While the last straw for Bloch was a recent marketing campaign by competitor Internet Registrations Australia, he also shot criticisms at the bodies charged with regulating the industry.
Internet Registrations Australia stands accused of attempting to win over customers by offering them a participation in a domain name directory, on the proviso that the company be granted permission to "manage" the domain name.
According to Bloch, this management clause is presented in the fine print of the agreement, and will result in domain name holders unwittingly signing their domain name renewals to Internet Registrations Australia.
"Domain name owners in Australia are constantly sent a barrage of applications for renewals, and requests for payment," Bloch said. "All it does is confuses customers--the people sending these things out often have no idea how long the domain name is registered or when the renewal is due, they essentially try to trick them to sign up with another company."
Bloch did not limit his attack to those carrying out such practices--he also targeted Melbourne IT, the auDA and the ACCC for their failure to place appropriate restrictions on an industry rife with what he describes as unethical marketing practices.
"There have been various attempts to limit these practices, but when it comes down to it, there is no will on behalf of Melbourne IT to address the practice, the auDA has been slow moving and inefficient, and the ACCC has been nothing short of pathetic when it comes to stamping out unethical marketing practices which are making it almost impossible to operate as a domain name reseller," Bloch said.
In a separate but related incident, domain name reseller Internet Name Group (ING) has pursued legal action against auDA Name Policy Advisory Panel member, Joshua Rowe for allegedly publishing copyright-protected marketing documents on various chat sites.
While the case has yet to be argued in court, Rowe published the documents, in support of his claim ING was using unethical marketing practices similar to those that have so angered Bloch.
"ING are now trying to scare com .au domain name holders into buying the same name in the .com space to prevent cyber squatting," Rowe wrote in preface to a series of addresses which linked through to scans of ING marketing material.
Rising to defend such practices, ING general manager, Mark Spektor, said his company was operating within legal boundaries, and that it was legitimately contacting domain name holders, using publicly available information.
"There are a lot of service providers that are upset with us but they just have a sour taste in their mouth because we are successful at what we are doing," Spektor said. "As far as we are concerned, we are creating competition in the market place."
In reference to the company's marketing campaigns--which include sending invoices directly to the accounts departments of domain name holding companies--Spektor was adamant such practices were within legal bounds.
"What we are doing is not illegal, we are just more careful when it comes to researching our marketing databases," Spektor asserted. "Rowe has been conducting a smear campaign against us for sometime and has refused to desist, despite repeated warnings. We have been left with no alternative but to take legal action."
Bloch, on the other hand believes it is up to the ACCC to stamp out such practices.
"What these companies is doing, while legal, is certainly unethical. They are soliciting customers by spreading unfounded concern and charging above the market rate for their services," Bloch said. "They are gaining a wider customer base by misleading the public, and can only be stopped through a concerted information campaign run by legitimate domain name registering companies."
Bloch told ZDNet Australia he would not rule out directing customer complaints against such practices to staff at the ACCC, in an attempt to force them to react.
At this stage Melbourne IT have declined to comment on Joshua Rowe's stand against ING.
ZDNet Australia also contacted Internet Registrations Australia, the auDA, the ACCC and Joshua Rowe, and any further responses will be published as they come to hand.
I agree. Internet Registrations Australia are very persistant, and are verging on being unscrupulous