FTC TO BLOGGERS: You’ve got us all wrong. “We are not planning on investigating individual bloggers. . . . We’re not interested in playing gotcha in the gray areas.”

UPDATE: FTC charged with being misleading and deceptive.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Ann Althouse doesn’t trust the government. At least, not fully after she’s parsed the statement.

MORE: I’m reminded of what Clay Whitehead said about Nixon’s use of the FCC against his critics: “The main value of the Sword of Damocles is that it hangs, not that it drops.”

Especially since, when it does fall, it’s often revealed as much duller and flimsier than it looked when it was suspended up in the air.