Last Updated: March 2026
1. Introduction and Acceptance of Terms
Welcome to The News Briefing: Architecting the Local Cloud (“this site,” “the website”), operated by Donna Parker and accessible at thenewsbriefing.com.
These Terms and Conditions (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of this website, including all content, articles, guides, tutorials, configuration examples, and any other materials published on this site. By accessing or using this site in any way, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms in full.
If you do not agree with any part of these Terms, you must stop using this site immediately.
These Terms apply to all visitors, readers, and users of thenewsbriefing.com, regardless of how you access the site — whether through a desktop browser, mobile device, RSS feed, or any other means.
2. About This Website
The News Briefing: Architecting the Local Cloud is an independently operated publication focused on self-hosted infrastructure, media server hardware and configuration, personal cloud productivity, and local smart home automation.
Site Owner and Operator: Donna Parker 📧 admin@thenewsbriefing.com
This is a personal publication operated by a single individual. It is not a corporation, agency, or commercial software vendor. All content is produced independently based on personal testing and professional experience.
3. Intellectual Property and Copyright
3.1 Ownership of Content
All original content published on this site — including but not limited to written articles, guides, tutorials, configuration walkthroughs, annotated screenshots, editorial commentary, and the overall selection and arrangement of content — is the intellectual property of Donna Parker and is protected under applicable copyright law.
3.2 Permitted Use
You are permitted to:
- Read, access, and use the content on this site for your own personal, non-commercial purposes
- Share links to individual articles on this site on social media, forums, or personal communications
- Quote brief excerpts from articles for non-commercial editorial purposes, provided that proper attribution is given and a direct link back to the original article is included
3.3 Prohibited Use
You are strictly prohibited from:
- Reproducing, republishing, or redistributing any content from this site — in whole or in part — on any other website, publication, or platform without explicit prior written permission from Donna Parker
- Copying articles, guides, or tutorials and publishing them under your own name or on another domain
- Scraping, crawling, or systematically extracting content from this site for use in any database, AI training dataset, content aggregation service, or competing publication
- Using any content from this site for commercial purposes without explicit written permission
- Removing or altering any copyright notices, author attributions, or disclaimers from content copied with permission
3.4 Third-Party Trademarks
Software names, product names, brand names, and trademarks referenced on this site — including but not limited to Plex, Jellyfin, Emby, Nextcloud, Docker, Cloudflare, Home Assistant, Tailscale, Intel, Nvidia, Google, Amazon, and others — are the property of their respective owners. Their use on this site is strictly for informational and descriptive editorial purposes. This site has no affiliation with, is not endorsed by, and does not claim any rights to any of these trademarks.
3.5 Copyright Infringement Claims
If you believe any content on this site infringes upon your copyright, please contact me immediately at admin@thenewsbriefing.com with the following information:
- A description of the copyrighted work you believe has been infringed
- The specific URL on this site where the allegedly infringing content appears
- Your contact information
- A statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use is not authorized by the copyright owner
I will review all valid infringement claims and respond promptly.
4. Use of This Website
4.1 Permitted Use
This site is made available for lawful personal and informational use only. You agree to use this site only for purposes that are legal, appropriate, and consistent with these Terms.
4.2 Prohibited Conduct
By using this site, you agree that you will not:
- Use this site in any way that violates applicable local, national, or international law or regulation
- Attempt to gain unauthorized access to any part of this site, its hosting infrastructure, or any systems connected to it
- Introduce viruses, malware, or any other malicious code through interaction with this site
- Use automated tools, bots, or scrapers to harvest content or data from this site at scale
- Attempt to interfere with the normal operation of this site or its hosting services
- Use this site to transmit unsolicited commercial communications of any kind
- Impersonate the site owner, any other person, or any entity in connection with this site
4.3 Technical Access
You access this site through standard web protocols. Any attempt to probe, scan, or test the security of this site’s infrastructure without explicit written authorization is strictly prohibited and may constitute a criminal offense under applicable cybercrime laws.
5. Disclaimer of Warranties
This site and all content published on it are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis, without warranties of any kind, either express or implied.
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, Donna Parker expressly disclaims all warranties, including but not limited to:
- Accuracy — While every effort is made to ensure the information on this site is correct and current at the time of publication, no warranty is given that any content is free from errors, omissions, or outdated information. Technology changes, and guides that were accurate when published may become partially or fully incorrect over time.
- Fitness for a Particular Purpose — No warranty is given that any configuration, command, workflow, or guide published on this site will be suitable for your specific hardware, software environment, or use case.
- Uninterrupted Access — No warranty is given that this site will be available at all times, free from technical interruptions, or accessible from all locations or devices.
- Security — No warranty is given that this site or its hosting environment is entirely free from vulnerabilities or security risks.
You use this site and apply information from it entirely at your own risk.
6. Limitation of Liability
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, Donna Parker shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special, or punitive damages arising out of or in connection with your use of this site or reliance on any content published here.
This includes, but is not limited to:
- Data loss resulting from following any guide, command, or workflow published on this site
- Hardware damage resulting from firmware flashing, configuration changes, or any other procedure described on this site
- Service downtime resulting from applying configuration changes to a running server or home network
- Security breaches resulting from implementing any networking, reverse proxy, or authentication setup described on this site
- Financial loss resulting from hardware purchases made based on content or recommendations on this site
- Any other loss or damage of any nature arising from your use of this site or reliance on its content
This limitation of liability applies regardless of whether the claim is based on contract, tort, negligence, strict liability, or any other legal theory, and regardless of whether Donna Parker has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
If you are dissatisfied with this site or any content on it, your sole remedy is to stop using the site.
7. Accuracy of Information and Corrections
7.1 No Guarantee of Accuracy
All content on this site is based on personal testing and professional experience at the time of writing. Configuration guides, command-line instructions, and software-specific workflows reflect the versions and behaviors of the relevant tools as they existed when the article was written.
Software is updated frequently. What works in one version may break in the next. I make no guarantee that any specific command, configuration parameter, or workflow will function identically across all software versions, hardware configurations, or operating system environments.
7.2 Corrections Policy
If you identify a factual error, an outdated configuration, or a broken workflow in any article on this site, I actively encourage you to report it. Contact me at admin@thenewsbriefing.com with the specific article URL and the nature of the error. Confirmed errors are corrected and the article’s update date is revised accordingly.
8. Advertising and Affiliate Relationships
8.1 Google AdSense
This site displays advertisements served through Google AdSense. These advertisements are selected and served automatically by Google based on site content and visitor behavior. The presence of an advertisement on this site does not constitute an endorsement of the advertised product, service, or company by this site or by Donna Parker.
This site has no direct control over which specific advertisements are displayed. If you encounter an advertisement that is inappropriate, misleading, or offensive, you may report it to Google directly through the AdChoices icon displayed on the ad.
8.2 Affiliate Links
This site participates in affiliate advertising programs, including the Amazon Associates Program and potentially others. Articles on this site may contain affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and make a purchase, this site may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.
Affiliate relationships do not influence the editorial content, recommendations, or opinions expressed on this site. All product mentions and recommendations are based on personal use and testing, not on affiliate commission potential.
All affiliate relationships are disclosed in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines on endorsements and testimonials.
8.3 Sponsored Content
This site does not currently publish sponsored content or paid reviews. If this policy changes in the future, sponsored content will be clearly labeled as such.
9. Third-Party Links and External Resources
Articles on this site frequently link to third-party websites, official documentation, GitHub repositories, community forums, and other external resources. These links are provided purely for reader convenience and informational purposes.
This site has no control over the content, availability, accuracy, or data practices of any third-party website. The inclusion of a link to an external resource does not imply endorsement of that resource, its content, its owners, or any products or services it offers.
Third-party websites operate under their own terms of service and privacy policies. You access any third-party site linked from this site entirely at your own risk. I accept no responsibility for any content, data practices, or outcomes associated with third-party websites.
External links may become outdated or broken over time. If you find a broken or outdated external link, you are welcome to report it to admin@thenewsbriefing.com.
10. Comments and User-Generated Content
If this site enables a comments section or any form of user-submitted content in the future, the following terms apply:
- You are solely responsible for any content you submit
- You grant this site a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to display your submitted content on this site
- You must not submit content that is unlawful, defamatory, harassing, obscene, or that infringes upon any third party’s intellectual property rights
- This site reserves the right to remove any user-submitted content at any time without notice or explanation
- This site is not responsible for any user-submitted content or any consequences arising from it
11. Privacy
Your use of this site is also governed by this site’s Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference. The Privacy Policy explains what data is collected when you visit this site, how it is used, and what rights you have regarding that data.
You can read the full Privacy Policy at thenewsbriefing.com/privacy-policy.
By using this site, you also consent to the data practices described in the Privacy Policy.
12. Availability and Technical Issues
12.1 No Guarantee of Availability
This site is hosted on third-party infrastructure. While I make reasonable efforts to keep the site available and functional, I cannot guarantee uninterrupted access. The site may be temporarily unavailable due to:
- Scheduled or unscheduled maintenance
- Hosting provider outages or technical failures
- Distributed denial-of-service attacks or other security incidents
- Domain or DNS configuration issues
- Any other technical circumstances beyond my control
I accept no liability for any loss or inconvenience caused by temporary unavailability of this site.
12.2 Changes to the Site
I reserve the right to modify, update, remove, or restructure any content, page, feature, or section of this site at any time without prior notice. This includes removing or archiving articles, changing the site’s structure, or discontinuing the site entirely.
13. Indemnification
By using this site, you agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Donna Parker from and against any and all claims, damages, losses, costs, and expenses — including reasonable legal fees — arising out of or relating to:
- Your use of this site or any content on it
- Your violation of these Terms
- Your violation of any applicable law or regulation in connection with your use of this site
- Any content you submit to this site, if a submission feature is available
14. Governing Law and Jurisdiction
These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with applicable law. Any disputes arising out of or in connection with these Terms or your use of this site shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts in the applicable jurisdiction of the site operator.
If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable or invalid under applicable law, that provision shall be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable, and the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect.
15. Severability
If any clause or provision of these Terms is determined to be unlawful, void, or unenforceable for any reason, that clause shall be deemed severable from the remainder of these Terms and shall not affect the validity or enforceability of the remaining provisions, which shall continue in full force and effect.
16. Entire Agreement
These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and Disclaimer published on this site, constitute the entire agreement between you and Donna Parker regarding your use of this site. They supersede any prior agreements, representations, or understandings — whether written or oral — relating to your use of this site.
17. Changes to These Terms
I reserve the right to update or modify these Terms at any time. When changes are made, the Last Updated date at the top of this page will be revised to reflect the date of the most recent revision.
It is your responsibility to review these Terms periodically. Your continued use of this site after any changes to these Terms constitutes your acceptance of the revised Terms. If you do not agree with the revised Terms, you must stop using this site.
For significant changes that materially affect your rights or obligations, I will make reasonable efforts to provide notice — for example, by posting a notice on the site’s homepage.
18. Contact Information
If you have any questions about these Terms, want to report a violation, request permission to reproduce content, or raise any other concern related to your use of this site, contact me directly. I am the sole operator of this site and handle all correspondence personally.
📧 admin@thenewsbriefing.com
I aim to respond to all inquiries within 48 to 72 hours on business days.
