Comments on: Breadth of FTC blogger regs

By: How the FTC Process Works | Snowflakes in Hell

How the FTC Process Works | Snowflakes in Hell — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:51:54 +0000

[…] has a good summary of exactly how the new FTC regulations are going to effect bloggers, but in his comments, we get an idea of what an FTC action looks like. I have done a bit of research, which seems to confirm […]

By: Book Blogging and the FTC « So Many Books

Book Blogging and the FTC « So Many Books — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 21:26:30 +0000

[…] that’s not bad enough, it also sounds like (according to Overlawyered) if you have ever received a book from a publisher and six months from now you write about an […]

By: Wacky Hermit

Wacky Hermit — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:23:28 +0000

Charles: if I send you a pair of baby booties, we can be the first joint FTC/CPSIA case and maybe kill two birds with one stone… 🙂

By: Charles N. Steele

Charles N. Steele — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:43:48 +0000

I’d love to be the test case on this… but no one ever gives me any free stuff.

(hint, hint, hint)

By: Crafty Hunter

Crafty Hunter — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:16:39 +0000

Who will volunteer to be the sacrificial goat who gets dragged through the courts in a very expensive and exhausting legal battle over the First Amendment?

By: Amy Alkon

Amy Alkon — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:11:44 +0000

Walter, thank you so much for keeping on this and on the CPSIA. These things are so dangerous and so rife with possibilities for abuse. I now find myself unsure of whether I can mention books on my blog, vis a vis the rule — even books I’ve bought — if, say, they’re published by Random House, if Random House has sent me other books for free that I have not mentioned. Hellooo, chill on free speech!

Maybe they won’t come after me — probably they won’t — but laws and rules that exist can be used to abuse people who can’t legitimately be brought up on other charges.

What needs to be done to repeal this?

By: plutosdad

plutosdad — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:05:25 +0000

I think this may be rent seeking by traditional media. As you point out there is no provision that traditional media have to make these disclosures, even though quite a few do receive freebies, others do not, and you don’t know who is receiving what unless they volunteer that information. In those cases, it’s even worse: people are trusting their magazines and newspapers to be unbiased when in fact many are not, but the FTC isn’t concerned about readers in those cases.

But individuals playing by the same rules? they must be stopped!

It’s a case again of regulation harming entrepeneurs and the “little guy” and helping out already established businesses. Traditional media companies (even their internet sites) can still portray themselves as bastions of objectivity, and as more bloggers get punished the older media can promote themseles saying “see? we told you not to trust them!” thereby attracting more eyeballs and advertising dollars.

I have to ask myself why the FTC has this bug about this. Someone must be lobbying the FTC to regulate these individuals. The only people who benefit from this regulation are traditional media and their reviewers.

By: Maureen

Maureen — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:46:25 +0000

Do people from the Times disclose all the cool parties they go to, with the people they write about, who are also guests? Do they demand that theater critics disclose that their girlfriend’s roommate from college is in the cast? No? Howsabout all the press releases they receive for free in the mail — do they talk about them? No?

What about if you got something free from somebody, and you don’t remember it? “There was an ink pen with their logo in my convention goodybag” is not exactly a relationship likely to create bias.

By: Steve Adams

Steve Adams — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:44:54 +0000

Sounds like time for a change – I love the title of this book – you should buy it. to http://www.amazon.com/How-Overthrow-Government-Arianna-Huffington/dp/0060988312/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255531157&sr=8-1

I hereby state that it is no business of anybody, to know if I have received any product or reimbursement from Amazon or [product manufacturer here] in return for my glowing testimonial. The FTC can bite me.

By: Peg C.

Peg C. — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:23:58 +0000

As tekel reveals above, the answer to this is all bloggers and all blog commenters must embed product endorsements into every single blog post and comment from here on out. It would be like the tattletale whitehouse.gov site requesting anything fishy and getting absolutely swamped by all of us tattling on ourselves and each other.

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