So, now we have to ask.

A parenting blogger gushes about some brand of cereal. Was she paid by the company? Some dude with a funny avatar posts something about his cool trip to a seaside town. Does he even exist, or was he made up by the town’s ad agency?

While there are a great many marketers who use the Internet ethically, there’s a large and growing number who don’t. And while there are a great many stand-up bloggers who fully disclose when they’ve been paid to review a product, there’s a large and growing number of dirtbags with their hands out, deceiving their followers, happy to say nice things for money. Last month, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) finally had to move against advertisers and their stooge bloggers: disclose your relationships or face fines.

Jesus.

The blogosphere is turning into the post-modern version of those rigged quiz shows from the ’50s. Charles Van Doren, fake TV genius who was secretly paid by advertisers to put on a show, is now HeatherTheMagicMom, secretly paid by advertisers to sit at her kitchen table, behind a veneer of authenticity, and put on a show that’s just as slimy.

Meet the new boss.

Lawyers are already lining up to help companies interpret (get around) and comply with (get around) the new regulations. Soon there will be seminars for bloggers and marketing professionals on how to move forward in a more regulated environment (put the disclosure in really small type).

If you’re under 40, you’re probably not surprised and probably not pissed off. It is what it is. According to research, you’re not even disillusioned by corporate malfeasance anymore. You expect it and navigate accordingly, relying on yourselves, pointing no fingers, letting the world turn as it will.

I don’t know, maybe you’ve got the right idea. Maybe you’ll be less stressed. Maybe you won’t have high blood pressure. Or, maybe, when you look around the table and can’t find the sucker, you’ll realize it’s you. The Internet was yours, is yours. It was going to be the great equalizer. Something truly egalitarian, impervious to cynical manipulation by corporations. It’s amazing how quickly that ideal is getting polluted.

Me, I’m an old fart. I’m pissed off and pointing fingers. Because me and my boomer brothers and sisters, we still trust. We still hate getting screwed. We still make noise when it happens. It’s a fool’s game, this insistence on applying values to a valueless world. But it’s who we are.

And dude, we love the Internet. We haven’t been this culturally engaged since the 70’s.

So, bloggers on company payrolls, pretending to give us independent advice about computers or cruises or power tools? Advertisers who violate the spirit - and now the laws - of Internet use? I am now placing you on the official baby boomer shit list, along with banks, drug companies and the idiots who turned Viva Las Vegas into Viva Viagra.

Remember, we have numbers. We have buying power. And we have Facebook and Twitter. So, liars, forget the FTC. You get right or gray hairs are gonna f*#! you up.

We won’t get fooled again.