FTC Going After Bloggers = Epic Fail

[minstrel]

FTC Going After Bloggers = Epic Fail
Aaron Wall, SEOBook.com
June 22, 2009

The AP reported that the FTC is planning on going after bloggers that make fake endorsements or get paid in products for coverage without disclosing it:

"New guidelines, expected to be approved late this summer with possible modifications, would clarify that the agency can go after bloggers--as well as the companies that compensate them--for any false claims or failure to disclose conflicts of interest," the article explained.

The rules could be quite strict, even extending to the practice of affiliate links--for example, a music blogger who links to a song on Amazon MP3 or iTunes that earns an affiliate commission in the process.

What is absurd (to me at least) is how inefficient this process is. What needs to happen is better enforcement on ad networks, search engines, and merchants. Follow the money downstream rather than hunting for nickels upstream.

The people who are making fake sites are doing so because they are paid to. And amoral ad networks that syndicate ads based on *maximizing yield efficiency* (like Google AdWords) are designed to syndicate fraud because it is easy for advertisers to pay a lot for ads when their profit margins are nearly 100% because they scam people.

read full article

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks David!

I'm just getting ready to blog about this too with some helpful info.
Will add a link here after I post it.

[Linda Buquet]

Here's the other post with great info on how to disclose your link and have them be an added sales benefit instead of a distraction.

Bloggers, Affiliates, the FTC and Disclosure