Undisclosed "sponsored" blogging may soon go the way of the dodo, the T. Rex, or the quagga under some strict new guidelines under consideration by the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC says it is looking at bloggers who write about certain products or services in exchange for money or favors from the companies behind them, potentially misleading the Internet-reading public about an apparent conflict of interest. The Commission hopes to introduce new guidelines this summer to better define how bloggers can write about these products.

In case you're not familiar with the practice of "sponsored blogging," imagine that Your Favorite Blog written by Joe Schmoe of Little Rock, Arkansas often gives rave reviews of certain home appliances that he allegedly uses. Joe might have purchased those things himself, and he might really love them—but he might be getting paid by GE to push the company's new washer and dryer. Or, if he's not receiving money, Joe might be the recipient of paid trips to Hawaii or prepaid gift cards. All of these things can and do happen in the blogosphere, and there are no rules on disclosure.

That's why the FTC wants to get involved—the organization is hoping to set guidelines for what kinds of blog posts might trigger investigations, what might be considered a false claim, and how bloggers might disclose any conflicts of interest. "If you walk into a department store, you know the (sales) clerk is a clerk," the FTC's assistant director of advertising practices Rich Cleland told the Associated Press. "Online, if you think that somebody is providing you with independent advice and... they have an economic motive for what they're saying, that's information a consumer should know."

Needless to say, the blogging world has mixed reactions to the news. Some bloggers fear that they will constantly be investigated by the FTC if they so much as hint at liking something on their blogs. Others say that they already disclose their sponsors for each post and that their readers already understand their relationship with companies that pay them to write. "It's been an issue, regardless of the FTC," fashion blogger Yuli Ziv told the AP. "It's about trust."

The FTC wants bloggers to disclose any compensation they're receiving and for them to back up any claims they make about a particular product. Although any blog would fall under the guidelines, blog posts about mundane details like your cat's food preferences wouldn't be likely to spark an FTC investigation. The FTC declined to go into detail on how any of this would work, but Cleland indicated that the FTC would focus largely on issuing warnings and going after repeat offenders.

The concept of sponsored blogging has always been a contentious one. One of the leading pay-per-post companies PayPerPost decided to change its policies in late 2006 to require disclosure by bloggers who accept money to talk about products or websites, but others still count on the public's ignorance in order to operate.