Deceptive websites of all kinds can bring on the kind of extreme anger shown in this cartoon (click to enlarge). My last post on The FTC on Deception, Disclosure, and Endorsements " linked to the FTC's stand on disclosure.
However, the FTC is limited in what it can do, in my opinion, from legal and "limited resource" perspectives. Their FTC Complaint Form is structured to deal with fraud involving a financial loss of some kind, although it has an "Explain Your Problem" fill-in-box. This online form is better than an e-mail, but was a challenge for me when I filed a complaint about the Verizon FiOS web site. The reason is that I was upset about FiOS's lack of upfront disclosure regarding not being able to turn back to Verizon DSL, if you canceled their fiber optic Internet service within their 30 Day Money-Back Guarantee. My complaint concerned "deceptive website non-disclosure" at first (and now a "lack of conspicuous disclosure"), which could have caused me a loss of my time (about 20 hours total) vs. an actual loss of money. But, time is money!
Open, honest, upfront, clear, conspicuous, complete, and comprehendable disclosures, disclaimers and caveats on websites can help PREVENT the INTENTIONAL FRAUD, and UNINTENTIONAL MISLEADING of consumers whether there is actual money involved yet in the online process or not.
What I'm concerned with here is the fact that "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure", "A stitch in time saves nine", and even "Where there's smoke, there's (probably) fire". I believe the "Clickstream" that leads down the "Conversion Funnel" gives many advance clues, if you know what to look for.
While the FTC covers a myriad of topics on their "OnGuardOnline.gov" website, many of these pitfalls could be avoided, in my opinion, if you, first, know your rights, and then have your "radar" on while you are being led down the "conversion funnel path". The FTC says it well with their "STOP * THINK * CLICK" advice, especially their "Protect your personal information, it's valuable". I'm glad I did a 9/28/05 post on "Before You "Sign Online", Read OnGuard Online".
I'll give an example of what to look out for in my next post.
12/14/06 UPDATE - The FTC responded to Commercial Alert's petition, and Gary Ruskin posted "FTC Gives “Giant Christmas Present” to P&G, Word of Mouth Marketing Industry". Further discussion on this is at ProBlogger's "Will Affiliate Disclosures Become Required by Law?"
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