Group forms to object to .jobs expansion.
A group calling itself The .JOBS Charter Compliance Coalition is asking ICANN’s board to reconsider its decision to open up the .jobs top level domain name to non-company name registrations. The coalition’s members include major employment web sites such as Monster and CareerBuilder, along with a number of associations.
In a letter (pdf) to the Committee of the Board on Reconsideration, the group argues that:
-The .jobs phased allocation program violates the .jobs charter
-The members of the coalition will be harmed by the by the expansion of the .JOBS space beyond employers without any of the customary and usual protections against abusive and infringing registrations
-Other people will also be harmed by the expansion
-The board’s decision should be stayed pending the outcome of reconsideration
-ICANN’s staff-prepared comment summary was flawed
A number of job boards have been vocal opponents of the plan. Much of the opposition suggests that the purpose and charter of .jobs (an sTLD) has been violated. But I suspect we’ll see more of this sort of backlash as new top level domains are introduced in the coming years.
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.Jobs debate “ends” Thursday.
I wrote last month about a move to open up the .jobs domain name. Currently only companies can register .jobs domains, and only with their company name (e.g. ATT.jobs). The group behind this sponsored TLD wants to open it up, with the idea of creating a ton of (million?) job boards using the domains. From Policy.jobs:
Previously, Employ Media [which runs .jobs under contract] began the process of creating a self-managed class of names in the .jobs tld. Called the shared domain beta test, many non-”companyname” .jobs domains were (and in many cases still are) registered to Employ Media. Employ Media “used” these domains in the DNS by redirecting them to a third party (the Direct Employers Association), who themselves “used” the domains by providing uniform, consistent content to all the domains in the shared beta test.
Essentially, .jobs has found a backdoor way to enter as an sTLD and create a structure that will allow it to operate as an open gTLD before other new gTLDs are launched, if its plans are approved. And, much like .travel, average joe’s probably won’t be able to get their hands on the good domain names because they will be kept under an arrangement with the registry to create job boards.
Plenty of people have voiced their opinions in a public comment period that ends tomorrow. It seems that most of the opposition is coming from job board owners, who complain both of new competition and lack of transparency. Those in favor include some members of Society for Human Resource Management, which makes policy decisions regarding .jobs under the .jobs charter. Of course, the .jobs registry and operator Employ Media stands to profit from this move.
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Related posts:
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- www.ATT.jobs? Seriously.
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.Jobs process “stunk and lacked an open, honest, and transparent process” say some in career industry.
When .jobs was originally introduced as a top level domain name, the plan was to let companies register only their company name, and only for use promoting jobs at their company; e.g. ATT.jobs and GoDaddy.jobs.
The domain has floundered since so few domains could be registered. Hardly anyone even recognizes it as a URL when they see it.
But there’s money in them hills, so the inevitable expansion beyond the approved scope is under way. EmployMedia LLC just made its official request (pdf) to ICANN to release more .jobs domains last week.
Like many domain name processes, a lot of people don’t like how this one has played out. After all, .jobs was a sponsored TLD. Here’s what CollegeRecruiter.com has to say:
Why should any job seeker, employer, job board owner, or other human resource professional care? Because the process stunk and lacked an open, honest, and transparent process. Despite SHRM’s many, many excellent conferences, publications, and other contributions to the human resource communities, it is making a terrible mistake here by seemingly washing its hands of a situation that it set in motion in 2005 when it partnered with Employ Media and petitioned ICANN to create the .jobs domain.
The approval specified that the .jobs domain names would be issued only with organization names and sold only to those organizations, so Microsoft could buy microsoft.jobs and Walmart could buy walmart.jobs and use those domains to drive job seekers to their corporate career sites, but CollegeRecruiter.com could not buy CollegeRecruiter.jobs and drive candidates to its job board as we would have jobs from other organizations on our job board. Similarly, Microsoft could not buy domains such as redmond.jobs or software.jobs. That’s all about to change and the only winner here is Employ Media.
Ted Daywalt of VetJobs is also unhappy.
The way existing job boards look at the opening of .jobs is either more competition or a shakedown to buy the equivalent .jobs domain.
Sounds a lot like the new TLD debate.
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Related posts:
- .Travel, .Jobs domain names closer to fruition
- www.ATT.jobs? Seriously.
- WalMart Goes After PeopleofWalMart.com Typo