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I guess it takes a while, but you can now add bloggers as a legitimate source of information, at least according to the FTC:
The Federal Trade Commission…can go after bloggers – as well as the companies that compensate them – for any false claims or failure to disclose conflicts of interest.
So this will make bloggers, commenters, and those associated with providing “tainted” information even more responsible for their content.
I imagine having Google push its PageRank status down a couple of notches would be enough to curb any nefarious activities.
Maybe Google and the FTC can work out a deal here – the FTC tips Google off to “bad bloggers”, Google drops their PageRank down and requires the addition of a “few” FTC advertisements on the bad blog.