1. Not really possible: context potentially includes specific projects, specific privileged technology, customer information, not to mention private data of oth

1. Not really possible: context potentially includes specific projects, specific privileged technology, customer information, not to mention private data of other people. Take for example the following: I use the reporting system to say that an employee is doing a horrible job on project X, using technology Y, therefore causing us to give customer Z a discount. Would you now reveal X, Y, Z, my name, my review, the entire project's status at the time of the review, and few other things that might cause the company many issues down the line? Or will you just say: "his colleagues reported he was lazy and disruptive, not a team player, not a good developer etc."? 2. Not far fetched at all, as I said, I saw it happen more than once. Usually we're discussing just the direct manager and one HR "specialist". I can put whatever I want in your file, whenever I want it. If it ever reaches a court, lawyers may discuss the what, why and when. But as someone else here mentions, people rarely sue their employers, so 99% of the time I can feel completely secure in retconning reality to fit my narrative. 3. Nope. Read through NDAs signed in big companies - they are very one-sided. Unless a court specifically negates an NDA, you may still be charged for violating it. Take again the case in point 1. Suppose said employee responds back to the leak about him being lazy by saying: "our project for customer Z was already behind schedule, due to us switching mid project from Java to Scala" - you just revealed privileged information: name of customer, status of project, technologies used. You may be sued for those. If customer Z decides to cancel their contract as a result of the leak, I'm sure the legal department of the former employer would be glad to talk to the employee about incurred damages. Finally, remember that this is an uneven fight to begin with: ex-employees are usually in a vulnerable position (sometimes even financially), seeking their next job, and with no readily-available legal resources. Employers have legal departments, lawyers on retainer, and significant funds and time to tie you in court. That's why 99.9% of people keep below the radar even when they feel slighted.