The Following Public Comment periods are approaching their Comment or Reply Period Close dates, April 19-29 2012. As a member of the ICANN community, your timely feedback is critical to our accountability and transparency efforts. For your convenience, we have included direct links below to comments that will soon close.

ICANN has been providing regular updates on the recent technical glitch that resulted in the TLD application system being taken offline.

As reported earlier, we believe that we have fixed the glitch. We continue to test the solution and to conduct research to determine which file names and user names were potentially viewable, as well as which applicants had the ability to see them.

ICANN's review of the technical glitch that resulted in the TLD application system being taken offline indicates that the issue stems from a problem in the way the system handled interrupted deletions of file attachments. This resulted in some applicants being able to see some other applicants' file names and user names.

As reported yesterday, we are seeking confirmation that the solution we have implemented for this issue is effective.

The TLD application system, or TAS, was taken offline on Thursday, 12 April due to a technical issue.

We believe that we have fixed the glitch, and we are testing it to make sure.

ICANN is committed to reopening the application system as soon as we can confirm that the problem has been resolved and we have had proper time for testing.

Statement by Akram Atallah, COO

As we reported yesterday, ICANN continues to study the technical issue that has prompted us to take the TLD application system offline.

Our goals remain to get a full understanding of this issue, fix the problem, notify those who have been affected, and reopen the application window as soon as possible. We are doing our best to mitigate the impact of this issue on the application process.

Statement by Akram Atallah, COO

As we have reported, ICANN has learned of a technical issue with the TLD application system software, or TAS, that allowed a limited number of users to view some other users' file names and user names in certain scenarios. We temporarily shut the system down on 12 April 2012 to protect applicant data, and to look into the technical issue and fix it.

We have learned of a possible glitch in the TLD application system software that has allowed a limited number of users to view some other users' file names and user names in certain scenarios.

Out of an abundance of caution, we took the system offline to protect applicant data. We are examining how this issue occurred and considering appropriate steps forward.

The Following Public Comment periods are approaching their Comment or Reply Period Close dates, April 12-22 2012. As a member of the ICANN community, your timely feedback is critical to our accountability and transparency efforts. For your convenience, we have included direct links below to comments that will soon close.

ICANN constantly monitors the performance of the TLD Application System (TAS). Recently, we received a report of unusual behavior with the operation of the TAS system. We then identified a technical issue with the TAS system software.

MARINA DEL REY, Calif.: Global input and ideas will be on the rise at the 44th Public Meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers thanks to ICANN's on-going Fellowship program.

Russian domain name services provider RU-CENTER and ICANN have collaborated on a common project for L-Root site installation in Russia.

ICANN recently opened the hotel booking link and conference registration link for its upcoming 44th public meeting to be held 24-29 June 2012 in Prague, Czech Republic at the Hilton Prague Hotel. Additional information about the meeting, as well as ICANN group hotel rates is now available on the Prague Meeting Website.

ICANN is actively seeking locations for its three public meetings to be held 23-28 March 2014 in Europe, 22-27 June 2014 in North America, and 12-17 October 2014 in Asia Pacific. Those in the geographic regions are invited to submit recommendations for specific locations to hold the events. These recommended venues, along with others in the region that meet the selection criteria, will be considered.

Marina del Rey, California… ICANN has set April 30th as its target date to release the list of applications for new generic top-level domains, specifying who has applied for which domain names.

ICANN has developed a system for the batching of applications for new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) if required. According to the Applicant Guidebook if the number of applications significantly exceeds 500, applications will be processed in batches.

In order to provide additional time for candidates to apply, ICANN's 2012 Nominating Committee (NomCom) has extended the deadline for Statements of Interest until 16 April 2012 at 23:59 UTC.

The 2012 NomCom is actively seeking qualified candidates for the following key positions within ICANN:

The window has closed for anyone planning to apply for a new gTLD to register and submit a TLD application request. As of 25 March there were 839 registered users in the TLD Application System. This number will be updated.

1. Executive Summary