Big Brother Watches: FTC Monitors Blogs

[exfileme]

The FTC is getting crazy with its new guidelines to squash Free Speech.

Big Brother Watches: FTC Monitors Blogs : Read more

 

[the_one111]

Did anyone here honestly think they weren't already doing this? Along with saving phone calls for a week before discarding?

 

[B-Unit]

IDK, maybe I read this wrong, but it sounds to me the FTC is just pushing for disclosure.

And I say their right, if the blogger is getting paid off, those who read it should know that so they can take the blog with a grain (or bucket if needed) of salt.

 

[fonzy]

Why don't they start monitoring politicians there the ones taking money from corporations deciding the policies our Country has.

 

[kingnoobe]

Um sorry that should be common sense. No, the goverment needs to step off. I'm all for this with things like newspaper, and things of that nature. But blogs, and the way they got it worded um no... If you're stupid enough to take anything serious on a blog unless it's a very reputable blog you deserve what you get.

That's like taking wiki serious, and not going back to find actual references.. LOL.. Then again for some reason people do, but again that's their own fault.

 

[NuclearShadow]

Well I am not surprised that you guys are against the FTC doing this. Because honestly Tom's is guilty of doing this very act.

Also I don't see why bloggers are starting to "panic" as you put it which is most likely a dramatic lie itself. So long as they aren't guilty of it they have nothing to fear. The only ones that have reason to panic is those who will sway a review in favor for something in return. Like I highly suspect was the case here http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-radeon,2326.html

I don't know if this new act of the FTC will effect you or not as Both tom's sites aren't blogs but one can hope that it will.

 

[megamanx00]

Bah

 

[Guest]

The government and the mainstream-media have been in bed with each other for a very long time, they look out for eachother to ensure their own survival. The MSM was more than willing to trumpet every lie the Bush administration said, quite a few blogs called bullsh1t back then and were ridiculed. ABCNNBS/FauxNewz all but ignored the "election irregularities" of 2000/2004, yet are quick to post all of these Iranian protestors posing for the western media with(oddly enough) signs written in English. Nevermind it would be odd that the west's hero in Iran had 14% of the of the pre-election polls... Bush was unpopular before and after the 2004 election, but somehow he expanded his margin of victory from minus one million to plus 5 million.

 

[greenskye]

Just because someone walks up to you and says, "Product X is really great!" doesn't mean you listen to them. Blogs should be viewed the same way. The person may have had 10 years of experience with Product X or they may have received a free product to say a scripted phrase to the next 20 people they see. You just never know. Why do we need government regulation when a dose of common sense will do?

 

[Honis]

Here we have the government protecting idiots.

Government, fighting Darwinism over hill over dale over 0010001100101000.

 

[Guest]

Just stumbled upon this, and what did I find! On one hand NuclearShadow condemns China's censorship, on the other hand he/she advocates that if us citizens shouldn't panic for if we are not guilty then we should nothing to fear about having our blogs monitored by none other than the Big Brother. Do we already have our phones wire tapped and emails scanned and internet searches analyzed by some "overseeing authorities"? And now, he/she said we shouldn't fear this additional aspect of monitoring. What an eye opener!

 

[Maxor127]

Yeah, I can see what the FTC is trying to do, but I think it's pointless. People who get buying advice from blogs deserve to be scammed. Smart people would stick with trusted review sites, and even then get second and third opinions depending on how major the purchase is.

 

[rooseveltdon]

[citation][nom]greenskye[/nom]Just because someone walks up to you and says, "Product X is really great!" doesn't mean you listen to them. Blogs should be viewed the same way. The person may have had 10 years of experience with Product X or they may have received a free product to say a scripted phrase to the next 20 people they see. You just never know. Why do we need government regulation when a dose of common sense will do?[/citation]

Yes but common sense unfortunately is not very common

 

[Guest]

Maybe now a lot of "bloggers" will stop pretending to like windows vista even though they know the same thing that critics of vista know i.e. HDCP some audio restrictions here and there that anger music professionals and who knows besides m$ what else is buried in there sneaking around? I've always hated how they killed off direct access to hardware in vista just so the music industry will pay them more money not for any real advancement of any kind. Now it can be argued that only paid bloggers defend all of vistas "features" instead of ackowledging the obvious like everyone else.

 

[Guest]

@kin_07 there is no contradiction in what NuclearShadow says, I can say I disagree with the US Govt. and freely protest if I like, in China I will be beaten and thrown in jail if I do the same.

 

[NuclearShadow]

[citation][nom]kin_07[/nom]Just stumbled upon this, and what did I find! On one hand NuclearShadow condemns China's censorship, on the other hand he/she advocates that if us citizens shouldn't panic for if we are not guilty then we should nothing to fear about having our blogs monitored by none other than the Big Brother. Do we already have our phones wire tapped and emails scanned and internet searches analyzed by some "overseeing authorities"? And now, he/she said we shouldn't fear this additional aspect of monitoring. What an eye opener![/citation]

The wiretapping and email scans however are often done without reason to even think that something is going on. In this case the blog itself which is open to the public could warrant suspicions.

Many doctors do the similar act to what the FTC is trying to stop with the blogs. Many doctors receive gifts from the drug companies to encourage the doctor to prescribe one drug over another. Do you support this? It causes the bribed doctors to prescribe one drug over another even if the one they prescribe is even in their own opinion less likely to be as effective.

It's clear that the FTC in this case wish to protect the consumer and is 100% right on this.

 

[demonhorde665]

this is f----ing BS , atheletes and musicians have taken "endorsment" checks for years and no one gives a shit , so why teh hell shoyuld teh FTC investigate privately ran blogs ???? just toal bs , If I WAS a blogger I'd blog what ever teh f--k i wanted to blog granted i wouldnt blog any opinion i didnt agree with , but if some one is gona give me freebies to say somethign i'd have said ANY DAMN WAY i'll take it and teh FTC can kiss my ass , i';m sick of teh goverment tryign to piss and shit on every thing they DONT already control.

 

[demonhorde665]

[citation][nom]NuclearShadow[/nom]The wiretapping and email scans however are often done without reason to even think that something is going on. In this case the blog itself which is open to the public could warrant suspicions. Many doctors do the similar act to what the FTC is trying to stop with the blogs. Many doctors receive gifts from the drug companies to encourage the doctor to prescribe one drug over another. Do you support this? It causes the bribed doctors to prescribe one drug over another even if the one they prescribe is even in their own opinion less likely to be as effective. It's clear that the FTC in this case wish to protect the consumer and is 100% right on this.[/citation]

shiiiiiaaaat using doctors as an example is silly doctors are teh worse examples , hell if the FTC really caared about consumers they would put a STOP to insurance companines owning doctors and then requireing you see THIER doctor , or you can't get covered

this is purely about them conroling something they don't already control

 

[zodiacfml]

i don't know...but probably this is proposed to collect tax. not sure though, haven't read anything.

 

[NuclearShadow]

[citation][nom]demonhorde665[/nom]this is f----ing BS , atheletes and musicians have taken "endorsment" checks for years and no one gives a shit , so why teh hell shoyuld teh FTC investigate privately ran blogs ???? just toal bs , If I WAS a blogger I'd blog what ever teh f--k i wanted to blog granted i wouldnt blog any opinion i didnt agree with , but if some one is gona give me freebies to say somethign i'd have said ANY DAMN WAY i'll take it and teh FTC can kiss my ass , i';m sick of teh goverment tryign to piss and shit on every thing they DONT already control.[/citation]

Athletes and musicians while they get advertisers they don't really even give their opinions on product being advertised nor do these people claim to have any expertise on such things. Your never going to see Shaq try to sell you a laptop and give you a detailed review. (truthful or not)

But if you take a blog and lets say its about computers and hardware and after it gains popularity advertisers start giving bribes to it to sway reviews in their favor. Lying and tricking consumers into buying a product that they otherwise would have not or even avoiding buying a better product because the blog slanders the competitors product to make their advertiser appear better Do you really think that this acceptable? Why shouldn't they be held by ethical journalism?

How any of you can side with people who are in a trusted position who decide to abuse it by lying to profit is beyond me.