Dot-Word Bidders In Last Minute Dash 51
benfrog writes "Dot-word bidders are in a last-minute dash for domain names as ICANN has revealed its timetable for the controversial new TLDs. The organization will close its TLD Application System (TAS) at a minute before midnight tonight (23.59 GMT, 19.59 ET, 16.59 Pacific). The TAS was originally supposed to close on April 12, but the deadline was extended twice because of a security bug. The winners for domains will be selected (initially) by a 'widely derided mechanism' of 'digital archery' in which every bidder will be assigned a date and time and then be asked to login to a secure website and hit a submit button as close to that time as possible."
Simple Program (Score:4, Interesting)
Simple solution to this problem is to first get NTP running on a Linux that is tied to a local GPS receiver and make sure it's running long enough to be stable (a few days). Start probing port 80 by opening TCP connections and record response times. Average the times. Divide by two and subtract that from the appointed time. You might want to subtract a bit more to account for the internal server delays. Write a small program that can hit the virtual "login" button at the calculated time. You should be able to get your "login" request to arrive at the destination very close to the right time if you are careful to get the TCP port opened and stable, then do the HTTP post/Get or what have you at the calculated time.
Want to be even more accurate? Find a server to do this on that is the least number of hops between you and the server, opting for the lowest latency links you can manage. But this just makes the calculations more sure, the problem remains the same.
Anybody trying to hit the "submit" button manually is going to loose..
Re:Simple Program (Score:4, Interesting)
Simple but non-trivial solution is to find some grown-ups to run ICANN. Find grown-ups to run ICANN who aren't greedy bastards might be more difficult.