if it prohibits voluntary cooperation, probably ok. Involuntary cooperation (subpoena, etc) is compelled no matter what you signed - but I am not sure if an NDA prohibiting it is unlawful. (Though it’s definitely unenforceable)
Suppose you work for an email provider and you agree not to talk to law enforcement about your customers’ data without a subpoena. Seems pretty legit to me.
If that communication was about a user talking at being at a cafe on a certain day and law enforcement knew that a murder went down at that cafe, then I think it’s enforceable, probably. If you’re reading your server logs and see (and believe genuine) an email arranging a murder then your employer couldn’t restrict you from reporting it to law enforcement.
You can’t be compelled to criminal activity by a contract and nor can you be prevented from reporting criminal activity by a contract. Trump could get everyone in Trump tower to sign whatever contract he wanted but if he sexually assaulted someone in the lobby he’d have no legal grounds to prevent someone from reporting it to the police.
if it prohibits voluntary cooperation, probably ok. Involuntary cooperation (subpoena, etc) is compelled no matter what you signed - but I am not sure if an NDA prohibiting it is unlawful. (Though it’s definitely unenforceable)
Even voluntary cooperation being okay is pretty wild, conceptually. What possible purpose could that serve but covering up crimes?
Suppose you work for an email provider and you agree not to talk to law enforcement about your customers’ data without a subpoena. Seems pretty legit to me.
Yknow, that’s pretty reasonable. Thanks for a good example!
I imaging that this scenario would be regulated by data protection laws and contracts, not by NDAs.
If that communication was about a user talking at being at a cafe on a certain day and law enforcement knew that a murder went down at that cafe, then I think it’s enforceable, probably. If you’re reading your server logs and see (and believe genuine) an email arranging a murder then your employer couldn’t restrict you from reporting it to law enforcement.
You can’t be compelled to criminal activity by a contract and nor can you be prevented from reporting criminal activity by a contract. Trump could get everyone in Trump tower to sign whatever contract he wanted but if he sexually assaulted someone in the lobby he’d have no legal grounds to prevent someone from reporting it to the police.
Does that imply that the NDA would spell out what they weren’t supposed to talk to the police about, like customer records or something like that?
A blanket ban on speaking with the police would be pretty broad and likely stifle reporting of illegal activities.
That’s what I had in mind, yes. A blanket ban sounds super shady.
No NDA can protect illegal activities.
Think about it. the enforcement of an NDA is going to go through the courts. “So what was the NDA protecting?”
“Your honor we paid the witness to answer a certain way” is… not going to end well. For anyone involved.
The only exception I’m aware of- and it’s not really one I’m sure of- is if you take a settlement from cops as a result of police misconduct.
It is unlawful.