April 17, 2008
Company Defends Selling Blog Space at '.edu' Domain
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
Posted on Thursday April 17, 2008 | Permalink |Comments
Commenting is closed for this article.
Previous: Another Batch of Funny Student E-Mail Messages to Professors
Next: Harvard Survey Shows Undergraduates -- but Not Graduate Students -- Like Video Lectures
Come on, Educause. How much did Pickering give to you? This smells. Smells bad. Smells real bad.
— Elaine Apr 18, 02:42 PM #
If Pickering indeed had the “.edu” domain prior to Educause assuming management, as the story implies (but doesn’t confirm), you can’t really hold Educause responsible. Before 2001, “.edu” domains were easy to come by … perhaps this points to the need for a review process, though.
— Troy Apr 18, 03:40 PM #
I used to work for EDUCAUSE, and I can tell you there is no way they’re happy about this either. But I don’t think people understand how regulated the domains are now – they can’t institute a policy change that would prevent these situations without a long, drawn out battle with the Department of Commerce. Indeed, the “grandfather” rules were set by the DOC. EDUCAUSE’s hands are well and truly tied on this one, I assure you.
— JT Apr 20, 07:57 PM #
Your story contains a potentially significant misstatement. Although .edu addresses are theoretically limited to accredited schools, hundreds of unaccredited schools and degree mills obtained them before this policy went into effect. For this reason, a .edu extension is considered meaningless by education credential evaluators.
— Alan Contreras Apr 21, 01:40 PM #
What’s the big deal? Investors buy accredited institutions to sell off every thing except the accreditation.
— Dr. Bill Apr 21, 11:36 PM #