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Today, the Federal Trade Commission responded to an "open letter" from online advertisers that asked for the commission's newly updated guidelines to be scrapped because they purportedly "muzzle social media" and, thus, inhibit the freeflow of ideas.This blogger isn't the least bit offended by the FTC's new
Is it a bad thing that the FTC isn't treating all media the same? Probably. This reminds me of when my teenage children would ask to go to a party. We as parents would do our requisite due-diligence, and when the situation warranted we'd say no. Then we'd get, "But, everyone else is going." And this is supposed to matter? Who gives a crap about the others-- we need to focus on keeping our own house in order.
It's a shame that this has to be regulated. It's also a shame that some people are unethical. Most of us are smart enough to see right through the purchased blog posts, but many of us are not. I'm thinking honesty in our writing makes a lot of sense. I'm one who thinks it's time that the unethical among us come clean. If it requires government regulation-- so be it. I hardly consider this a threat to free speech.
In the interest of transparency I must declare that I take nothin from no-one.
3 comments:
With a teenage son, I absolutely agree with you on the teenage part. I now appreciate my peers' ingenuity in responding to their children, something I did not like at all when the shoe was on the other foot.
Re the guidelines, I think all media needs to be treated the same. It's correct to challenge this one on fairness and practicality.
Here's the difference between me (an adult blogger) and the teenager from your illustration...
I'm not a teenager.
I don't need big brother (or big daddy, to overextend your metaphor) to tell me how to blog, or threaten to withhold $11k of my allowance should I not blog in exactly the right way.
Mark,
That is extending the metaphor a tad.
The guidelines only come into play if you have a conflict of interest. No conflict of interest... no big brother. Works for me.
Kevin
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