Are the honest-blogging rules sinister or just stupid?
If you are fed up with bloggers writing nice things about products in return for freebies, we've got good news: America has banned such practices. Under new guidelines issued by the Federal Trade Commission, bloggers, Facebook posters and Twitter tweeters must disclose any money or freeebies they get in return for writing reviews. If they don't, they could be fined be fined up to $11,000.
The legislation has a similar intent to the EU's unfair commercial practices directive which makes it an offece for EU firms to pretend to be mere mortals when pushing products online - and like the EU directive, it's unlikely to make much difference to the way unethical firms behave. However, it has caused upset in the US, with many bloggers worriec that the FTC is up to something sinister. SlateDOTcom'S JackShafer reports that "The FTC would also take interest in blogs that keep Amazon Affiliates links on their pages or display an advertisement for the book under review". Shafer says that "allowing these guidelines to take effect would be like giving the government a no-knock warrant to investigate hundreds of thousand of blogs and hundreds of millions of Facebook, MySpace and Twitter users for sauing nice things about goods and services".
There are practical considerations too. How do you mention a vested interest in a 140-character Tweet? Is a free conference pass a bribe in the FTC's eyes? Given that 'proper' journalist aren't covered but bloggers are, how does that affect online writters for age-old print publications? As law professor Ann Althouse (althouseDOTblogspotDOTcom) puts it: "They've deliberately made a grotesquely overbroad rule, enough to sweep so many of us into technical violations, but we're supposed to feel soothed by the knowledge that government agents will decide who among us gets fined, No, no, no." I liked to share the above information with you friends as i find it usefull for the bloggers as when i read in the DOTnet magazine in the 'feed' category.
The legislation has a similar intent to the EU's unfair commercial practices directive which makes it an offece for EU firms to pretend to be mere mortals when pushing products online - and like the EU directive, it's unlikely to make much difference to the way unethical firms behave. However, it has caused upset in the US, with many bloggers worriec that the FTC is up to something sinister. SlateDOTcom'S JackShafer reports that "The FTC would also take interest in blogs that keep Amazon Affiliates links on their pages or display an advertisement for the book under review". Shafer says that "allowing these guidelines to take effect would be like giving the government a no-knock warrant to investigate hundreds of thousand of blogs and hundreds of millions of Facebook, MySpace and Twitter users for sauing nice things about goods and services".
There are practical considerations too. How do you mention a vested interest in a 140-character Tweet? Is a free conference pass a bribe in the FTC's eyes? Given that 'proper' journalist aren't covered but bloggers are, how does that affect online writters for age-old print publications? As law professor Ann Althouse (althouseDOTblogspotDOTcom) puts it: "They've deliberately made a grotesquely overbroad rule, enough to sweep so many of us into technical violations, but we're supposed to feel soothed by the knowledge that government agents will decide who among us gets fined, No, no, no." I liked to share the above information with you friends as i find it usefull for the bloggers as when i read in the DOTnet magazine in the 'feed' category.
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