MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => Newbie Discussion => Topic started by: travelstock on December 01, 2009, 15:44
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Not sure if this is the appropriate thread for this subject, but just thought I'd put a link to my summary of some new guidelines that apply to people earning income from referral programs, such as those offered by many microstock sites.
http://www.veoelmundo.com/traveltips/earning-money-online/D-Day-New-FTC-Disclosure-Rules-for-Bloggers (http://www.veoelmundo.com/traveltips/earning-money-online/D-Day-New-FTC-Disclosure-Rules-for-Bloggers)
Note that this is my summary of the guidelines - not a substitute for legal advice!
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I was reading through some of that and what a muddled mess it is. I assume their main target is people that are actually getting paid to write reviews or given free merchandise to review. But, it doesn't really look like affiliates are safe though. There is definitely a lot of vague wording, so I'm not sure what to make of it. I guess I'll start writing some disclaimers.
Edit: Oops. I didn't mean it to sound like I was calling your article a muddled mess. Hopefully, that wasn't how it read. I thought you had a nice overview. I was talking about the law being kind of ambiguous. They might as well have worded it, "You know it when you see it."
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They're saying that if you write a review or an opinion, and the reason you're writing it is because you get a benefit either through referral programs or free products or because someone advertises on your site, you should disclose the benefit you get and not mislead people about the product.
My aim with the article was to try to clarify what the guidelines mean in something less than the 12 pages of guidelines.
If all you're doing is putting up banner ads with with referral links then you probably don't need to disclose anything. If you start writing product reviews to get more clicks then it gets a bit hazy. If you start telling lies, then you might get in trouble.