FTC Disclosure Rules for Blogs

Over on my company blog I indicated that these rules were generally common sense, as in if you make money off of something you should disclose the fact that you do.

Of course, you can’t count on the government to use common sense even in implementing common sense. Thus somehow if print news organizations get free copies for review, they don’t have to disclose it, but bloggers must. Even an affiliate link is compensation and must be disclosed.

I don’t have problem with the disclosure requirement. In fact, I try to be more forthcoming that is required. I do have a problem with the idea that we need government regulators to do this sort of thing. I think it’s a pretty clear example of how to waste taxpayer money while accomplishing less than good competition would manage.

There’s a good article and discussion at Edward Champion’s Reluctant Habits.