Today our guest is Dan Costa, Executive Editor at PCMag, where he oversees product reviews — making him a perfect candidate to discuss the holiday season’s biggest tech items and those pesky FTC guidelines.
And to get the skinny on what’s worth buying, Costa is charged with running PCMag Labs, the in-house testing department where computers, phones et al are put through their paces. When a product comes in, says Costa, it’s bagged and tagged with a serial number and carefully tracked throughout its time at the magazine. This and a strict set of guidelines prevent these “freebies” from going home with reporters, and according to Costa the products are always sent back to their manufacturers.
Costa says that because his publication is on the up and up, the FTC guidelines regarding disclosure don’t really apply. They’re meant more for bloggers working independently, he says. Nonetheless PCMag will publish their internal guidelines so everyone can see where the publication stands.
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