Thursday, May 03, 2007

12 Important U.S. Laws Every Blogger Needs to Know

That is, according to the folks at http://www.avivadirectory.com/blogger-law/

The 12 include:

"Whether to Disclose Paid Posts:

Over the last five years bloggers have begun to displace traditional media outlets as individuals’ source for reliable information and recommendations. This development has created big opportunities for advertisers to get bloggers to endorse a product or service, primarily through posts or affiliate links. But as the practice and influence of bloggers has grown, US law has come to govern this area."

They then layout a thumbnail sketch of the law, and close with:

"How to stay out of trouble:

  1. NEVER claim that you are an objective, unbiased source if you are being paid to provide information.
  2. ALWAYS make it easy for your readers to distinguish between advertising and editorial content ... ."
It's worth the twenty minute read.