Nasjym : it had nothing to do with that. pretty much every alliance that was strong enough to enforce a landgrab policy had access to a news database long before 72 hours became the standard.

72 hours also gives time for a target to come out of DR for even retals.

In my opinion, the retal window is 48 hours after the guy who got hit logged in and saw it. Of course, I'm just a foot soldier, and have no role in setting policy : )