Regulating Blogging

Apparently the Federal Trade Commission is pondering the idea of regulating bloggers.  Needless to say, this very concept is near and dear to the heart of SWGA Politics, and I’m a bit concerned with that this may entail.

At it’s heart, it looks basic enough.  They want to require bloggers who receive items or money to disclose such in their blogs since so many people these days look for product reviews and opinions from blogs (and we thank you by the way).  Since people do this, the FTC believes that they must step in and protect the consumer.  Gee thanks guys.  It’s just a shame folks are already doing it, ain’t it?

It’s true.  Most bloggers already disclose that they’ve received a product that they’re reviewer or endorsing.  They’re pretty open and honest about it, and then they go on to give a solid review most of the time.  The few who don’t are usually pretty easy to spot.  They all but scream their allegiance with no hint of a flaw in the product.  Readers spot this and bust them.  Once again, the market prevails.

And really, if this were where it would end, I’d probably not sweat it to much.  But it won’t.  You see, this is yet another assault on a blogger’s right to do what is right, or to be a shill for a company and lose all credibility.  Let the market handle the problem and let the government focus on what it does well, which is…um…I give up, what do they do well again?

Anyways, how long until an assault like this makes it to non-product blogs like this one.  How long until the Fairness Doctrine, for example, slams hard into blogs and requires Jeff and I to find a liberal and a conservative to balance our Libertarian perspectives?  Actually, we’d need two of each…just to be “fair”.  But how long until the Internet, the last truly libertarian region of the world, is as tightly regulated as the Soviet Union was?

People who are doing their research will find those blogs where the writer is just praising a product like it’s the best thing ever while not disclosing their bias is bound to happen.  It’s impossible to stop, and new regulations will be nearly impossible to enforce.  Instead, trust that those who are researching a product will get more than one opinion, and that the government has no business getting into regulating what bloggers say or don’t say.

With everything else going on in this nation, does the FTC have nothing better to do?