With the launch of the digital archery on the 8th of June[1], the question is raised whether the mountain brought forth a mouse! The batching system run for not less than ten days and a member of the GAC already raised concerns about the whole system. The batching system is a catalyst of issues. The senior advisor to the Government of Canada within the GAC, Heather Dryden[2], in a letter sent on the 17th of June to the ICANN pinpointed that the batching system may have a significant impact on the timeframe of the commissioning of new gTLD’s. Heather Dryden put it bluntly and highlighted the imperious necessity to “fully consult with the community before taking decisions of this magnitude”[3]. According to the Canadian advisor, the loopholes of the system outperform the advantages. The GAC is in favor of a simultaneous treatment of all the candidatures for three main reasons: efficacy, consistency and length.
The GAC will try to push in favor of this unique assessment and try to make its voice heard during the ICANN Prague meeting which will take place at the end of the week from the 24th to the 29th of June. A genuine frond could be foreseen in the next few days. Could the timeframes be kept?
[1] See one of our article « Bundles and bubbles: a polemic bubble burst for the launch of the « batching system » for new gTLD’s”, June 14, 2012 ; http://blog.dreyfus.fr/2012/06/bundles-and-bubbles-a-polemic-bubble-burst-for-the-launch-of-the-%E2%80%9Cbatching-system%E2%80%9D-for-new-gtld%E2%80%99s/.
[2] See academic background and biography on http://www.icann.org/en/groups/board/dryden.htm.
[3] The letter dated June 17, 2012 can be download thanks to the following link: http://www.icann.org/en/news/correspondence/dryden-to-crocker-17jun12-en