This page explains how UnblockedTech pays for itself and what the information on the site is and is not suitable for. It is deliberately blunt, because vagueness about funding is how publications lose the trust of their readers.
General information only
Everything on this site is general information and commentary. It is written for a broad audience, without knowledge of your particular circumstances, hardware, network, jurisdiction or risk tolerance.
That means:
- It is not professional advice of any kind.
- It is not legal advice. Data protection and consumer law vary by country and change often. Where we describe a legal requirement, we are summarising for general understanding, not advising you.
- It is not financial or investment advice. We do not recommend buying, selling or holding any asset. Where we write about cryptocurrency or technology companies, it is technical commentary, not a suggestion about what to do with your money.
- It is not medical advice. Where we write about health technology, it is not a substitute for a clinician.
- It is not a security audit. Our security articles describe general good practice. They cannot account for your specific threat model, and following them does not make you secure.
Before acting on anything here in a way that carries real consequences, verify it against the vendor's current documentation and, where the stakes justify it, consult a qualified professional.
Accuracy and the passage of time
We check our work and we correct our mistakes, but technology writing goes stale.
Prices change. Products are discontinued. Specifications are revised between announcement and shipping. Security guidance that was correct last year may be outdated now. A configuration step may have moved to a different menu.
Every article carries a publication date and, where it has been revised, an update date. Please treat those dates as part of the information. If an article is two years old and describes a menu path, expect the menu to have moved.
We do not guarantee that any article is complete, current or error-free. If you find something wrong, tell us and we will fix it.
How we make money
Three ways, in order of significance.
Advertising
The site carries display advertising, principally through Google AdSense. Advert slots are clearly labelled and visually separated from editorial content.
What this means in practice:
- Advertisers do not choose our topics. They buy space on an audience, not influence over content.
- Advertisers do not see articles before publication, and cannot request changes, additions or removals.
- We do not know which advertisers will appear on any given page. Adverts are selected automatically by the advertising network in real time.
- An advert next to an article is not an endorsement, in either direction. A company may advertise on a page containing an article critical of its products, and neither party chose that.
- We do not accept sponsored articles presented as editorial. If we ever publish sponsored content, it will be labelled as advertising at the top, in a way you cannot miss.
If you see an advert on this site that is misleading, offensive or appears to be a scam, please report it to us with a screenshot. We cannot pre-approve individual adverts, but we can block advertisers and categories, and we do.
Affiliate links
Some articles contain links to retailers or services where we would receive a commission if you make a purchase after following the link.
Our rules for these:
- They are disclosed in the article that contains them.
- The commission does not affect our assessment. We recommend the thing we think is best, and where the best option pays us nothing, we say so.
- We do not accept payment for a positive review, and we do not give a company approval over what we write about its product.
- We do not add affiliate links to security guidance where doing so could bias advice that people rely on for their safety.
- Using them costs you nothing. The price is the same as going direct. If you would rather not use them, search for the product yourself; we would still rather you read the article.
Direct reader support
Where we offer a way for readers to support the site directly, it buys no influence over coverage. Supporters get no editorial input, no early access to critical articles, and no ability to have something changed or removed.
Review products and access
Where we write about hardware, the article states how we obtained it:
- Bought at retail. Our default, and the arrangement with fewest strings.
- Loaned by the manufacturer, and returned afterwards. We do not agree to review conditions, approval of copy, or embargoed positive coverage as a condition of the loan.
- Provided permanently, which we disclose prominently. We prefer to avoid this.
We do not accept payment, gifts or hospitality in exchange for coverage, and we do not sign agreements giving a company the right to approve an article before publication. If a company offers access on those terms, we decline and, where it is relevant to readers, we say that we declined.
Third-party content and links
We link to external sites where they are useful. We do not control them and we are not responsible for their content, accuracy, availability or privacy practices. A link is not an endorsement of everything else on that site.
Some articles may include embedded content from third parties, such as video. Where they do, that provider may collect data about you under its own terms. We note this where it applies and we generally prefer static images specifically to avoid it.
User contributions
Comments, tips and messages from readers reflect the views of the people who sent them, not ours. We do not verify reader-submitted claims before they reach us, and repeating something a reader told us is not an endorsement of it.
No warranty, no liability
The site is provided as is, without warranty of any kind. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we accept no liability for loss or damage arising from your use of, or reliance on, anything published here — including loss of data, loss of profit, hardware damage, security incidents, or costs incurred following instructions on this site.
This does not exclude liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, and it does not affect your statutory rights as a consumer. The full position is set out in our Terms & Conditions.
Fair dealing
Where we quote or reference another publication's work, we attribute it, link to it, and keep the extract to what is necessary for commentary or criticism. If you are a rights holder and believe we have gone beyond that, contact us and we will deal with it promptly.
Questions
If anything about our funding or our independence is unclear, ask. We would rather answer an awkward question directly than have a reader assume the worst. Our standards for sourcing, corrections and updates are in the editorial policy.