3 ms·

Did they have you sign an NDA? It seems like it'd be hard, using this tactic, to protect trade secrets in companies where that's important.

DenisM 17y ago
Secrecy always harms something else. Most obvious example is closed source being less convenient for users to work with when they have to peek inside (e.g. bugs in closed source drivers). Also, I doubt any secret that can e leaned in a day is worth a lot.
staunch 17y ago
I did not sign an NDA. Good point though. This company truly did have very sensitive IP to protect (unlike most companies IMHO). The CTO chaperoned me the entire day and made sure I didn't see/touch/hear anything too sensitive.
DarkShikari 17y ago
Facebook makes everyone who walks in the door sign an NDA, including visitors and people coming in for interviews. It literally takes 15 seconds to do.
- chollida1 17y ago
  Really? How can you read a legal document that quickly? If I was signing something that could get me sued in the future, I'd make darn sure that I read it thoroughly before signing! That's just common sense:)
  - j_baker 17y ago
    You must spend a lot of time reading legal documents then. Damn near everything involves me signing something saying that I can either get sued or can't sue over something.
    - viraptor 17y ago
      I don't think it's that many. This year I signed a new credit card contract, contract extension with my landlord, mobile phone contract, some online service direct debit signup and a car rental paperwork. That's it - and I read all of that. I'm not sure a typical person ever goes over 10 things to sign a year... It's not that many and it really pays off to read them before you sign.
  - randallsquared 17y ago
    Few people read contracts they sign any more. In most of our (U.S., at least) culture, people no longer view a contract as an agreement between party A and party B, but as a paperwork step that has to be signed as a formality. I think most people don't even read their own employment contracts; they just sign however many places it calls for and move on. With EULAs and click-through "contracts" devaluing the term, the average person probably signs hundreds of contracts a year, and reads none of them.
    - madebylaw 17y ago
      I mostly agree with you, but I think it also depends on the types of contracts we're talking about. I definitely read all 20+ pages of my apartment lease before I signed it, but not a word of the iTunes EULA when upgrading it.
  - DarkShikari 17y ago
    It's a half-page NDA. You can read it in about 2 minutes.
    - DougBTX 17y ago
      So it literally takes 15 seconds to do?

DenisM 17y ago

Secrecy always harms something else. Most obvious example is closed source being less convenient for users to work with when they have to peek inside (e.g. bugs in closed source drivers). Also, I doubt any secret that can e leaned in a day is worth a lot.

staunch 17y ago

I did not sign an NDA. Good point though. This company truly did have very sensitive IP to protect (unlike most companies IMHO). The CTO chaperoned me the entire day and made sure I didn't see/touch/hear anything too sensitive.

DarkShikari 17y ago

Facebook makes everyone who walks in the door sign an NDA, including visitors and people coming in for interviews. It literally takes 15 seconds to do.

chollida1 17y ago
Really? How can you read a legal document that quickly? If I was signing something that could get me sued in the future, I'd make darn sure that I read it thoroughly before signing! That's just common sense:)
- j_baker 17y ago
  You must spend a lot of time reading legal documents then. Damn near everything involves me signing something saying that I can either get sued or can't sue over something.
  - viraptor 17y ago
    I don't think it's that many. This year I signed a new credit card contract, contract extension with my landlord, mobile phone contract, some online service direct debit signup and a car rental paperwork. That's it - and I read all of that. I'm not sure a typical person ever goes over 10 things to sign a year... It's not that many and it really pays off to read them before you sign.
- randallsquared 17y ago
  Few people read contracts they sign any more. In most of our (U.S., at least) culture, people no longer view a contract as an agreement between party A and party B, but as a paperwork step that has to be signed as a formality. I think most people don't even read their own employment contracts; they just sign however many places it calls for and move on. With EULAs and click-through "contracts" devaluing the term, the average person probably signs hundreds of contracts a year, and reads none of them.
  - madebylaw 17y ago
    I mostly agree with you, but I think it also depends on the types of contracts we're talking about. I definitely read all 20+ pages of my apartment lease before I signed it, but not a word of the iTunes EULA when upgrading it.
- DarkShikari 17y ago
  It's a half-page NDA. You can read it in about 2 minutes.
  - DougBTX 17y ago
    So it literally takes 15 seconds to do?