As part of the ALAC/At-Large Improvements Project, the Office of the General Counsel – in coordination with the ALAC, At-Large Improvements Work Team A, and the At-Large Staff – drafted proposed Bylaw revisions to reflect the ALAC’s continuing purpose within ICANN. These revisions were prepared in response to the Final Report of the ALAC Review Working Group on ALAC Improvements [PDF, 270 KB] (Final Report; 9 June 2009).  The Final Report recommended that the ICANN Bylaws be modified to reflect ALAC’s role (i) in providing advice on policy, (ii) in providing input into ICANN’s operations and structure, (iii) as part of ICANN’s accountability mechanisms, and (iv) as an organizing mechanism for some of ICANN’s outreach (p

Based upon the Board Resolutions at the recent Silicon Valley/San Francisco ICANN Meeting, the adopted 2011-2014 Strategic Plan [PDF, 3.37 MB] is now posted. ICANN’s Strategic Plan is a three-year rolling, annually updated strategic planning process. During the Silicon Valley/San Francisco ICANN Meeting, we received many positive comments on this proposed plan, some of which are highlighted here: The continued use of the four focus areas in a one-page format Clarification in distinguishing the areas of Influence versus Control The addition of specific strategic metrics for each of the focus areas This version of the Strategic Plan includes extensive community feedback, including a 60-day Public Comment period (27.11.10 – 25.01.11).

ICANN announced that based upon the Board Resolutions at the recent Silicon Valley/San Francisco Meeting ,they adopted the 2011-2014 Strategic Plan.This plan is now posted and it’s a three-year rolling, annually updated strategic planning process. ICANN received many positive comments on this proposed plan ,some of which they highlighted on their page :      The continued use of the four focus areas in a one-page format      Clarification in distinguishing the areas of Influence versus Control      The addition of specific strategic metrics for each of the focus areas Here you can read ICANN 2011-2014 Strategic Plan .   DKD DomainNews

A map of the proposed area for Verizon’s data center (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) – Verizon has pulled the plug on its plans to build a $4 billion data center near Buffalo, according to a report by Data Center Knowledge . Verizon announced its change of plans on Thursday, after problems with a lawsuit from a local resident and delays in acquiring the land.  The Wall Street Journal reports that the land owner’s attorney, Arthur Giacalone, says Verizon used the lawsuit as an excuse to back out of New York.  Data Center Knowledge says that Mary Ann Rizzo, the owner of land adjacent to the proposed site, “filed suit against the Niagra IDA and six other agencies because she felt a proper environmental review was not conducted.” Verizon first announced plans for its New York data center in October 2010

As part of the GNSO Improvements Process, which has as its objective to improve the structure and operations of the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO), the Policy Process Steering Committee (PPSC) has now submitted to the GNSO Council the proposed GNSO Working Group Guidelines (see gnso.icann.org/improvements/gnso-working-group-guidelines-final-10dec10-en.pdf [PDF, 626 KB]).

The meeting between the ICANN board and Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) has been set for 28 February and 1 March, reports Stephane Van Gelder on his blog.

[news release] The Icelandic ministry of Communications has published a proposed a new law concerning the country code top level domain .is. The proposed new law also covers any future top level domains that in some way reference or are related to Iceland . For almost 25 years (since hi.is, the first .is domain was registered) the rules of ISNIC have been applied to the registration of .is domains.