Jason Calacanis (biz blog - blog ad type) wants to set up a blog ethics committee.
The purpose would be to set some standards in blog advertising.

If you’re blogging— for money or not—we all have an interest in having a level of comfort when we’re consuming and creating media. Who doesn’t want to know if a blogger is getting paid to write about something? Who doesn’t want to see advertisements clearly labeled and outside of the content space? I can’t think of one reader of blogs who wants to be deceived. Nor do I know a reader who wants to be high-alert trying to spot the ads in the content, let alone waste their brain cycles on figuring out the hidden agenda.

I know there are bloggers who would like to receive income from their blog - and many bloggers run ads. And marketers are trying another way to get their products into the blogosphere.

There has been a lot of talk about “word of mouth” marketing groups that want people to pay them $1,000 to $20,000 in order to “represent them” in the WOM space (they don’t put the insane fees for joining on their website of course). These groups are clearly designed to: a) make the deceitful act of advertisers paying off consumer to do covert marketing as in some way legitimate, and b) give the founders of these organizations a fat salary for doing no work! Look at the code of ethics at BzzAgent.com:

Be conscious of who you tell about BzzAgent! To tell or not to tell? Should BzzAgents reveal their identities? That’s a question for you to decide – carefully – when you’re sharing the Bzz with someone. Some people might think it’s cool. Other people might not understand. The choice is yours. Decide what’s best for each conversation.

That is pathetic. What brands would associate themselves with this kind of behavior?!? You can always tell a liar when they use clever marketing speak like this—normal folk speak English. BzzAgent, if you are encouraging your “bs agents” to lie and deceive people why not just write it in simple English? Here I’ll do it for you:

”Please don’t tell anyone you’re getting paid to promote their products or you’re not going to be as effective. We all get paid on performance, so be sure to keep our deal hidden from the public. Cha-ching baby!!!”

Jeff Jarvis wrote a very short post about blog ethics and that’s all he intends to say about it.
Having seen religious types set rules for god-blogs I have no patience for what I see as a somewhat linear approach to blogging. Why does everything seem to always be about catering to or pursuing money? A committe is (pardon me) anal retentive.

The blogosphere is self correcting and distributed. We don’t need to complicate what is already taking place.

As a blogger it is your content and your credibility. Readers aren’t stupid.
Being open about what you may be recieving in relationships or product that could influence what you say is common sense.
And follow the law regarding copyright.

Jarvis’s ideas are here.

I blog because of the freedom and community of it. Being in media there are a lot of rules, a lot of advertising and frankly I’m sick to death of having ads pushed at me hundreds if not thousands of times in the every day.
I find blog ads and commercialization really annoying.
I have a site policy, any blogger can have one. It wasn’t written by a committee. Blogging is a space to express personal integrity and is not in competition with journalism contrary to those who think it is.
This is my space, advertising isn’t paying for it, and won’t be. It’s my hobby, I’ll carry my own weight. And if I can’t (as last November) I’ll humble myself and ask readers if they feel a contribution is acceptable. I’m not interested in making money and following obsure ethic committee recommendations from the US. I’m not interested in US advertising either. I think this proposition assumes bloggers need a paternal bunch of white middle age top dogs. Homogenizing is an affront to common sense.
How are they going to enforce it, if joining is voluntary?

Nope.
I stopped adding my name to religious portals because rules are tame at first.
Then they change. This is an open medium.
I don’t need or want more walls, there are enough in life.
If you want to make money off your blog, and you live in the US, the idea may appeal to you. That’s cool.
I’ll pass, thanks, and let BDBO and my content and voice stand on their own.
NZ Bear of The Truth Laid Bear (The Ecosystem) adds his thoughts.