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I am surprised that the FTC's position on this issue is a footnote of the original article and the HN discussion. From FTC Assistant Deputy Rich Cleland: "a di
by aresant 14y ago
I am surprised that the FTC's position on this issue is a footnote of the original article and the HN discussion.
From FTC Assistant Deputy Rich Cleland: "a disclosure must be made when a blogger is recommending something and using an affiliate link. He went on to say that “the recommendation triggers the disclosure requirement.”(1)
There is no wiggle room here.
Maria Popova needs to disclose the relationship with her advertisers (Amazon).
The FTC has a gargantuan job ahead of them w/regard to enforcement, but that's no excuse especially given the content that Popova writes about.
(1) http://lovell.com/corporate-blogs/ftc-guidelines-include-affiliate-links/ http://lovell.com/corporate-blogs/ftc-guidelines-include-aff...
- smackfu 14y agoYeah, a lot of prominent bloggers are violating that rule then. Marco Arment (http://www.marco.org/2013/01/06/baby-stuff-review http://www.marco.org/2013/01/06/baby-stuff-review), Jeff Atwood (http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/06/because-everyone-still-needs-a-router.html http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/06/because-everyone-st...), not to mention The Wirecutter blog. (http://thewirecutter.com http://thewirecutter.com)
- philip1209 14y agoI think the correct way to approach this is to contact the NY State Attorney General's Office and ask them to investigate possible fraud that violates FTC guidelines.