Edelman was sanctioned by the Word of Mouth Marketing Association and promised to be transparent and honest.

Almost immediately, Edelman was accused of bribing bloggers to write favorable reviews of Microsoft's new Vista operating system. A group of top bloggers were sent top-of-the-line Acer Ferrari notebook computers, retailing for between $1,800 and $2,300, pre-loaded with Windows Vista. Most of the bloggers said nothing about their gifts, but some bragged about their good fortune.

Microsoft/Edelman's lack of transparency was attacked, causing Microsoft to suggest that the bloggers return the laptops or donate them to charity after they tried the software. Uber-blogger Robert Scoble quipped, "Talk about pay-per-post."

Bloggers take notice