ICANN Backflips Again 94
angry tapir writes "The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has backflipped again on the process for evaluating applications for new generic top-level domains such as .bank and .lol. The proposal to evaluate applications in batches of 500 had been subject to criticism from registrars, particularly the 'digital archery' component, which would be used to determine which batch an application would be part of. Last month, ICANN scrapped digital archery altogether, and now ICANN has announced that it will seek simultaneous processing of all applications. The reason people were annoyed at the batching process was it meant that even if an application for a new domain was complete and correct, and even if a domain application was not contested by anyone else, it could end up going live years after other new TLDs did. Given it will cost over a couple of hundred grand to run a new TLD, people were upset. The whole gTLD process has been fraught with delays and security breaches."
ICANN Backflips (Score:3, Funny)
What do they want, a medal?
.assclown (Score:4, Funny)
I only hope that ICANN was able to register .assclown for themselves. Anyone else getting it would be unfair.
Re:This is getting stupid. (Score:1, Funny)
People keep suggesting decentralised DNS, but I'm not convinced it's a workable solution.
DNS isn't strictly required to access websites on the web, except for its use in the host header which helps apache pick which virtual host to serve up to you.
HOW TO MAKE ICANN IRRELEVENT:
1. Google (or Bing, or both) begins by indexing the current system (they most likely already have)
2. Google tweakes their engine so that people can go to the google homepage (http://74.125.237.129 for example - out of many, which could easily be saved as a favourite in any browser), enter their search, and google results link to a google program that constructs the http request (with the "host" header based on their index saved from step 1) for you without using the DNS. clicking google search results already go through google anyway.
3. whala! going through google (or Bing) doesn't require the DNS any more
4. eventually rather than depending on search engines for connection to websites, the w3c might sit up and take notice, and build in some kind of URL addendum, such as http://100.100.100.100//myvirtualhost/index.html [100.100.100.100] (two slashes between ip address and host name)
5. browsers conforming to such new scheme eventually being able to navigate to websites directly without the DNS.
6. decentralised internet is born! (based on a technologically enforced addressing system - so no need to worry about squatters or people stealing your address)
ok so now addresses are a little longer and harder to remember, but just as phone books have been around for years already, internet directories will have a resurgence (until someone comes up with some new fancy means of accessing or identifying things)
also doesn't require regulatory reform or permission/agreement from ICANN
wouldn't that burst ICANN's (and the US government who ultimately governs it) bubble?