Changes

Following the departure of Peter Dengate Thrush at ICANN Singapore, [[Steve Crocker]] was unanimously appointed to act as Chairman of the Board. His current term is still set to expire at [[ICANN Senegal]]. [[Bruce Tonkin]] was elected vice-chair.<ref>[http://www.domainnews.com/en/steve-crocker-elected-icann-chair.html DomainNews.com]</ref>

Following the departure of Peter Dengate Thrush at ICANN Singapore, [[Steve Crocker]] was unanimously appointed to act as Chairman of the Board. His current term is still set to expire at [[ICANN Senegal]]. [[Bruce Tonkin]] was elected vice-chair.<ref>[http://www.domainnews.com/en/steve-crocker-elected-icann-chair.html DomainNews.com]</ref>

=== Foundation OF NPOC ===

=== Foundation of NPOC ===

On June 24, 2011 [[NPOC]] was approved by the [[ICANN Board]]. The purpose of the NPOC is to represent, specifically, the operational concerns related to service delivery of not-for-profit and non-governmental organizations who are domain registrants in the DNS.<ref>[http://www.npoc.org/home.html npoc.org]</ref> Efforts to form NPOC were started in january 2010 and [[Debra Hughes]] did a lot of work in presenting the idea to the community.<ref>[http://www.icannregistrars.org/documents/Cartagena2010-NPOC.pdf icannregistrars.org]</ref>

On June 24, 2011 [[NPOC]] was approved by the [[ICANN Board]]. The purpose of the NPOC is to represent, specifically, the operational concerns related to service delivery of not-for-profit and non-governmental organizations who are domain registrants in the DNS.<ref>[http://www.npoc.org/home.html npoc.org]</ref> Efforts to form NPOC were started in january 2010 and [[Debra Hughes]] did a lot of work in presenting the idea to the community.<ref>[http://www.icannregistrars.org/documents/Cartagena2010-NPOC.pdf icannregistrars.org]</ref>

 

=== Approval of New gTLD Program ===

=== Approval of New gTLD Program ===

At ICANN 41, the ICANN Board approved a plan to increase the number gTLDs. According to this change, the gTLDs can be in any language and can be any word.The decision to proceed with the gTLD program follows many years of  discussion, debate and deliberation with the Internet community, business groups and government. The applications for the New gTLDs will be accepted between January and April of 2012.<ref>[http://www.opensrs.com/blog/2011/06/icann-approves-new-gtlds-at-41st-international-meeting-in-singapore/ opensrs.com]</ref>

At ICANN 41, the ICANN Board approved a plan to increase the number gTLDs. According to this change, the gTLDs can be in any language and can be any word.The decision to proceed with the gTLD program follows many years of  discussion, debate and deliberation with the Internet community, business groups and government. The applications for the New gTLDs will be accepted between January and April of 2012.<ref>[http://www.opensrs.com/blog/2011/06/icann-approves-new-gtlds-at-41st-international-meeting-in-singapore/ opensrs.com]</ref>