Food for thought

When I say FTC, do you think of bloggers? The original article:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j6DZ0gpsCSwquntzof4FR4yfqYXwD98V7B880

And some interesting thoughts in the comment section of this post:

http://everything.typepad.com/blog/2009/07/the-federal-trade-commission-is-keeping-an-eye-on-blogger-freebies.html

We all know of blogs whose pages are filled with product/site icons & advertisements. Should they be required to state whether or not they are compensated for the products they endorse (and freebies are compensation), whether or not there is a prominent advertisement on their site? If there is compensation involved, do you question the objectivity of the endorsement?

And along the same lines, are you as suspicious as me of blogs where you are forced to read a post outside of a blog reader? Do you find that more often than not those blogs have lots of advertising? I always wonder who is tracking what about my visit there.