"We do not have authority to impose a fine for violation of the (FTC) Act," Cleland told Kang.

Cleland explained that enforcement will mostly be through warning letters, and if things get bad enough, it could be taken to court.

"I have to tell you that there is no realistic scenario that we get from here to there," Cleland said.

Meanwhile, the Electronic Freedom Foundation has predictably come out against the new, useless rules. In particular, the EFF takes exception to the fact that newspaper reporters are not covered under edict.

Cleland explained the FTC’s reasoning to blogger Edward Champion, “Most of the newspapers have very strict rules about that and on what happens to those products.”

Yeah, because newspaper reporters never violate their paper’s ethical standards. Neither do video game journalists for that matter. You truly have a dizzying intellect there, Dick.

However, the commission has a broad definition of what constitutes an endorsement.

“The revised Guides specify that while decisions will be reached on a case-by-case basis, the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement,” said a release by the FTC.

This could be a legal nightmare for reviewers, who often rely on manufacturers to lend the products for review. In fact, most reviewers depend on this system, with a few rare exceptions such as This Week in Tech’s Leo Laporte. Even then, he doesn’t buy every single product he reviews.

This is the first time the guidelines have been updated since 1980. Under those rules, endorsements were considered perfectly fine, as long as the paid endorsers included the line, “results not typical,” but the new mandate removes that safe harbor.

Since this only applies to bloggers residing within the United States, it’s hard to imagine this will do much to curtail astroturfing. And it’s uncertain if this will apply to traditional reporters, however celebrity endorsements are specifically mentioned.

The FTC says that it will enforce the new rules on a “case-by-case basis.” I can’t help but wonder if this will create a chilling effect for American bloggers.

Read a PDF of the new regulations.

Update 20:25 CST: Leo Laporte commented about this on Twitter: “…Fantastic news! I’m clean. Are you?” [In response to @wa4hrk]