FTC Blog Guidelines
I suppose I should say something about these new FTC blogger endorsement guidelines. The only products I ever get sent for free are books, and it’s actually a bit of a mess to keep track of which books were sent to me by whom and for what purpose. At the same time, it’s a bit hard for me to understand what the upside would be in saying positive things about books I didn’t actually like in order to receive free copies of books. Insofar as I want free copies of books, I want free copies of good books, so why not just praise the good ones? In reality, receiving large quantities of free books is a bit of a problem since most of the books aren’t very interesting and they’re inconvenient to store and surprisingly difficult to give away.
The other thing I’ve gotten over the years has been free trips to the Netherlands, Switzerland, Finland, Germany, and Denmark so it’s probably a safe bet to assume that I’m secretly an agent of possibly nefarious Northern European intelligence services.
17 Responses to “FTC Blog Guidelines”
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October 9th, 2009 at 8:30 am
Dear Matt, that is really not what you *really should* say something about. Say something funny about the peace prize!
October 9th, 2009 at 8:42 am
The check is in the mail.
Also, it was Norway. We do the other prizes. Förstått?
October 9th, 2009 at 8:48 am
Big Neutral has you by the balls. Also, I believe the Nixon Library and Allstate Insurance. And Marvel Comics. And Twee Pop. Still, it beats the crap out of working for Kaplan Test Prep.
October 9th, 2009 at 9:17 am
I have complete faith in the ethical standards of Northern European intelligence services. I’m sure it is against their principles to bribe. Just don’t corrupt your handler and make him or her cynical and snarky.
October 9th, 2009 at 9:32 am
I suppose in the next Presidential budget the FTC will be looking for more employees (read: funding) to enforce these ridiculous guidelines. Perhaps they ought to disclose that.
On the other hand, the fact that we’ve reached this point demonstrates the total abdication of shame, civic duty, and ethics. This is a huge problem on the web (not that I believe that the FTC can do a damn thing about it) because we have so many people that just don’t give a shit.
Decline, decline, decline.
October 9th, 2009 at 9:40 am
I don’t get it. What huge problem? Where’s the evidence for THAT?
The feds should keep their effing hands off the web.
October 9th, 2009 at 9:45 am
I’m sure you have a public library that would love to have those books. If not for their collection then for their Friends of the Library book sale.
October 9th, 2009 at 9:45 am
If you’re paid by CAP, I don’t think the rules apply to you. You likely fall under the newspaper book reviewer nondisclosure FCC interpretation.
What a load of horse hockey! Bob Dole never declares his lobbying job with Alston & Bird as he endorses the Baucus bill. For a list of Alston & Bird’s health care clients:
http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/firmsum.php?lname=Alston+%26+Bird&year=2009
October 9th, 2009 at 9:46 am
Matt, if you’re really having trouble giving away your books Books for America in Dupont Circle accepts book donations. They go to school, homeless shelters, prisons, etc.
October 9th, 2009 at 9:53 am
And I’m sure the FTC is all over Tom Scully, Bush’s Medicare Prescription Drug King, for giving a commercial for SHPS on CSPAN.
Tom Scully is also a health care lobbyist for Alston & Bird, as well as a private equity underwriter. The Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe General Partner sits on the board of SHPS. That position normally includes stock compensation.
So what was Tom talking about on CSPAN? Health care reform. WCAS has a number of health care/health insurance affiliates who stand to benefit from any changes.
CSPAN had a very conflicted speaker, who used his time to sell a WCAS affiliate. And the FTC is worried about bloggers getting books?
America has abysmal leadership.
October 9th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Matt, I’ll be sure to send you a free copy of my book when it’s finished.
October 9th, 2009 at 9:59 am
This is why regulation won’t work in healthcare. Shocking how these guidelines apply to everyone BUT the people that these regulatory boards were created to oversee.
October 9th, 2009 at 10:22 am
You can’t give them to your local library?
October 9th, 2009 at 10:29 am
[...] UPDATE #2: Matthew Yglesias [...]
October 9th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
One thing they (they?) gotta stop is movie reviewers either getting paid (or taken out context) to provide good reviews for bad movies. “Funny and charming” shows up on jacket covers all the time for movies that are purposefully devoid of humor. “One of the 5 best movies of the year!” Yes, perhaps, if the year is at present one day old. Shit like that.
I mean, someone is either paying Roger Ebert to provide the goods or he has just gone plain loco.
October 9th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Do you think regulation of the financial industry is going to be any less ham-fisted? You’re the fan of big government, so I’m glad when you get to eat your own medicine.
October 9th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Maybe you should have a sidebar of your ‘free’ stuff (free stuff which requires you to spend your precious time on it seems, well, less than free, but…) so its all declared.
Then you can put a footnote of how small it is (or it contributed) to your bottom line.