FTC Tells Search Engines to Disclose Paid Links

linderdm writes "CNN has an article describing how the FTC wants search engines who receive payment for higher rated links, to disclose this to users. The concern is that users go to search engines looking for the best results for their search criteria, not the highest paid results for their search."

Comments

Re:Stacking engines based on being paid...

[Disevidence]

If they're really into this for the consumer, then they should be investigating spyware and malicious web-pages under their jurisdiction.

While this is good news for helping net newbies, i don't think they did this for the consumers. Probably a few well-known companies were a bit pissed off that search engines linked to competitors over them.

But if they are in it for the proper reasons, more power to them, and start addressing spyware.

Re:Stupid Idea

[yali]

The more the government interferes with business, particularily online business the less of a free market it actually is.

This criticism doesn't work even from a pro-free-market perspective. Free markets depend on informed actors. If you really believe in free markets, then the government absolutely has an obligation to ensure that economic actors can base decisions on reliable information. (See WorldCom, Enron, Xerox, et al.). The more consumers know, the better the free market works.

best use of their time?

[frovingslosh]

We can't get our gub'mint to outlaw spam, but they can spend their time telling search engines how to do business! Sure, I think this info should be disclosed too, but on a priority basis there are a lot of other things I would rather see the effort spent on, and I'm not sure what legal basis they have to tell a site how to present links.

As long as the site isn't outright claiming that they don't bias searches based on 'ad revenue' (payola), I don't see that they have done anything wrong in doing it. Could be an unwise move to do it if there is a public backlash, but it doesn't strike me as anything that tax paid "public servants" need to stick their nose in.

Re:Totalitarians begin small

[Bilbo]

If we let them get away with this, it's one fast ride down a greased up slippery slope to control of information on the net.

Please check to see that your brain is in gear before letting your mouth run off.

The FTC isn't saying anything about how these corporations can conduct their business, or how they do their rankings, or who they accept money from. They aren't forbidding search engines from making money, or placing some sites ahead of others based on how much they have been paid.

All they are saying is that, when the results are presented to the customer, "matches" which are made primarily based on sponsorship are simply marked as such, so that the customer is able to make an informed choice.

Re:Google

[JamesOfTheDesert]

Gee, I wonder why Google discloses this information without the State stepping in and twisting its arm? Hm. And I wonder why people like Google so much. Hm.

Maybe this is a non-problem. People will go towards the site that gives them the most reliable results. It's easy enough to learn which search engines are upfront about paid links, and which aren't. Caveat emptor, the better sites will win out. Having the State mandate behavior just encourages users to stop taking responsibility for their own behavior. People start assuming everything is safe and on the level, because hey, the State must be controlling it.