Antony Van Couvering

Antony Van Couvering


Joined on July 16, 2005
Total Post Views: 616,104

About

Antony Van Couvering former CEO of Minds + Machines, has been working in the Internet since 1996, especially in the domain name area.  He played a substantial role in early Internet governance, taking a leading role in the early days of the ccTLD constituency.  He is known for thorough, candid analyses and innovative solutions.

In 1999 Antony founded NameEngine, where he worked with many of the world’s top companies including American Express, Bridgestone-Firestone, Citibank, Colgate-Palmolive, Goodyear, Intel, Kodak, and Viacom, and with IP law firms including Fross Zelnick, Ladas & Parry, and Brown Raysman. He sold NameEngine to VeriSign in December of 2001, and as part of the arrangement worked at VeriSign Digital Brand Management Services, handling their marketing and partnerships as well as developing their customer domain name management portal.

In 1997 he founded NetNames USA, the first firm to handle the domain name needs of larger companies. He built the company up to 30 employees before selling the company to NetBenefit, a publicly-traded technology company based in London.

During this time, Antony started and managed several top-level country-code domains, including .TM (Turkmenistan), .AS (American Samoa), .BT (Bhutan), and .PW (Palau)—all of these top-level domains are now run as public-private partnerships. Working with Jon Postel, he co-authored a proposal to reform the .US domain by de-emphasizing its old cumbersome geographical structure. Many of the suggestions in the proposal (though unfortunately not all) were later implemented when the .US domain was re-launched in 2002.

Antony’s deep involvement with Internet governance issues spans back to the first stirrings of reform. He was head of the Policy Advisory Body under the old gTLD-MoU structure, which later morphed (tortuously) into ICANN. Under that structure, as President of the International Association of Top-Level Domains, he chaired the meeting in Singapore that birthed the Domain Name Supporting Organization of ICANN, and was one of the governing council of the ccTLD constituency within ICANN, where he worked especially on government relations and ccTLD standards-setting.

Antony is also a speaker at meetings where Internet and intellectual property questions are aired. He has written on Internet and domain name issues for a variety of publications and in public discussion forums, and now writes mainly on his blog.

Except where otherwise noted, all postings by Antony Van Couvering on CircleID are licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Comments

2016 - Apr 09 on Usage Trumps Registrations: Why Past TLDs Failed and Why Many Will Follow in Their Path
2015 - Dec 09 on Security Firm Predicts Unprecedented Series of New gTLD Failures by 2017
2015 - Oct 24 on ICANN Compliance Lends a Hand to a Violent Criminal While Trashing a Legitimate Business
2015 - Apr 02 on Freedom of Expression Chilled by ICANN's Addition of Speech Restrictions in DNS
2015 - Mar 13 on The .DOCTOR Quarantine
2014 - Sep 08 on ICANN's Comment Period on Accountability Process Seeks Scope Limitations
2014 - Sep 05 on Top 10 Tips for Building a TLD Affiliate Network Using Social Media
2014 - Mar 21 on Finishing What We Started: A Level Playing Field for New gTLDs
2014 - Jan 03 on Think ICANN Will End Up Rolling in New gTLD Cash? Think Again!
2013 - Dec 08 on Rewiring Internet Governance: Choice and Control (Part 2)
2013 - Sep 27 on ICANN and Your Internet Abuse
2013 - Aug 07 on The Long Gestation and Afterlife of New gTLDs
2013 - Aug 01 on Avoiding an ICANN Monopoly on Policy
2013 - Jul 30 on Avoiding an ICANN Monopoly on Policy
2013 - Jun 04 on ICANN Auctions or Private Auctions?
2012 - Oct 18 on What's Next for gTLD Applicants?
2012 - Oct 14 on The Draw: ICANN and a Severe Case of Virus Infection
2012 - Jul 10 on ICANN Shows Safe Decisions Aren't Always the Right Decisions
2012 - Jul 04 on The GAC Strikes Back
2012 - Jul 04 on The GAC Strikes Back
2012 - Jul 04 on The GAC Strikes Back
2012 - May 24 on 2011 UDRP Filings Up at WIPO, Down at NAF - And Still Infinitesimal
2012 - May 04 on Donuts and TAS: What We Really Care About
2012 - May 02 on ICANN Board Meetings Should be Webcast Live
2012 - Apr 13 on ICANN Takes "Fail" To A Whole New Level
2012 - Feb 17 on Most Abusive Domain Registrations are Preventable
2012 - Feb 17 on Most Abusive Domain Registrations are Preventable
2012 - Jan 15 on What ICANN is Doing Wrong
2012 - Jan 15 on What ICANN is Doing Wrong
2012 - Jan 15 on What ICANN is Doing Wrong
2011 - Dec 19 on Breaking the Internet HOWTO: The Unintended Consequences of Governmental Actions
2011 - Dec 14 on ICANN Senate Hearing: The Battle Between Intellectual Property and Multistakeholderism
2011 - Nov 22 on Why the Lawsuit Against .XXX Maybe the Best Sales Tool Ever For New gTLD Applicants
2011 - Sep 06 on ICANN's "Unelected" Crisis
2011 - Jul 18 on Will Anyone Qualify As a Community TLD?
2011 - Jul 15 on Will Anyone Qualify As a Community TLD?
2011 - Jul 15 on Will Anyone Qualify As a Community TLD?
2011 - May 04 on Who is Wagging Who? Same Dog, New Tale.
2011 - Apr 13 on Will Blocking a TLD Fracture the Internet?
2011 - Apr 13 on Will Blocking a TLD Fracture the Internet?
2011 - Apr 08 on A Phased Array Early Warning System
2011 - Mar 13 on Concerns About ICANN's Bylaws Shouldn't Bog Down Board/GAC Discussions
2011 - Jan 14 on Confirmed: Bill Clinton to Address ICANN Meeting in SF
2011 - Jan 08 on ICANN Board - GAC Geneva Meeting: Open to Observers?
2010 - Dec 11 on Another Big Step Forward for New TLDs
2010 - Dec 01 on A Tale of Two Governance Models
2010 - Nov 09 on Red Tape Set to Snuff Out Online Identity of Wales
2010 - Nov 08 on Red Tape Set to Snuff Out Online Identity of Wales
2010 - Sep 22 on New TLD Vertical Integration, Market Forces and the Path of Least Compliance
2010 - Sep 09 on What Does the .CO Launch Mean for New gTLDs?
2010 - Aug 27 on ICANN's Tokyo Meeting Provides a Little More Clarity on the New gTLD Program
2010 - Aug 06 on New gTLDs and Their Hidden Costs: Part 1
2010 - Jul 23 on Brand Protection Domain Registrations: There Are More Than You Think
2010 - Jul 22 on ICANN's Economic Study - It Depends
2010 - Jul 06 on What the ICANN Brussels Meeting Means for New gTLDs
2010 - May 09 on The Real Issue About ICANN and .XXX
2010 - May 09 on The Real Issue About ICANN and .XXX
2010 - Apr 07 on CADNA: New gTLD Launch to Cost Businesses $746 Million
2010 - Mar 16 on "Thin Brand Line" Breaks as Canon Announces Plans for .CANON
2010 - Feb 20 on ICANN Openness and Transparency: Actions Speak Louder than Words
2010 - Feb 20 on ICANN Openness and Transparency: Actions Speak Louder than Words
2010 - Feb 19 on Measuring Typosquatting Perpetrators and Funders
2010 - Feb 17 on Measuring Typosquatting Perpetrators and Funders
2010 - Feb 17 on Measuring Typosquatting Perpetrators and Funders
2010 - Feb 05 on Tips to Protect Your Brand in the New Domain Name Marketplace
2010 - Jan 29 on Why is ICANN Traveling Without Moving and Thwarting Innovation in the Domain Space?
2009 - Nov 25 on gTLDs: Why Are Your Overarching Issues Not Relevant In IDN ccTLDs?
2009 - Oct 14 on VeriSign Supports New gTLDs with Appropriate Safeguards
2009 - Oct 08 on Post Delegation Dispute: A Once Supportable Concept Proposed by the IRT is Now Unsupportable
2009 - Oct 05 on ICANN Releases New gTLD Applicant Guidebook ...Would Apple Need Permission from China for .MAC?
2009 - Sep 30 on 61 Businesses Tell ICANN New TLDs Are Needed to Help Consumers, Encourage Innovation, Avoid Chaos
2009 - Sep 30 on 61 Businesses Tell ICANN New TLDs Are Needed to Help Consumers, Encourage Innovation, Avoid Chaos
2009 - Sep 18 on Trademark Owners Beware: Cybersquatting Spreads to Twitter
2009 - Aug 14 on Realizing There's More to Life Than .COM, Europe and Asia Already Do
2009 - Aug 12 on Realizing There's More to Life Than .COM, Europe and Asia Already Do
2009 - Jul 25 on A Framework for Selecting New TLDs
2009 - Feb 02 on Analysis of Domain Names Registered Across Multiple Existing TLDs and Implications for New gTLDs
2009 - Jan 24 on That Letter to ICANN from the NTIA
2008 - Dec 16 on The ICANN New Generic TLD Process (Las Vegas Edition)
2008 - Sep 28 on Japan Domain Market Demystified
2007 - Jun 27 on Squeegee Domains
2007 - Jun 26 on Squeegee Domains
2006 - Jul 04 on Conflict of Opinion
2006 - Apr 14 on Fighting Over the Scraps from ICANN's Table
2006 - Feb 03 on IDNs and IE7 and the Coming Storm
2006 - Feb 03 on IDNs and IE7 and the Coming Storm

Topic Interests

New TLDsDomain NamesPolicy & RegulationInternet GovernanceICANNDNSWhoisPrivacyLawCybersecurityUDRPDomain ManagementCybercrimeMultilinguismDNS SecurityRegional RegistriesRegistry ServicesCensorshipWebBrand Protection IPv4 MarketsSpamCyberattackMalware

Recent Blogs

I Got Fired

A New Way to Value Registry Business

Antony Van Couvering Interviews Alexa Raad, CEO of Architelos (Video)

Antony Van Couvering Interviews Elliot Noss, CEO of Tucows (Video)

Antony Van Couvering Interviews Adrian Kinderis, CEO of Bombora Technologies (Video)

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