Yes, It's a transaction between two private individuals and not a public (government) entity.
It doesn't have to be in order for the government to get involved. But the fact is the government didn't get involved the individual that was impacted by the review involved them. After requesting the information from them and being refused, they sought the only other avenue that would grant them fairness. If you are going to make a claim that can negatively impact a company you shouldn't be able to hide behind a wall and throw stones.
I'm not saying Angie's list is great, I'm saying they try to build up their brand by saying they verify reviews and those leaving them. If Angie's list is a scam or not is another story.
If they are allowing false reviews in order to pull companies in to pay to refute those reviews it is directly related. How can a company prove that if they are allowed to remain anonymous.
Also the discussion shouldn't be about review sites and what's right or wrong but more about should government being saying what we are allowed to say about companies or not.
I don't remember seeing any where in this thread that suggested the government should restrict what you say. By requiring them to be public concerning the ID, is not impairing anyone from reviewing a company.
I'm well aware laws against liable but the last thing I want is government mandating that google must verify my business dealings before someone can post feedback about my service on the web, be it good or bad.
Unfortunately it is a print media. A newspaper could be considered a transaction between two parties, but they also aren't allowed to just print anything about anybody or any business. A review site has a responsibility to ensure that false claims are not made. What ever that looks like is up for debate.
I wish people would fight the natural tendency to turn to government to solve their problems and would instead turn to better private solutions. You think reive sites suck? Go make a better solution that is both easy and good. I believe google has the best system at the moment, but people complain when reviews get deleted.