Changes Are A Coming
posted on: 2009-10-29 08:44:36 by Soo-Young
tags: site news

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Today, I read a post from walletpop.com about how bloggers will be regulated by the FTC starting December 1st 2009. What does this mean? Here's a quick excerpt from the article: "Starting December 1, bloggers promoting any kind of stuff from a company must admit if they got cash or gifts to do so. This means blogging will be goverment-regulated for the first time."


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If you're wondering why I'm posting about this, it's because online stock brokers are often pushed by bloggers using sometimes dubious tactics. A lot of the online stock broker reviews or rankings you see on stock market blogs are simply ways of promoting certain brokers that give kickbacks for new sign ups (I won't post any specific examples, but they're definitely not hard to find). So starting December 1st, all of these so called reviews on blogs will be regulated by the government and bloggers will be held to the same code of ethics as other journalists. As always, the legal system is playing catch up in the digital age, but changes are a coming. I'm really happy for these changes and think they will bring about a new era in modern media where bloggers have a stronger and more ethical reputation for their writing and journalism.