Following sweeping it under the rug, Name Collisions come back to haunt fresh TLD program
Name collisions derail fresh top level domain name timeline.
Everyone in the executive suite at Verisign must have been smiling this morning.
That’s since ICANN dropped a bombshell, delaying a big portion of fresh top level domain names due to “name collisions”.
It not only delays much of the program (as some have argued is Verisign’s goal in raising concerns), but also shows that Verisign isn’t crazy for raising its concerns. (Name collisions have been discussed for a long time and it was hardly an original concern made by Verisign.)
ICANN was forced to act on this issue. It has repeatedly stated that security and stability are its chief goals. In light of a commissioned study that shows many fresh TLDs might compromise security and stability, it had no choice but to put up a red light.
For fresh TLD applicants and ICANN, this was a gamble gone awry.
Many applicants and some within ICANN have been trying to sweep concerns under the rug for a long time. Time is money, and the sooner fresh TLDs hit the internet, the better for a lot of firms involved.
And they almost got away with it, if it weren’t for you meddling kids and that stupid dog.
Had the issue been brought to the fore earlier, it’s possible the entire program would have been derailed by fear.
Or it’s possible it could have been addressed, some strings would have been off limits, and the program would have moved along accordingly.
Instead, it’s hitting and the worst time, just as the first contracts are being signed.
ICANN insists that 80% of applied for strings will see little delay. Even though it proposes a 120 waiting period ahead of any domain names can be activated in the DNS for these strings, that’s from the date a registry agreement is signed. With all the work required between contract and delegation, it will be kind of like serving concurrent jail sentences.
Still, this is just the latest in a long list of delays.
There’s a (relatively) old saying out there…”no one ever lost money betting on more delays for fresh TLDs.”
How true.
