gTLD Program.”
http: //www .icann .org/en/groups/board/documents/resolutions-new-gtld-10apr12-en.htm
These are the guys who have been entrusted with the “technical operation of the internet”.
Brilliant.
So, this would apply to Canadian data as well? Which is usually private by default for free.
Interesting.
Good thing I left my 185 thousand dollars in my other pants.
Seriously, one has to wonder how much longer ICANN will survive in its present form.
With the Vast amounts of money involved, will various countries want ICANN broken up into something similar to the United Nations, where “control” is not in the hands of one single entity and more parties get a piece of the pie?
Of course, this would create its own set of bureaucratic problems. But, it’s not too much of a stretch to think ICANN may soon reach the point where the wheels fall off.