Andrew Breitbart, the conservative blogger whom Fox News called “one of the nation’s most influential commentators,” died this morning, “unexpectedly from natural causes”. But already there is a whisper campaign: was it really natural causes? Or was he killed for what he was about to reveal?

Amina Arraf, the lesbian Syrian blogger and purported authoress of the blog ‘A Gay Girl in Damascus’, has been unmasked and discovered to be a decidedly straight 40-year-old man named Tom MacMaster, who lives with his wife in Georgia.

The city of Philadelphia has taken that age-old pastime – trying to get blood out of a stone – to a new high tech high: trying to get money out of a hobby blogger. Philadelphia may be the ‘city of brotherly love’, but it’s certainly not the city of bloggerly love, especially not with Philadelphia charging bloggers what amounts to a $300 blogging tax. Oh sure, Philadelphia officials call it a “business privilege license”, but when you require it of someone who hasn’t monetized their blog at all, well, that’s not much of a business model, is it? Of course, it’s a dandy business model for Philadelphia, right up there with states charging an affiliate sales tax.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) today published its updated rules governing the publication of endorsements and testimonials by “consumers, experts, organizations, and celebrities” (in other words, everybody). The updated rules governing online testimonials and endorsements arguably now cover bloggers, Internet marketers, affiliates, and others who promote (including through endorsing or testimonial) products or services on the Internet. The bottom line is, if you talk about a product or service, and if you put it out on or via the Internet, and if you stand to gain on it, you’d better disclose that relationship.