Wassup Turps

So, speaking of blogging (which we were – don't deny it), there's been an interesting blogstorm this week over the new endorsement guidelines enacted by America's Federal Trade Commission. (KEEP READING! I promise this gets less boring.)

The FTC's new rules are all about people endorsing products – you know what I mean:

The FTC's new guidelines are much stricter on disclosure than ever before: if you say something nice about a product but you're being compensated in any way, it's now clear that you need to admit this compensation up front, or face FTC investigation. As far as this applies to celebrity testimonials and advertorials, nobody seems to be complaining; stricter guidelines for that sort for thing are probably overdue.

BUT. What's got the blogosphere in a twist are the new applications of these rules to bloggers. The new rules appear to demand that from now on, any bloggers who (e.g.) say something nice about a product or service – whether they say this on a blog post, or in a comment thread, or by tweet – must fully disclose if they (e.g.) received that product for free.

(Concise summary of the specific rules here.)

When I first read about this, I thought it seemed fairly reasonable, but the issue is turning out to be more complex. For one thing, apparently none of this applies to official news organisations or "real" journalists, despite the fact that they receive mountains of free swag all the time. Double standards? Angry bloggers are angry.

I don't know enough about the legalities to fully understand all of this. (And it's the FTC of the USA, not of the world, so does any of this – even theoretically – apply to us?) Either way, it's clearly not a simple issue. Is it unfair to expect bloggers to always disclose that they've received free stuff? Are the rules are too vague, or too impractical, to enforce? Should "official" journalists always be disclosing their free swag, too? Is there a meaningful line between professional and casual comment – one that the general public can be reasonably expected to distinguish?

Or are some angry bloggers just unethical tools, afraid to admit that they're being paid to shill because they're worth more if it's a secret?