Blogs For Victory

The first step in an attempt to suppress us, boys and girls:

The Federal Trade Commission will try to regulate blogging for the first time, requiring writers on the Web to clearly disclose any freebies or payments they get from companies for reviewing their products.

The FTC said Monday its commissioners voted 4-0 to approve the final Web guidelines, which had been expected. Violating the rules, which take effect Dec. 1, could bring fines up to $11,000 per violation. Bloggers or advertisers also could face injunctions and be ordered to reimburse consumers for financial losses stemming from inappropriate product reviews.

The commission stopped short of specifying how bloggers must disclose conflicts of interest. Rich Cleland, assistant director of the FTC’s advertising practices division, said the disclosure must be “clear and conspicuous,” no matter what form it will take.

Its always to protect us, right? Next they’ll be doing it “for the children”. The government just can’t stand this free marketplace of ideas. And so: we need a blogging amendment to the Constitution…some words to the effect of “hands off” to any government busy bodies who want to hamper us with regulations. You catch a blogger engaging in fraud, and I’ll be the first to demand his punishment…but if you haven’t got evidence, then go pound sand.

UPDATE: DanaLoesch nails it:

The blogosphere polices itself rather well and those who lack transparency in marketing lose their audiences and the community isn’t above cannibalizing one of their own for the sake of keeping the practice pure. We don’t need bureaucrats dictating our own content policies. Granted, there are some who aren’t as transparent as others, but they’re usually not skilled enough to disguise it. I myself receive free items regularly and it’s always been my own personal policy to disclose this, which I have. I’ve refused offers from companies who’ve suggested that I act otherwise. I created this self-policing policy because I, like most other bloggers, realize that our reputations are virtual currency.

We bloggers can’t make the slightest error without someone gleefully jumping all over it. This has made me cautious, careful of sources and, in addition, a much better writer than when I started. We don’t need the FTC to protect us – in the blogsphere, we are the most savvy, skeptical and mercilessly scrutinized group on earth.