I applaud the idea of full disclosure and I hope that all web bloggers provide accurate information moving forward. As a university professor, I do some consulting. I am required and in fact there is a university web site open to the public where any company I receive over 5000 dollars in a year is listed. .I have confidentiality agreements with the company and while the information I learn and discuss is confidential, I have to disclose the name of the company,my role (e.g. consultant etc), and time. There is one thing I am not sure I understand and write for clarification. MR states that with an NDA he cannot and/or will not disclose the name of the companies he consults for. Is this a requirement as part of the NDA or is it an individual's choice to disclose or not.

Michael was always pretty open about mentioning some of the companies he was working with. He mentioned doing a WS on behalf of Sony Canada recently for instance, so there must be a good reason for him not to mention other manufacturers.

Regards,
Bernard

The only time I do not disclose companies that I work with are when there is no product review or mention on the web site. Then, it's no one's business but mine. If I write about a product that I've been involved with on a consulting basis, it's always mentioned.

Michael

Michael: I'm not surprised by your straightforward and candid writing about disclosure, but I do applaud it.

Mike.

Please do not get me wrong. I respect that Michael has always seemed to disclose potential or even perceived conflicts of interest, and admits he purchases his own gear. I do respect that and I hope that the other web blog sites will follow the same type of responsible activities. I just wondered whether the NDAs in this business specifically requires no disclosure of the consultancy or whether that is a personnel choice. M

Does it matter? It's his policy. Either he has the our trust or he doesn't. MR's site is just one of many options on the internet.

I'm guessing it's the same as in other businesses, where they sometimes do and sometimes don't require the NDA itself to be secret, but there's an amusing example of the former in this M9 review. See the tale in the "Last Word" section at the bottom, where it sounds like he couldn't say "Yes, I'm testing a new camera for Leica but I can't tell you anything about it" but instead had to pretend he was using an M8.

I can only go by my own experience. I've done presentations and testimony to US Federal regulatory agencies and Congress as part of my job. All financial relationships with the regulated industry must be disclosed (consultancies, stock holdings, etc.). Confidentiality of an NDA is not protected. That being said, I think Michael's approach is fine for this medium and I applaud him for doing it. The disclosure language is among the best I've seen. Well done!!!