New HostGator TOS Reflect Stricter Enforcement of FTC Laws for Affiliates

I do, yes.

I always have done: I think honest disclosure, appropriately worded, helps me to sell more.

I'm not in the US and some of my sites are neither registered nor hosted in the US, so I'm not clear to what extent FTC regulations apply to me, but full FTC compliance is something I've always tried to do voluntarily.

The way I look at it is as a potential customer. I ask myself "Would I like to know whether or not the person reviewing this or making this recommendation is being paid for it?" and my answer is "yes".

I think if you asked 1,000 potential customers this question, at least 999 of them would say yes, wouldn't they?

The reality is that FTC regulations gradually come to apply to everyone online anyway, I think, regardless of location, because they become part of the standard terms of service of other online businesses whose services we need: hosting companies, autoresponder companies, and so on. Personally, I think that's a good thing.

There's no downside to "honest disclosure" if everyone does it, and it can only help our profession of "internet marketing" to enjoy a better reputation than the one we currently have, in some quarters, for trying to deceive and mislead people.

So I'm greatly in favour of strong regulation, myself: I think that in the long run the only losers will be people who want to deceive and mislead, and the faster we can get them out of internet marketing, the better for all the rest of us, collectively, really.

Ironically enough, the only people seriously complaining about things like this, I suspect, are the ones causing the exact problems to which these things (and their gradual enforcement) were the entirely predictable and inevitable reaction.

Johnny, I was disclosing affiliate relationships long before the FTC decided it was time to crack down. Never had a problem with it.

I'm not trying to hide anything. If anything, I might be trying to ride the coattails of the company I'm endorsing. Unless they know me, people have no reason to trust what I write. But they trust Amazon, for example.

On most of my sites, I tell people on the 'about me' page that if I forget to identify an affiliate link, it's best to assume I'll make a referral fee if they buy through that link.

Of course, I never endorse anything I'd be ashamed to admit promoting. And I don't write vapid, hypey pseudoreviews.

yes, this email was just sent in the last few hours.