Employ Media, manager and wholesaler of .jobs Internet addresses, got some support and more time to resolve a dispute over its handling of those addresses.
ICANN, the Internet’s addressing authority, extended a March 28 deadline for two weeks — and possibly longer — so the parties could continue efforts to work out a solution to what the organization says is a breach of contract by Employ Media.
The International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN.org) claimed Employ Media had breached its contract by allowing the creation of job boards using a .jobs extension. It also complained that the rules for obtaining a .jobs address were so loose they “appear to exclusively serve the financial interests of Employ Media and SHRM.” (SHRM is Employ Media’s partner in the administration of .jobs. No response from SHRM to the charge by ICANN.)
Under the contract between ICANN and Employ Media, both parties are required to work together to resolve the dispute. This so-called cooperative engagement has to occur before the arbitration provisions of the contract can be invoked.
In a new development, a group representing Internet registry operators — sellers and managers of Internet addresses — is asking ICANN to take a more moderate approach in dealing with issues of possible contract breach.
The Registry Stakeholder Group issued a statement, now posted to the ICANN website, saying the organization should have first attempted to communicate with Employ Media before hitting it with a breach of contract notice. The group says the lack of prior notice, “is especially troubling in that it appears the conduct in question arises directly out of a new registry service that we believe was not only approved by the ICANN Board, but was re-affirmed by the ICANN Board upon reconsideration.”
The new service reference is to the approval Employ Media got to sell .jobs addresses with “dictionary” names, especially those incorporating occupational, geographic, and geo-occupational names such as NYnursing.jobs.
The stakeholder group asks ICANN to develop a procedure for announcing its intention to issue a notice of breach before taking the action, except in emergency situations.
An archive of .jobs related posts is available here.