OPM wants to crack down on federal job site spoofs with USAJobs data change
The Office of Personnel Management is looking to prevent data on the federal government’s public job board, USAJobs, from making its way onto misleading websites.
Last week, OPM updated terms of service for users of its USAJobs application programming interface (API) to include prohibitions on several actions related to the sale or redistribution of data from the website “to third parties as a standalone product or feed.”
“Data provided to you through the API is for the explicit use of the requesting company or individual identified on the USAJOBS Program Office API Registration Form. No other use of the data provided is permitted without prior approval, in writing, from OPM USAJOBS,” said an emailed notice sent to API users, including FedScoop.
While the reason for that change wasn’t initially clear, an OPM spokesperson told FedScoop via email Friday that the policy change is aimed at preventing “unauthorized services that appear to be USAJOBS or allow users to apply for federal jobs outside USAJOBS.”
“These misleading sites have caused real confusion and harm to job seekers. The update clarifies what is allowed while stopping activity that undermines the federal hiring process,” the statement said.
The terms of service change initially caused concerns among API users who feared the broadly worded language would restrict uses such as research, but OPM responses to FedScoop questions on the scope of the new policy have eased at least some of that worry.
For example, an OPM spokesperson told FedScoop the policy won’t restrict researchers or media from republishing, studying or visualizing the data. The spokesperson also said it won’t prevent USAJobs postings from appearing on other hiring websites.
“Reposting, analyzing, filtering, visualizing, and providing public access to USAJOBS job‑announcement data remain fully permitted, as long as data values are not altered, USAJOBS is credited, and users are directed to USAJOBS to apply,” the statement said.
The policy only restricts the creation of an alternative platform for submitting applications and the redistribution of raw data feeds. Informational reuse is not prohibited by the policy, per OPM.
That’s good news for researchers like Abigail Haddad, who uses data from the API to fuel an informational website she created that allows users to filter and visualize USAJobs postings over time. Haddad was among those who initially expressed concern over the policy but was pleased with OPM’s response to FedScoop’s inquiry.
But still, there are some lingering questions about the restriction.
Christopher Marcum, a former senior statistician and senior scientist in the White House Office of Management and Budget, told FedScoop it’s “really admirable that they want to clamp down on potentially confusing third-party platforms” but cautioned that the policy may go beyond federal data statute.
Under a statute known as the Open Government Data Act, commercial use is permitted for data in the public domain, Marcum said. And the data on OPM’s website is in the public domain.
In response to FedScoop’s questions about the Open Government Data Act, OPM said the terms of service don’t “restrict access to or reuse of public data.”
“The restrictions apply only to redistribution of raw data in bulk to third parties or creation of competing job application destinations—activities that fall outside normal public data reuse and relate to safeguarding the integrity of federal job application workflows,” the OPM statement said.
But Marcum also noted that while OPM can restrict data obtained through its API, that plan doesn’t address website scraping. While an API is a more formal handoff of data between the website and data seekers, scraping is a process that uses automation to comb through a website and extract data without the formalities of an API.
“How is OPM going to prove that they didn’t just scrape the data?” Marcum asked.
When asked whether the new policy could increase scraping, OPM said it doesn’t anticipate that will be the case.
“The API remains the fastest, most efficient, and most reliable access point for public federal job‑announcement data. The updated Terms of Service supports a wide range of legitimate uses, making scraping unnecessary,” OPM said. “Still, USAJOBS monitors usage patterns and system impacts and will adjust as needed.”
