TLD Application System

The TLD Application System (TAS) is the official online application system implemented by ICANN program. Applicants are required to complete the registration on the system to be able to submit and manage their applications. The TAS registration is the first step in the application process and it was open from January 12 to March 29, 2012. Applicants needed to follow three steps which include: filling out an applicant profile, legal review and payment of a non-refundable deposit of $US 5000. Access to TAS will not be granted until the deposit is confirmed by ICANN. TAS will send e-mail updates and notifications to the applicants and they can also track the progress of every application they submitted.

According to ICANN Senior Vice President, Kurt Pritz, every TAS account can store as many as 50 applications. It was later found that each account could only store 49 applications.

On February 13, 2012, he reported that there were already 100 applicants for new gTLDs in the TAS system. In March, 2012, in the final week that TAS was open to registrations, 266 accounts were created. ICANN reported 556 registered users in the system and that it expected to receive more than 1,000 new gTLD applications.

New gTLD consultant FairWinds Partners reported that it is processing an average of 2.7 applications per client.

Reports on Technical Failures

FairWinds Partners reported that some applicants encountered technical failures using the TLD Application System and were not able to complete the profile registration. TAS was un-functional for two days. To resolve the issue, ICANN announced that there will be a scheduled TAS systems maintenance during Sunday mornings from 12:00 midnight to 2:00 in the morning UTC.

On February 2, Jeff Neuman and Ken Hanson, who are both executives from Neustar, tweeted that their applications were missing on TAS. Mr. Neuman tweeted, “Check your applications in TAS. Reports of missing applications- Our application 4 .Neustar is 1 of them. TAS also lost our “unique” ID which we got upon paying initial 5k. We need ID to pay remainder, fill out app & see all apps.” ICANN explained that the system encountered a display issue, which was resolved after two hours. All data was visible and there was no missing information.

On April 12, 2002, ICANN's Chief Operating Officer, Akram Atallah issued a statement, just hours before TAS was scheduled to close as per the set application window, acknowledging that a a possible glitch in the TLD application system software caused a limited number of users to see the file names and user names of other users. He said that ICANN decided to shut down the system until April 17 to protect applicants' information. Mr. Atallah also said that ICANN is investigating how the problem happened and that necessary measures would be undertaken to resolve the situation.

Following Atallah's statement, Kevin Murphy of DomainIncite reported that an applicant claimed that he noticed that a file from another applicant was attached to his application on April 6 and immediately reported the problem to ICANN. The applicant said, "I could infer the applicant/string… based on the name of the file." However the actual contents of the file were not visible. The TAS problem ignited different speculations and questions within the internet community, particularly the how long will TAS suffer from vulnerability, who among the applicants saw others applications and if some applicants took advantage of the situation and filed competing bids.

On April 14, 2012, ICANN issued another statement related to the TAS problem. The internet governing body identified that a report on March 19 was the only incident related to the technical glitch.

ICANN continue to delay the opening of TAS, with little explanation, and first noted that it would continue to be unavailable until April 20th.

Apart from the extension of the application window, ICANN also informed journalists that the problem was not caused by a cyber attack, no application data was lost and the TAS system is expected to open soon.

On April 23, 2012, ICANN announced that it was able to identify all applicants affected by the TAS failure and the testing to fix the system is running smoothly. In addition, it also announced the postponement of the scheduled publication of all the applied new gTLD strings until April 30. Two days after, ICANN released an update informing applicants that the TAS will re-open on April 27. ICANN continuously provided update to the internet community regarding the progress of the testing to resolve the system. On April 27, the internet governing body reported that based on its analysis there are still limited number of affected applicants and tests to improve the system are being conducted continuously. ICANN again delayed the opening of the TAS system but promised to continue to provide updates.

On April 30, 2012, ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom stated that he is hoping that the technical failure will be fixed before his term expired and he passes the job to his successor during the ICANN 44 meeting, which was to be held in Prague on June 29, 2012. He said, "I’d like to see us obviously get the technical issues resolved, notify applicants, reopen the window and publish the strings before I pass the baton in Prague. That’s not a commitment at this point in time, it’s an indication as CEO that it’s absolutely my intention to push for a timely resolution of this issue… If we can get things done sooner, then the sooner the better."

On May 2, 2012, ICANN reported that there were 1268 registered users and around 95,000 file attachments were available when the system went offline. It estimated 455 incidents wherein a file name and user name was possibly seen by another applicant. It also identified that the file names and user names of 105 applicants were viewed by another applicant and 50 applicants possibly viewed the file names and user names of one or more applicants. ICANN assured the internet community that it was continuously working on improving the system to fix the technical problem. On May 4, ICANN informed that it received approximately $350 million dollars in application fees and the payments from 214 potential applicants registered before the March 29 cut had yet to be received. In addition, the internet governing body also reported that notifications were being sent to applicants informing them if they were affected by the software. The notification process was expected to be completed by May 8 and the schedule to re-open the TAS to be announced thereafter.

ICANN re-opened the TLD Application System on May 21. TAS was down for a total of 40 days; the length of this downtime has been criticized by ICANN's detractors and supporters alike. All applicants were able to log in, review and submit their applications until May 30, 2012.

ANA's Reaction to the TAS Technical Problem

Dan Jaffe, executive vice president of the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) reacted that the TAS technical problem demonstrated that the new gTLD expansion program is moving too quickly. He said, "It's another warning signal to go slower, and make sure you have worked out all the glitches before you roll out a new system." Furthermore, he emphasized that the technical glitch on the system showed that it is impossible for ICANN to adequately police the new domain names and any sizable increase of TLDs will result in the proliferation of cybersquatting, phishing and impostor websites.

Furthermore, ANA's president, Bob Liodice, issued a press release requesting the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to urge ICANN to hire an independent IT expert to investigate the TAS technical problem.

Reaction from Cong. Bob Goodlatte

U.S. Congressman Bob Goodlatter, chairman of the House Judiciary subcommittee, expressed his concerns regarding the TAS technical problem. He said that he is worried if ICANN won't be able to resolve the problem appropriately, many people around the world might push aside ICANN and advocate for more direct governmental control on the internet. He also suggested that ICANN "may have undertaken more than they may be able to responsibly manage."

Jeff Moss Explains TAS Technical Failure

While TAS was offline, ICANN’s Vice President and Chief Security Officer Jeff Moss described TAS technical problem in an interview with Brad White, ICANN Director of Global Media Affairs, and how it was being resolved by the internet governing body. He explained that shutting down the system is the safest action to protect the applicants.

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顶级域申请系统

顶级域申请系统（TAS)是ICANN项目采用的官方在线申请系统。申请人需要在该系统上完成注册才能提交或管理他们的申请。TAS注册是申请流程的第一步，其开放时间是2012年的1月12日至3月29日。申请人需要完成三步，包括：填写申请人资料、法律审查以及支付不退还的5000美元保证金。在保证金经过ICANN确认之前无法使用TAS系统。TAS将通过电子邮件向申请人发送更新和通知，申请人也可以跟踪他们提交的每份申请的进度。

据ICANN高级副总裁Kurt Pritz的介绍，每一个TAS账户可以最多存储50份申请。之后的结果显示，每个账户只能存储49份申请。

2012年2月13日，他报告称TAS系统中已有100位申请新通用顶级域的申请人。 2012年3月，在TAS开放注册的最后一周，共创建了266个账户。ICANN报告称系统中的注册用户为556位，预计将有1,000份以上针对新通用顶级域的申请。

新通用顶级域顾问公司FairWinds Partners 报告称，其平均正在替每位客户处理2.7份申请。

技术故障报告

FairWinds Partners 报告称部分申请人在使用顶级域申请系统过程中遇到了技术性故障，他们无法完成资料注册。TAS故障持续了2天。为了解决这一问题，ICANN宣布在UTC时间周日午夜12：00至凌晨2:00将对TAS系统进行维护。

2月2日，中立星（Neustar）的两位高管Jeff Neuman 和 Ken Hanson发布推文说他们的申请在TAS系统上消失了。Neuman先生在推文中说“检查你在TAS系统中的申请。申请丢失报告——我们申请的 .Neustar就是其中之一。我们在支付5000美元首款后获得的的‘唯一’ID也丢了。我们需要这个ID支付尾款，填写申请和查看所有申请。” ICANN解释道，系统出现了显示问题，该问题已经在两小时后得到解决。所有的数据现在都可以被看到，没有信息丢失的情况。

2002年4月12日，ICANN的首席运营官Akram Atallah在仅距离预定的TAS申请窗口关闭前数小时发出了一份申明，承认由于TAS系统软件可能出现的一个小故障导致一部分用户能够看到其他用户的文件名和用户名。他说，ICANN决定关闭该系统，直至4月17日，以此保护申请人的信息。Atallah先生还说，ICANN正在调查导致这个问题出现的原因，并且将采取必要措施来解决这一问题。

在Atallah发表申明之后，DomainIncite的Kevin Murphy 报道说，一名申请人声称他在4月6日发现另一名申请人的一个文件被附加到他的申请中，于是他立即向ICANN上报了这个问题。这位申请人说：“我可以根据文件名称推断出申请人/字符串……”然而，该文件的实际内容是不可见的。该TAS故障在互联网社区内部激起了不同的推测和质疑，尤其是TAS系统不安全性还将持续多久，申请人中有谁看到了其他申请，以及是否有申请人利用这个故障而提交了具有竞争性的报价。

在2012年4月14日，ICANN发表了另一份与TAS故障相关的申明。经互联网管理机构认定，3月19日的报告是唯一与此次技术故障有关的事件。

ICANN继续延迟开放TAS系统，几乎没有提供什么解释，并首次提到此次延迟可能持续到4月20日。

除了延迟开放申请窗口之外，ICANN还告知记者，该问题不是由网络攻击引起的，没有出现申请数据丢失的情况，而且TAS系统有望很快开放。

在2012年4月23日，ICANN宣布其能够确定所有受到TAS故障影响的申请人，而且用以修复系统的测试也正在顺利运行。此外，ICANN还宣布延迟发布所有已申请的新通用顶级域字符串，直至4月30日。 两天后，ICANN发布更新信息，告知申请人TAS系统将于4月27日重新开放。 ICANN持续向互联网社区发布更新信息，告知用以解决系统故障的测试进度。在4月27日，互联网管理机构报道说，据其分析，仍有部分申请人受到影响，而用以改进系统的测试正在持续进行。ICANN再次延迟开放TAS系统，但是承诺将持续发布更新信息。

在2012年4月30日，ICANN 首席执行官 Rod Beckstrom申明，他希望这个技术故障能够在他的任期满之前，并且在他于预定2012年6月29日在布拉格举行的 ICANN第 44届会议期间将职位移交给他的继任者之前解决。他说：’’“我希望在布拉格移交接力棒之前，看到我们能够彻底解决这个技术性问题，告知申请人，重新开放窗口并且发布字符串。这不是在此刻的承诺，这绝对是代表着我作为首席执行官希望促使这个问题得以及时解决的意愿……如果我们能够更快地解决问题，那么则越快越好。”’’

在2012年5月2日，ICANN报道称，已注册用户已有1268位，系统离线时大约有95,000份文件附件可访问。其预计发生了455次文件名和用户名可能被另一名申请人看到的事件。它还确定有105名申请人的文件名和用户名被另一名申请人查看过，有50名申请人可能查看了一名或多名申请人的文件名和用户名。ICANN向互联网社区保证，其依旧在努力改进系统从而修复这个技术问题。在5月4日，ICANN发布消息称其收到的申请费大约为3.5亿美元，但是在3月29日这个截止日期之前成功注册的214名潜在申请人的款项还没有收到。此外，互联网管理机构还报告称正在发送通知给各个申请人，告知他们是否受到软件的影响。通知过程预计在5月8日完成，而重新开放TAS系统的时间表则将在此后宣布。

ICANN在5月21日重新开放了顶级域申请系统。TAS系统整整停用了40天；这一故障的时长受到了ICANN的批评者以及支持者的批评。截止2012年5月30日，所有的申请人都能够登陆、查看和提交他们的申请。

美国广告主协会对TAS技术故障做出的反应

美国广告主协会(ANA)执行副总裁Dan Jaffe称，TAS的技术故障说明新通用顶级域扩张项目的进度太快。他说：“这是另一个警告放缓进度的信号，而且要确保在推出一个新系统之前解决所有的小故障。”而且，他强调说，系统的技术小故障表明ICANN不可能充分地监督新域名，而顶级域的任何相当规模的增加都将会导致域名抢注、钓鱼网站 和诈骗网站的激增。

此外，ANA总裁Bob Liodice还发表了一篇新闻稿，要求美国商务部（DOC）和国家电信和信息管理局(NTIA)督促ICANN聘请一名独立的IT专家对TAS的技术故障进行调查。

众议员Bob Goodlatte的反应

美国众议员Bob Goodlatter是众议院司法部下属委员会的主席，他对TAS的技术故障表示担忧。他说，他担心如果ICANN无法恰当解决这个问题，世界上的许多人有可能会摈弃ICANN而赞成政府更多地直接管控互联网。他还建议道，ICANN“的职责可能已经超出他们的能力范围了。”’

Jeff Moss对TAS技术故障的说明

在TAS下线期间，ICANN的副总裁和首席安全官Jeff Moss在一次访谈中向ICANN全球媒体事务主管Brad White描述了TAS的技术故障，以及互联网管理机构对这个问题正在采取的解决办法。他解释道，关闭系统是保护申请人的最安全的举措。

Chinese translation of this page provided thanks to TLD Registry Ltd.

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