Sunday, October 11, 2009
FTC Attacks Free Speech
Have you heard of this little issue? The FTC has decided to begin policing things people say on blogs, ostensibly to limit the degree to which readers might be falsely swayed by something such as a product review. I guess the intention is to mandate full disclosure, such as when products reviews were based on product samples given to the blogger at no cost.
But can the federal government assault the first amendment in the name of full disclosure? Isn't this an abridgment of free speech, after all?
Well, what's at stake? As I see it, the cure is much worse than the disease. The proposed punishment for such deviant bloggers is up to $11,000 per infraction! But how can this possibly be enforced, anyway? And on what legal grounds does the FTC have jurisdiction over the content of what people write in what are, essentially, on-line journals? (After all, "blog" stands for "web log".)
I suppose, by writing here, I'm at risk of being hit with an arbitrary, subjectively-enforced fine of up to $11,000, despite what our very Constitution might say against the legality of such a ridiculous penalty. Alex Newman, writing at JBS.org, has an interesting article on these new rules that may be of interest for more detail, an excerpt of which follows:
In addition, the rules purport to require everybody to disclose “typical” results of using a product, to be determined by the FTC on a case-by-case basis. “The new rules would require bloggers to clearly disclose what type of results they should expect to receive from a product. Currently, advertisers only have to display a small "results not typical" tagline if they feature an endorser who had an unusual level of success with their product. Now, they have to disclose what the average consumer should expect,” notes PC Mag.
The new advertising regime also covers celebrities, research funding, and even people posting a message through a social networking website. A writer for PC World points out that they can even apply “to anyone commenting on blogs, in forums, and in chat rooms. They apply to employees of a company who become a 'fan' of their employer on Facebook or say something nasty about a competitor's product on Yelp.”
Happy blogging!
Lame obligatory "full" disclosure:
This post was written on Google's Blogger software, offered without cost to the author. The author has no idea what sort of results you may expect with Blogger software, as this may well depend on your technical and writing abilities. The author strongly urges you to let your representatives know what a fine job they're doing on your behalf in the name of keeping you protected from the scary ideas of people authoring blogs.
But can the federal government assault the first amendment in the name of full disclosure? Isn't this an abridgment of free speech, after all?
Well, what's at stake? As I see it, the cure is much worse than the disease. The proposed punishment for such deviant bloggers is up to $11,000 per infraction! But how can this possibly be enforced, anyway? And on what legal grounds does the FTC have jurisdiction over the content of what people write in what are, essentially, on-line journals? (After all, "blog" stands for "web log".)
I suppose, by writing here, I'm at risk of being hit with an arbitrary, subjectively-enforced fine of up to $11,000, despite what our very Constitution might say against the legality of such a ridiculous penalty. Alex Newman, writing at JBS.org, has an interesting article on these new rules that may be of interest for more detail, an excerpt of which follows:
In addition, the rules purport to require everybody to disclose “typical” results of using a product, to be determined by the FTC on a case-by-case basis. “The new rules would require bloggers to clearly disclose what type of results they should expect to receive from a product. Currently, advertisers only have to display a small "results not typical" tagline if they feature an endorser who had an unusual level of success with their product. Now, they have to disclose what the average consumer should expect,” notes PC Mag.
The new advertising regime also covers celebrities, research funding, and even people posting a message through a social networking website. A writer for PC World points out that they can even apply “to anyone commenting on blogs, in forums, and in chat rooms. They apply to employees of a company who become a 'fan' of their employer on Facebook or say something nasty about a competitor's product on Yelp.”
Happy blogging!
Lame obligatory "full" disclosure:
This post was written on Google's Blogger software, offered without cost to the author. The author has no idea what sort of results you may expect with Blogger software, as this may well depend on your technical and writing abilities. The author strongly urges you to let your representatives know what a fine job they're doing on your behalf in the name of keeping you protected from the scary ideas of people authoring blogs.
Labels: blogs, Constitution, fines, FTC
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