Liar Liar, pants on fire
Nose as long as a telephone wire.

I put in that last line because it always struck me as odd. Telephone wire?

Anyway, The blondesense blog has a link to a Times article to a new English law

Hotels, restaurants and online shops that post glowing reviews about themselves under false identities could face criminal prosecution under new rules that come into force next year.Businesses which write fake blog entries or create whole websites purporting to be from customers will fall foul of a European directive banning them from “falsely representing oneself as a consumer”.

From December 31, when the change becomes law in the UK, they can be named and shamed by trading standards or taken to court.

The Times has learnt that the new regulations also will apply to authors who praise their own books under a fake identity on websites such as Amazon.

read the rest here. .


About time. Regular papers are required to mark advertisements. . um, aren't they? (I should know this) If blogs and websites want to gain credibility, it would be great if they had to reveal sources or conflicts of interest.

Heh. Kind of silly because some people will take anyone's advice. I've been at a couple of signings when strangers come up to the table, pick up my book, and ask me, "Will I like this?"

I always say "of course you will!"
I suppose as long as I don't pretend to be someone else, this is not a sueable offense.

Comments

  1. Hey - we always said "hang your undies on a telephone wire". I never heard it any other way. I assumed the undies were on a telephone wire because if your pants are on fire, you just strip down fast and fling clothes everywhere and next thing ya know, your underwear is hanging from a telephone wire, thereby announcing to the world that you are, in point of fact, a liar.

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  2. Anonymous7:30 AM

    I never knew there was a second verse to 'liar liar, pants on fire' LOL.
    As for the fake reviews - good or bad posted in order to influence sales - it seems futile to me to try and control something like that. The author will just ask his buddies to post reviews.
    Which reminds me - have you posted all those fabulously glowing reviews I sent you that I wrote for my own books?
    LOL
    Sam

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