The locksmith today feels threats from all over. He often feels he can’t compete against the Internet and its monstrous businesses, selling thousands of products with fast delivery and tough-to-beat prices. And he is aware of fake locksmiths everywhere, especially on Internet search engines, and wonders how he can get through to new customers who are just trying to find someone reputable.
Locksmith Mark Baldino has been fighting this battle for a long time. In a Washington Post article two years ago (“Waging war on shady locksmiths,” John Kelly, March 14, 2012, http://tinyurl.com/wagingwar), he lambasted search engines, which he called “aiders and abetters” to shady locksmiths. He asked a simple question to John Kelly, “As a provider of information, wouldn’t you want your information to be true and accurate?”
What did Mark and his company, Baldino’s Lock and Key Service, do to combat the scourge of false locksmiths on the Internet? He sued the search engines themselves, claiming the online directories negligently direct business away from it and to “criminally fraudulent locksmithing” enterprises. He also got through to someone at Google whom he said agreed to delete locksmiths if Mark regularly e-mailed him an Excel spreadsheet of the bogus listings.
In a statement in 2012, a Google spokesman said: “We’re aware of the gaming practices happening in the locksmith industry — practices which long predate Google and have affected the Yellow Pages for decades. We’ve implemented several measures to combat this issue, including improving our spam detection algorithms and working with the locksmith industry to find solutions.”
This small victory didn’t stop Baldino from pursuing justice against the Goliaths of Internet marketing, including Google. His company, Baldino’s Lock and Key, a family owned and operated locksmith serving the Northern Virginia, Maryland and DC area since 1961, filed a lawsuit against Google and multiple online directories to remove fraudulent business listings from their search results. Yellowbook, Google, Ziplocal, Dex Media, and over 160 additional online directories have been facing charges, because of Baldino, for violating U.S. and state laws, specifically, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act or RICO, The Lanham Act: Section 230 Federal Communications Decency Act, and Virginia H.B. 280.
Baldino claims he has seen at least an $8.4 million decrease in revenue since search engines emerged as the go-to for consumer research. “The presence of false online search results is devastating not only to my business, but consumers and companies nationwide.”
During these years of battle, Baldino has had some wins in his fight against scammers and search engines. For instance, Virginia introduced legislation last year to amend existing portions of their code which would make the types of advertisements scammers typically employ unlawful. And the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services, thanks to Mark's efforts, have sent what essentially amounts to a "Cease and Desist" to Ziplocal for carrying listings of unlicensed locksmiths.
However, the lonely locksmith fight against the giants of Ecommerce has been very costly and has had major setbacks. One of these setbacks happened recently at the end of January, when a federal judge ruled that Baldino cannot pursue claims against Google, YellowBook and Ziplocal. Judge Hilton dismissed Baldino’s lawsuit, finding that the Communications Decency Act effectively renders search engines immune to such litigation.
The judge wrote, "The plain language of the statute creates a federal immunity to any cause of action that would make an interactive computer service liable for content originating with a third-party information content provider. Absent an exception, Defendants are immune under Section 230 as the publishing website, despite their knowledge of the false information.”
He continued, "The thrust of Baldino's evidence against Defendants is its showing of locksmith results that greatly exceed the lists of named, licensed locksmiths in Virginia and Maryland. Rather than having relief on the false listings, Baldino's purports to know precisely who is, and who is not, a licensed locksmith. Detrimental reliance by Baldino's, as opposed to an unaware consumer, is a logical impossibility.” Therefore, he wrote, “Plaintiff does not have standing to adequately plead the elements required under the RICO statutes.”
Few locksmiths have the wherewithal to fight the injustice of false advertising from fake locksmiths in a court of law. But Baldino’s Lock and Key Service is one of the larger and more successful locksmith businesses in the country and has never let legal hassles or the gargantuan size of companies like Google stop him. He has been fighting this lonely battle for many years and it has been very costly, in time and heartache and financial pain as well. The legal bills have mounted for years and there’s not much ALOA or other locksmiths have been able to do to help. Until now.
The Internet is both a source of problems for the locksmith dealer but also a source of optimism. Crowd-funding is one of the new paradigms of the Internet and to help Mark with expenses, a crowd-funding page was started by Tyler J. Thomas, a locksmith in Atlanta, on www.GoFundMe.com to help pay Mark’s legal expenses.
Tyler states, “I’ve started a GoFundMe campaign to support Mark Baldino’s legal efforts against Google and multiple online directories for violating the RICO and Lanham Acts by allowing the inclusion of “scammer” companies and/or listings on their websites. Mark has taken this fight upon himself and his legal bills have exceeded $200,000.”
Tyler’s mission is simple: “help Mark Baldino by providing donations for legal expenses related to his lawsuits.”
In the GoFundMe page are examples of some of the large bills that Baldino’s has incurred as part of his mission to go after the search engines, including one for $32,677. The crowd-funding page states, “The outcome of these lawsuits affects every locksmith company in the United States. A win for Mark is a win for every locksmith; it will establish a legal precedent. Every donation, no matter how big or small, helps.”
Unfortunately, mounting a fight against giant companies with search engines is a very costly and uphill battle. But if you are frustrated by facing scammers who masquerade as professional locksmiths or overwhelmed by difficult challenges from massive Internet competitors, take a few minutes of your time and give some dollars to this cause.
Go to http://www.gofundme.com/kfpp78. This is what Tyler has asked for from all locksmiths, locksmith distributors, and everyone else connected to our small, close-knit industry: “Please take a moment to visit the page, read the news articles and legal documents, and donate. Most importantly, share the link with your co-workers, associates, and other industry contacts.”
I have written about locksmith scammers for over five years and today, many legitimate locksmiths have simply accepted scammers on the Internet as a business reality and moved on, trying to survive in a difficult environment. It’s very hard for small businesses such as locksmiths and locksmith distributors to fight the fast-forward nature of technology but that doesn’t mean we can’t.
Mark Baldino’s battle against modern-day Goliaths probably won’t dramatically change the future of locksmiths or scammers or Internet competition, but it is one struggle that is worth battling. Ask yourself: is it worth the effort to confront injustice, especially when it impacts your own livelihood?
Arnie Goldman is president of IDN-Hardware Sales, Inc. and a member of SHDA’s Membership and Advocacy Committee.
