Employ Media's TLD Charter Amendment

["Matthew D. Cohen" <matthew@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

July 14, 2010

Peter Dengate Thrush, Chairman
Members of the Board of Directors
International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
VIA ELECTRONIC DELIVERY

 

Dear Chairman Dengate Thrush and Members of the Board:

I am writing to urge you to reject Employ Media's request for authority to
permit second level registration of strings that do not correspond to an
employer's name in the .jobs sponsored top level domain. Job seekers would
be directly and adversely affected by this request and therefore I request
you oppose the unilateral expansion of the .jobs charter to encompass
regional and industry-specific second-level registrations. 

Since 1993, the community of online employment service companies--job
boards, associations, staffing firms, newspapers and other publications that
operate job posting and/or resume search databases--has effectively served
working men and women and employers worldwide. These same organizations have
also significantly improved the career prospects of veterans, minorities,
disadvantaged persons and those affected by natural disasters such as
Hurricane Katrina. They have, in every respect, acted as "the Sources of
Success," the trademark of the International Association of Employment Web
Sites (http://www.employmentwebsites.org), their only industry trade
association.

This community is now threatened by the proposed expansion of the .jobs top
level domain (TLD). The charter holder is attempting to extend the
application of the TLD from its approved community--direct employers--into
the online employment services community by introducing geocentric (i.e.,
Atlanta.jobs, NewYork.jobs, Athens.jobs) and occupation specific (i..e,
nurse.jobs, salesperson.jobs, systemsanalyst.jobs) web sites. It now has a
proposal to implement this plan before the governing board of the Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers (ICANN).

This proposal violates both the spirit and the letter of the charter
holder's contract with ICANN. No less important, it will grievously harm the
online employment services community and therefore my organization by
confusing the job seekers and employers who have long been the customers of
the community. 

Sincerely, 

Matthew Cohen

 

 

Matthew D. Cohen
Managing Director  +  Cohen Strategy Group, LLC
353 No. Greeley Avenue  +  Chappaqua, NY 10514
(917) 854-9534  +  matthew@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.cohenstrategygroup.com