New Federal Trade Commission Blogger Rules

I won't pretend to be an expert on anything legal (though I know far too much about immigration law for my own comfort). But the new FTC Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, which include disclosure laws for amateur book bloggers, are something I feel that anyone using the internet (whether they run a blog or just use Twitter or Facebook) should know about. Not knowing about them can result in up to $11,000 in fines if you mess up.
The New York Times article about the FTC changes explains some of the reasons the changes were put through (for example, as this post from All About Romance explains, it's to prevent bloggers from writing over-the-top praise for products just because the company sent them those products for free - i.e., "This pill will make you lose 20 lbs in just 2 days! It happened to me, I swear!"). Fair enough, I can understand this side of the argument.
However, in the past 5 days since the announced changes, a number of bloggers and social media writers have come out with very clear counter-arguments against the new guidelines. Courtney Milan writes about the problems this mandatory disclosure rule will cause for anonymous bloggers, and why the FTC regulations are unfair to authors, who may be liable if bloggers writing about their book do not follow the guidelines. Dear Author explains why she thinks the new rules will be misused. Pimp My Novel offers a comprehensive description of more links you should read about the topic, including Slate's article, The FTC's Mad Power Grab; Janet Reid's "Bought and paid for"; as well as Ron Hogan's Open Letter to the FTC. If you like that last one, you should read the rest of Galley Cat's coverage of the topic. You'll also find some thought-provoking articles there about why publishers should be worried about this change, who gets to be an online book reviewer, and how big the FTC's new footprint is (how many people these new laws will effect).
It's a lot to read, I know. But if you own a blog or Twitter account, if you read any blogs regularly, or if you are an author, you should familiarize yourself with these new rules. They could effect you.