A free article in The Chronicle today describes a controversy over an online college selling space on its .edu domain to just about any blogger who will pay $50 per month. Critics say the practice waters down the value of .edu Internet addresses, which are supposed to be reserved for accredited educational institutions.
The online college, the Pickering Institute, and the Internet company it is working with, LinkAdage, did not return calls and e-mail messages from The Chronicle. But John Lessnau, an official for LinkAdage, posted a comment on the Conversation Marketing blog today with a defense of the practice:
“What I am helping PI.edu do is create a blog community with a strong educational slant,” he wrote. “Our TOS requires us to be very strict as to the quality of our member blogs – and yes, the TOS will be enforced,” he added, referring the the “terms of service” that says the company will turn away blogs offering porn, online gambling, or misleading information. “Rest assured, blogs that are not up to standard will be given a warning, and deleted and refunded if they do not meet our TOS.”
Some have argued that the Pickering Institute should not even have a .edu address, since it is apparently not accredited by a qualified educational organization (its founders did not respond to a request for comment for this story). But officials for Educause, which manages .edu registrations, said that the institute received its approval for a .edu address back before the current rules were strictly enforced, and such institutions were grandfathered in and are allowed to keep their addresses. —Jeffrey R. Young
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