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FTC: Bloggers must disclose paid reviews
,----[ Quote ]
| The Federal Trade Commission will require bloggers to
| clearly disclose any freebies or payments they get from
| companies for reviewing their products.
`----
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33177160/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/
BLOGGERS BEWARE, CONFESS OR BE FINED.
,----[ Quote ]
| You may remember me reporting a while ago that the FTC
| were looking into bloggers and their âindependentâ views
| which are as a result of freebies or gifts. You may
| remember that we have exposed these gift receivers
| before and rightly ask âHow much worth can you put into
| the words of someone receiving gifts?â
|
| In my opinion much pro-proprietary software opinion is
| based on gifts (or the possibility of recieving them)
| and since the personal blog is looked at a whole lot
| differently than a mainstream news outlet, its even more
| important that the views in a blog are those of honest
| held belief.
|
| [...]
|
| Anyone found to be not disclosing could be liable for a
| fine of up to $11,000. This, in my opinion is something
| which is long overdue. Iâve said before that the
| personal blog holds alot more weight (IMO) than the PR
| sheets or mainstream features of the latest
| hardware/software.
`----
http://openbytes.wordpress.com/2009/10/05/bloggers-beware-confess-or-be-fined/
More transparency coming to blog reviews under new FTC rules
,----[ Quote ]
| The FTC has announced new rules governing "consumer-
| generated" media outlets and product endorsements.
| Bloggers who fail to disclose their relationships with
| manufacturers and advertisers face five-digit fines.
`----
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/10/more-transparency-coming-to-blog-reviews-under-new-ftc-rules.ars
Did The FTC's New 'Blogger' Guidelines Just Change The Way All Book/Music Reviews Must Be Conducted?
http://techdirt.com/articles/20091005/0943016423.shtml
FTC Publishes Final Guides Governing Endorsements, Testimonials
,----[ Quote ]
| A bunch of folks have been sending in the fact that the
| FTC has (as was widely expected) approved new rules on
| "endorsements" or "testimonials," including a section on
| bloggers or "word-of-mouth marketers."
`----
http://ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/endortest.shtm
Bloggers Can Be Fined Up to 11K Per Post for Non-Disclosure
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2009/05/20/what-to-make-of-ftcs-proposed-paid-post-regulations
Related:
Getting a Vaio [with Vista, from Microsoft]
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Belgium rang me yesterday (I don?t think they realised it
| was a public holiday here!).
|
| [...]
|
| The phone call yesterday was to confirm my address - the laptop (a
| Sony Vaio - dunno which model or spec yet) is en route with Vista
| Ultimate and Office Ultimate pre-installed.
`----
http://www.tomrafteryit.net/getting-a-vaio/
Bribing Bloggers
,----[ Quote ]
| It's a bribe. Period. You say nice things about us, you get nice
| things from us. Heck, just say neutral things about us-we'll give
| you a killer new laptop and we know that you'll be inclined to say
| better things about us.
`----
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2077596,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03129TX1K0000616
Microsoft Sent A Free Laptop With Windows Vista
,----[ Quote ]
| I'm not sure how I was selected to be one of the people receiving this
| (I'm assuming there are others, but I haven't come across any yet).
| It could be that they are reaching out to bloggers who are Mac users
| (I switched to a Mac back when OS X came out) or it might just be that
| people I know who work for Microsoft or other influential bloggers
| recommended me
`----
http://laughingsquid.com/microsoft-sent-a-free-laptop-with-windows-vista/
Windows Live OneCare competition
,----[ Quote ]
| How to enter:
|
| You have from now until 25th December to post on your own blog about
| why you'd like Santa to visit you, and then tag it with "Windows Live
| OneCare Competition". Only posts appearing on this technorati page or
| that trackback to this post will be considered as entries. From
| these we'll select 5 winners at random.
`----
http://liveside.net/blogs/main/archive/2006/12/20/windows-live-onecare-competition.aspx
Microsoft Traps and Hunts for Bloggers in India !!
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft has announced the "Microsoft BlogStars" contest, to Hunts
| for Developer Bloggers in India. After feeling the power and increase of
| the Bloggers community in India, Microsoft tries to trap and hunt Bloggers
| in India to buildup the blogging community, for writing blog posts
| supporting towards Microsoft Technologies.
`----
http://i5bala.blogspot.com/2006/10/microsoft-traps-and-hunts-for-bloggers.html
,----[ Quote ]
| Long before it employed bloggers to do the job for it, Microsoft hired
| sympathetic members of the public to make its case in online forums,
| posing as disinterested citizens. Things got much more professional as
| the antitrust trial unfurled. After hiring DCI in the late 1990s,
| Microsoft created two new trade groups, the Association for Competitive
| Technology (ACT), and the Americans for Technology Leadership (ALT),
| and marshaled campaigns such as "Freedom to Innovate" - encouraging
| Windows users the chance to make spontaneous gestures of support for
| Chairman Bill.
|
| These weren't always too successful. A campaign in 2001 to petition 17
| state's Attorney Generals - who had pooled resources to bring their
| own antitrust action against Microsoft - resulted in supportive letters
| being written by dead people.
|
| And the astroturf taint continues today.
|
| Most recently, a spoof video portraying Al Gore as a Penguin was reported
| to have originated from a computer registered to the DCI Group, although
| the lobby group said it did not fund or approve the video.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/14/google_lobby/
,----[ Quote ]
| "Some years back, Microsoft practiced a lot of dirty tricks using
| online mavens to go into forums and create Web sites extolling the virtues
| of Windows over OS/2. They were dubbed the Microsoft Munchkins, and it
| was obvious who they were and what they were up to. But their numbers
| and energy (and they way they joined forces with nonaligned dummies who
| liked to pile on) proved too much for IBM marketers, and Windows wont
| he operating-system war through fifth-column tactics"
|
| Mr Dvorak wonders if Microsoft is today using reverse-dirty-tricks
| to promote the Xbox 360: pay people to create Web sites that slam the
| gaming computer in order to provoke a barrage of defenders.
`----
http://worldcadaccess.typepad.com/gizmos/2005/11/2_grassroots_an.html
,----[ Quote ]
| Instead of inspiring actual interest in a grassroots fashion, Microsoft
| has resorted to spreading fake grass, crafting each site to suggest
| the appearance of something other than the advertisement it is.
|
| This is similar to the scam Microsoft pulled with its own imitation of
| Apple's Switchers ad campaign. Titled "Confessions of a Mac to PC
| Convert," the ad portrayed a professionally dressed woman complaining
| about her Mac, but ended up being a canned picture pulled from stock
| photography and voiced by a professional writer.
|
| Similarly, Greenpeace staffers have assigned to post astroturf comments
| on websites saying "I'm a Mac user and gosh darn it I think that
| Greenpeace is alright with all their concern about the ecology!" More
| on that scam later!
|
| One would expect a certain level of interest and excitement out of
| Microsoft's own users, but that isn't really happening. Nearly every
| Zune site on the web is carefully stepping around the piles of problems
| to spend a lot of time on Microsoft supplied bullet points, including
| the "celebration of music," the slightly larger or at least
| stretched display, and how wireless DRM sharing is such a
| brilliant idea.
`----
,----[ Quote ]
| Could there be more bad news? Of course! Even Paul Thurrott isn't
| impressed with the Zune, calling its pricing strategy the "makings of
| a disaster." Misery! Not only has the Zune suffered a horrific wreck of
| a product introduction, but Annie Wilkes is at the foot of the bed saying
| she doesn't approve of how things are going.
|
| If your number one fan is sending you hate mail, you have a problem.
| So what's with all the Zune related web sites carefully repeating the
| same talking points? It's called astroturfing.
|
| Instead of inspiring actual interest in a grassroots fashion, Microsoft
| has resorted to spreading fake grass, crafting each site to suggestt
| he appearance of something other than the advertisement it is.
|
| This is similar to the scam Microsoft pulled with its own imitation of
| Apple's Switchers ad campaign. Titled "Confessions of a Mac to PC
| Convert," the ad portrayed a professionally dressed woman complaining
| about her Mac, but ended up being a canned picture pulled from stock
| photography and voiced by a professional writer.
|
| Similarly, Greenpeace staffers have assigned to post astroturf comments
| on websites saying "I'm a Mac user and gosh darn it I think that
| Greenpeace is alright with all their concern about the ecology!" More
| on that scam later!
|
| One would expect a certain level of interest and excitement out of
| Microsoft's own users, but that isn't really happening. Nearly every
| Zune site on the web is carefully stepping around the piles of problems
| to spend a lot of time on Microsoft supplied bullet points, including
| the "celebration of music," the slightly larger or at least
| stretched display, and how wireless DRM sharing is such a
| brilliant idea.
`----
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/Home/9F60D74A-0E27-4F5F-B88D-835974628809.html
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