A Few More Thoughts on the FTC Ridiculousness

One thing that kept coming to mind when I was blogging the other day about the new FTC proposal to start requiring bloggers to disclose freebies and other conflicts of interest: Is this some weird kind of joke? I couldn't put it better than eva:

"My first thought was beauty magazines...they don't mention that they're inundated with free products when they're recommending things. *rolls eyes* I think this is some kind of prank."

I swear, I had to google a few different reliable sources and I'm still waiting for someone to tell me I was ranting about an article originated by The Onion.

I really enjoyed some of the other comments and questions that people brought up. As Wendy points out:

"So here's a good question. If I get a "free" book and give it a negative review, how does that factor in? Do I have to disclose it was "free" if I didn't like it??"

Really, that seems to be the problem that the FTC has, is the positive reviews in exchange for free swag. But one solution for bloggers would be, I suppose to just pan everything you receive for free.