Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Full Disclosure

On October 5 2009 the Federal Trade Commission in the United States published an 81 page guideline requiring that all product endorsements and testimonials on web sites, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media disclose "...their connection, if any, with the advertisers; and also reveal the receipt of free products and or payments from the advertisers" effective today, December 1 2009.

This page will be updated to make clear my commercial relationships going forward and will be permanently linked on the site's side panel, found on the right side of this blog.

I am employed by Embarcadero Technologies Oracle.

I have Amazon, Google and B&H Photo advertisements on this blog and I earn a percentage of the sale if you click on the link and buy the item. I don't do it for the money, I do it to provide the readers of this blog links to products that I think are exceptional. I would not provide a link to the product if I didn't think it was exceptional and I didn't already use it. I really don't earn much but it's something and it is fun to get a check once in a while.

I have had a working relationship with Apple since the release of Aperture. I have done contract photography for them, they have provided me with long term use of software and hardware (although more software than hardware) and paid me money (although I think I have given them more money over the years than they have given me). I have also owned stock in Apple for years. None of this influences what I write here about their products.

I own stock in various companies but mostly are in mutual funds so chances are if there is a stock some fund manager has purchased a small percentage of it with a few of my dollars and I guarantee none of that influences stuff that I write.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This page will be updated to make clear my commercial relationships going forward and will be permanently linked on the site's side panel, found on the right side of this blog.

I am employed by Embarcadero Technologies.


Hmmm.... I thought that this is/was clear when one reads the blog's title:

Chris Bensen

I am a Senior R&D Engineer at Embarcadero Technologies. This is my blog about Delphi, Photography, and stuff I find interesting.


Anyway, nice from your side. :-)

Chris Bensen said...

windwings,

Yes, it is clear as it was intended that way. However the new rules require more disclosure which is what this post is about. At the time I discuss any product I must also disclose any professional relationship, products that were loaned or given (including T-Shirts from conferences). I always thought it was a good idea to disclose personal biased so readers find authors trustworthy. So this will be my attempt to comply with the authority and at the same time be more thorough with my biases, I mean disclosure :)

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