Starting Dec 1st, 2009, the FTC will impose rules in an attempt to control disclosure on blogs. For some highlights on the updates visit PCWorld. Basically, common sense needs to imposed when blogging. That means if you review items for compensation you should disclose that. IF you are defaming another product and you sit in a position of power or you’re a competitor, you should disclose that (even if you’re doing it through other social networks like Facebook). Also, you should pay attention to your own comments policy, and where you comment.

Essentially the biggest issues is disclosure for paid testimonials which makes sense. Disclosure builds trust with your readers, plus, it’s hard to develop any level of legitimacy if your blog is full of incoherent product reviews, so maybe just label yourself for what you are — a blogger who gets free stuff to talk about stuff.

A brief PDF doc from the FTC is here.

Some people won’t like the boundaries the FTC has crossed. Some of the issues are grey, like the social networking one. It’s also going to be brutal to enforce….