FTC looks to regulate bloggers

The Washington Post looked at the reporting practices of bloggers over the weekend. The new guidelines proposed, which could be approved this summer, would require bloggers to disclose when they are compensated for writing reviews on their blogs. If the guidelines are accepted, the FTC could then patrol the Internet for false claims or failure to disclose conflicts of interest. The FTC would then be allowed to patrol what goes on online, as many readers of blogs are unaware of the compensation that could go on behind the scenes online. The article went on to say that bloggers are not held to the same standards as journalists, but they have come to represent the same thing. Journalists are not technically allowed to receive products and review them, and that is considered an ethical practice in that community. Read the full article here.

If you are a blogger, how do you feel about this? Should bloggers have to disclose if they are compensated?