One blogger talked negatively about a woman with a little bit of fame and now that blogger is facing the justice system for defamation of character. Since this case got brought to court and with the new FTC guidelines that will be enforced now; a blogger isn’t free to say whatever they would like to on their blogs.

I wonder how many sports teams could use these new laws to their advantage? I love to watch sports and love my local teams. When my local teams and favorite sports athletes do something great, I praise them and applaud them. However, when they stink it up and aren’t winning games, I let it be known which players and coaches are messing up and how we would be better off without them. This is just a part of sports and we all scream or yell at our favorite team or players at some point. If too many people get on the computer and use their blogs to downgrade or talk bad about an athlete, this could actually cause a team to cut them, trade them, or offer them a lesser contract. We could actually have a say in what a player makes or if they are on our team or not. Now if a famous athlete gets a bad rap online and a blogger talks too negatively about them, you could make the argument that the athlete would have his/her day in court too.

Let’s get real FTC and wake up. Bloggers are super for online purposes and their good deeds out weigh the bad deeds by leaps and bounds. If you’re craving a nice pecan pie and would like a recipe for it, where are you going to go? You will probably use a search engine to find pecan pie recipes. Who do you think plays a part in which pecan pie recipes get listed high in the search results and which ones don’t make the first page? There’s a good chance that a blogger has a pecan pie recipe on their blog and you will find it on the first page of your search engine search results. If the pecan pie recipe isn’t on a blog; then there is a chance that a blogger helped that recipe get listed high on the search engine in other ways. The bloggers keep the search engines filled with great and fast information that anyone can use for free. I guess it’s not really free since you pay for a monthly connection to the Internet, but you’re free to use the search engines as much as possible for no extra charges.

These new FTC rules for bloggers is drawing a line in the sand and it’s one we don’t need. I mean once you say it’s no longer allowed to vouch for a product or service, you’re creating avenues that could make it illegal to say simple, ordinary phrases that we say everyday. What about the blogger that comes on the computer the Friday after the Thanksgiving Day feast and talks about how great their Thanksgiving meal was. When that blogger says their parents made the best turkey and dressing they have ever ate, this could be illegal. Wouldn’t we have to track down the parents of this blogger and see if they gave their child any money to say that? If Mom or Dad gave them a gift or some cash when they came over for the Thanksgiving Dinner; then you would have to make sure their gift didn’t affect the blogger’s words about how great the meal was. Do we really have time and money to track down these folks each day and find out who is telling a lie and who is telling the truth?

I guess the FTC has never seen an infomercial on television before. Is an infomercial legal? Yes, it is because they do go through steps placing small messages at the bottom of the screen that make it legal. The TV station that you see the infomercial on will even run their tag before the infomercial comes on, stating they don’t endorse any claims that this next program states. Why do we still see these ridiculous infomercials that normally run for 30 mintues still on our TV channels? That is actually a simple answer. The reasons we keep seeing these dumb infomercials and bad acting jobs is because they work. It’s as simple as that. As much as we laugh and make fun of these products that try to sell their products through infomercials, the sad fact is they work and actually do make money for these products. I think banning infomercials would be better than going after people who endorse products for money.

People should have the right to spend their money on anything that isn’t going to cause harm or damage to their self or others. If someone wants to pay someone else money to say they like and use their product a lot; then I see no problems with that. Each person got to decide if they wanted to do it or not and there was no guns being pointed at anyone’s head.

If Michael Jordan (the great basketball player) says he drinks a certain sports drink and it gives him energy and made him to play basketball better. It is up to the consumers to determine if a sports drink would give them energy or make them play basketball better. Most of us normal folks know that no drink, food, or exercise routine is going to have us shooting and dunking a basketball like the great Michael Jordan. The few people that do believe this will happen because MJ said it himself; then these are the people that need help. Hey FTC, most of us are normal and don’t need anymore government in our life. For these few people that you’re trying to protect; why don’t you just spend your time and resources getting these folks some professional help and leave Michael Jordan and bloggers alone!