US FTC Look To Revise Dot Com Disclosures

In a move some would say was well overdue, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has said it is looking for help in updating a document called the Dot Com disclosures, released eleven years ago, which aimed to explain how US ad and disclosure laws applied to the internet. (Disclosures being the explanations or small print - e.g. who is eligible for a special offer, or low interest mortgage rate, for example).

Of course, the internet of 2011 bears little or no resemblance to that of 2000, and internet marketing has changed beyond comprehension too. For example, how can interpretations from eleven years ago apply to Facebook, blogs or Twitter?  

So the FTC has finally decided to update the disclosures, and is asking for help to do so; interested parties have around six weeks to make their views heard. Questions they would like input on include:

- "What issues have been raised by online technologies or Internet activities or features that have emerged since the business guide was issued (e.g., mobile marketing, including screen size) that should be addressed in a revised guidance document?"

- "What issues relating to disclosures have arisen from such multi-party selling arrangements in Internet commerce as (1) established online sellers providing a platform for other firms to market and sell their products online, (2) website operators being compensated for referring consumers to other Internet sites that offer products and services, and (3) other affiliate marketing arrangements?"

Of course, it's good to see a regulator taking interest in what the industry has to say, and if the FTC can avoid getting into the hole that the European regulator has dug for itself around the use of cookies and behavioural advertising, then all well and good. However, it's hard not to think that by the time these disclosures get updated, they'll be out of date again!