The Science of a Non-Disclosure Agreement

Human beings invented secrets long before they invented lawyers. The first confidentiality agreement probably occurred somewhere in a prehistoric cave when one hunter leaned toward another and whispered, "I found where the good berries grow, but if you tell Thog, I swear I will deny everything."

Unfortunately, prehistoric confidentiality enforcement was somewhat primitive.

Modern civilization eventually improved the system by replacing clubs with contracts.

Today the Non-Disclosure Agreement-universally known as the NDA-appears almost everywhere. Businesses use them when discussing inventions. Employers use them when employees gain access to proprietary information. Technology companies use them around software and product development. Movie producers use them to protect scripts, casting decisions, budgets, locations, and the fact that the star apparently requires seventeen identical bathrobes in the trailer. Investors encounter them. Consultants encounter them. Contractors encounter them. Researchers encounter them. Celebrities encounter them. Occasionally a person encounters one simply because somebody with a printer has become extremely enthusiastic about confidentiality.