By All Means: Let’s Have the FTC Regulate the Blogosphere.
June 22, 2009
What could possibly go wrong?
Yeah: so from now on I’m supposed to look through my featured Amazon Associates books, CDs, and DVDs, and make sure I’ve never said anything favorable about any of these items in the blog itself. Never mind that the reason I picked them was the fact that I like them: the Feds want to make sure I don’t make another four dollars in an illicit way, for it might tarnish my soul, or encourage sales in a flagging economy. Heaven forfend.
Kids, I used to work in the magazine business. Not only did publishers have enormous power to put the kibosh on unfavorable reviews of advertisers’ products—they were also able to get their favorites included in product roundups. And that’s not even counting the use of “Advertorials,” which are (as the name suggests) paid editorial coverage that might or might not include the words “Special Promotion” at the top of the page.
I’ve seen coverage of rivals’ products killed, if the rivals weren’t advertisers. It’s not universal, but it’s not unheard-of, either. You cannot legislate newsroom integrity; it has to be handled by reputation, and it’s the same in the blogosphere, where many of us are one-man/one-woman shops who aren’t even making a living at this, much less getting much in the way of swag.
If they were serious, they’d be making sure that the folks at Road and Track weren’t letting their ad pages dictate what the coverage was going to be for various car manufacturers. But why look at transactions that total tens of thousands of dollars when you can check on my $4 of Amazon Associates revenue?
Unreal.
As Moe says, buy stuff from Amazon Associates—while you can.
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Join the 
June 22nd, 2009 at 8:47 pm
They might as well shut down the hamburger, ice cream, and pizza places Obama was promoting by use. I’d include the places Biden mentioned, but they shut down years ago. Stop this shit right now! Send all the FTC people into the field and have them lick products from China checking for lead. Can’t they set a $10,000 minimum or something? What about those celeb “swag bags” filled with $20K worth of goodies that isn’t even reported to the IRS.
What’s your Congress doing for you?
The forthcoming S.909( Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act.”)(debate/vote this week) will mirror a House bill H.R. 1913, already passed 249-175 along strict party lines, which makes “sexual orientation,” “gender,” and “gender identity” into federally-protected classes under the law, and codifies federal protection of up to 547 types of sexually deviant behaviors. Sexual orientation,” which according to the American Psychiatric Association includes all 547 sexual deviances listed in their DSM-III manual of clinical psychoses, including:
* Incest – sex with one’s offspring (a crime, of course)
* Necrophilia – sexual relations with a corpse, also a crime
* Pedophilia – sex with an underage child, another crime
* Zoophilia – bestiality, a crime in numerous states
* Voyeurism – a criminal offense in most states
* Fronteurism – a man rubbing against an unknown woman’s buttocks
* Coprophilia – sexual arousal from feces
* Urophilia – sexual arousal from urine
This should about cover Democrats’ asses. . .
June 23rd, 2009 at 6:36 am
“But why look at transactions that total tens of thousands of dollars when you can check on my $4 of Amazon Associates revenue?”
Because the press is the handmaiden of government, and individuals have that pesky “thinking for themselves” disease.
June 23rd, 2009 at 6:51 am
Oooo…gender identity…”well, of course, officer,I am a woman. I’m just trapped in a man’s body”
June 23rd, 2009 at 7:20 am
[...] We’ll of course continue to bring you our thoughts on the best in gaming as well, such as Activision-Blizzard’s recent expansion for the best-selling game World of Warcraft, Wrath of the Lich King, discounted from its already low price to $32.99 on Amazon. Get it by Wednesday, June 24 if you order in the next 8 hours and choose one-day shipping. [...]