Guest blogger Michelle from Scribbit weighs in regarding the FTC “sticking its nose into the blogosphere.” Tune as her in-house counsel a.k.a. husband summarizes the 81-page document.

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Michelle and I were watching TV the other night and saw a commercial for one of the hundreds of CSI wanna-be shows. This one was about a blogger who had been murdered. Michelle looked at me and said, “We’ve made it to the big time when crime shows are about killing bloggers.”

Big time is right. Bloggers are now regulated by the Federal Trade Commission which just came out with a new law (effective on December 1, 2009 – Merry Christmas!) that cover those free products bloggers receive with no strings attached. Here’s the what it means for you:

* If you buy a product on your own and you write about it, then you don’t have any worries.

* If you get a free product and write about it, but the product doesn’t cost much, you rarely receive free products, and don’t have a wide readership, then you probably don’t have anything to worry about.

* If you get a free product and write about and regularly receive such products and have a wide readership and the item is used by your targeted audience, then you should disclose who sent you the product and that you got it for free.

* If BMW send you a free car with the hopes that you’ll write about it on your blog, then I would say that you must disclose the goodness of BMW.

* If someone pays you to write about the product, then absolutely you should disclose the payment.

What sort of disclosure is required? Go to Michelle’s blog for some possible examples.

*Now my disclaimer: This is not legal advice. I’m not your lawyer and you should seek legal advice on this matter because I know all of you have personal attorneys that are at your beck and call since you’re making millions from blogging.

If you want to read all 81 pages of the new law, here’s the link: FTC Blogger Guidelines.