Did a digital archery firm put the final nail in the coffin of doomed scheme?

Firm claims it noted issue to ICANN a few days back.

So ICANN has “suspended” digital archery, a way to divide up fresh top level domain applicants into batches.

This was the right move, albeit a couple weeks late. Now 20% of applications have shot an arrow, and many more applicants have invested significant resources into the process.

True to form, ICANN pushed forward with its plan despite multiple warning signs that it ought to take another look at it.

Now, finally, it is taking a step back. And it could be a complete step back. The death of digital archery.

Which is where the irony comes in: one of the digital archery service providers hoping to make a buck off the process may have had a hand in getting the program shut down, err, suspended.

I received a press release from Digital Archery Experts today claiming that it had noted a serious issue to ICANN a few days back.

Although the firm stated fixing the issue it had discovered would be “trivial”, it may be that this business opportunity is lost.

The head of ICANN’s fresh TLD program left this stretch. Perhaps it’s time for someone high up on the tech team to start looking for a fresh job?