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.

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.