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The Real Rip-Off Report

Continued from page 4

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Published on January 31, 2007 at 5:43pm

It's an exercise bound to end in frustration for the business owner, but Ed Magedson is enjoying himself immensely.

First he explains that he can't take down any report, even if it's demonstrably false. Then he asks the guy to send him an e-mail.

And then he's off on a 10-minute monologue. Since 2000, he tells the man, more than 800 businesses have called to thank him. Several companies have been so grateful for his Web site, he says, that they've sent him money at Christmas.

"Let me just say, we're all going to be blogged," he is saying. "Right or wrong, good or bad, we're all going to be blogged today. Um, if you're not, your children definitely will be. And if they even mention something on some blog somewhere, your last name will come up when you're doing a Google search . . .

"If you drive too fast going down the street in your neighborhood, some neighbor's going to blog you and say, 'That dirty SOB, he drives too fast going down the street, and he should learn how to drive.' . . . It's just the way our system is today. Everything's changed."

At the end of the call, Magedson notes, optimistically, that "the truth will set you free." But he makes no offer to investigate the truth of the report, or take it down if it's phony.


The companies that sued Magedson for libel, despite the Communications Decency Act, initially seemed surprised to learn they didn't have much of a case.

But the word is getting out, and lawyers who've challenged the Rip-Off Report lately have made stronger legal claims. They allege that Magedson isn't just passively posting the information. He writes reports, or uses surrogates to do it, they say.

They claim he also writes headlines, and that it's the headlines that are libelous.

Magedson denies those claims emphatically. But he can't deny the site reflects his unique obsessions — and that he tends to play up certain reports based on his personal preferences.

Even today, the City of Mesa is listed as one of the report's "Top Rip-Offs," with a link to Magedson's tale of swap-meet woe.

And then there's the Better Business Bureau. For years, the organization has been a Magedson target. In his self-published book, Do-It-Yourself Guide: How to Get Rip-Off Revenge, he spends an entire page railing against the Bureau's system of sorting out complaints before announcing them to the public.

"In our opinion, the Better Business Bureau (and their inaccurate files) is a bust, because they solicit membership in exchange for favorable status," he writes.

The site goes much further. It calls the bureau a "racketeering enterprise."

Magedson himself chooses the "Top Rip-Offs." And, as he once admitted under oath, he doesn't exactly have a scientific selection system.

The questioning came during a lawsuit from a guy named Steve Miller. Miller, who owns a Fort Lauderdale credit-counseling company, has become Magedson's sworn enemy after the two men battled over reports about Miller's company.

Miller is the only person, to date, who's been able to get Magedson to give a deposition in a court case. By hiding his whereabouts, Magedson has been able to personally evade service.

(Even Magedson's corporate agent is pretty tricky to find. Ever heard of Reeves Mountain, Arizona? According to Magedson, it's somewhere northeast of Phoenix, and close to just about nothing. Mapquest doesn't have a listing. Neither does Google Maps. And if you haven't heard of it, imagine some lawyer from Wisconsin trying to find the guy, much less serve him with papers.)

The deposition in Miller's case was supposed to be limited strictly to issues of jurisdiction: Could Miller sue the Rip-Off Report in Florida when the company is based in Arizona?

But things got extraordinarily testy. For five hours, Magedson and Miller's attorney, Christopher Whitelock, sparred over just about everything they could possibly spar over. Even Magedson's own attorney, Speth, seemed exhausted by the contentiousness of the debate. "Ed, please, let me handle this," she says at one point, according to the transcript, while Magedson and Whitelock argue over her.

Near the end of the long day of questioning, though, Magedson answered some questions about why he'd chosen Miller's company as a "Top Rip-Off." And he admitted it wasn't because there were numerous complaints about the company.

It was because Steve Miller had been playing hardball. Miller had called him, Magedson said, threatened him, and posted stuff online that embarrassed him.

"And I have no other way to retaliate to him," Magedson said, according to the transcripts. "You know, or to respond to him, so . . ."

Miller's attorney, Whitelock, pressed him: "You put it up there a week or so ago to retaliate against him, correct?"

Magedson tried to backtrack. "Well, I guess that's the wrong word."

"Well, you used it, not me," Whitelock pointed out.

"Yeah, I take it back," Magedson said. "It was the wrong word."


Even with that admission, Magedson ought to be covered by the Communications Decency Act. He's allowed to edit. He's allowed to move content around.

But Goldman, the professor in California, notes that Magedson recently lost two motions to dismiss libel claims based on the merits of the law. In each case, the business that is suing the Rip-Off Report has been given the judge's permission to continue.

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