Book Reviewers for Hire Meet a Demand for Online Raves - NYTimes.com

A discouraging information responsibility reality check

"Mr. Liu estimates that about one-third of all consumer reviews on the Internet are fake. Yet it is all but impossible to tell when reviews were written by the marketers or retailers (or by the authors themselves under pseudonyms), by customers (who might get a deal from a merchant for giving a good score) or by a hired third-party service.
The Federal Trade Commission has issued guidelines stating that all online endorsements need to make clear when there is a financial relationship, but enforcement has been minimal and there has been a lot of confusion in the blogosphere over how this affects traditional book reviews."

Book Reviewers for Hire Meet a Demand for Online Raves - NYTimes.com