The Trouble With NDAs

Do NDAs trouble you too? I’ve had to sign a few NDAs (Non-Disclosure Agreement) over the last few years. And they’ve stressed me terribly, as they are sometimes used as an intimidating, bullying tool, slapped in front of you at perhaps a vulnerable point in your life, and you’re told, “Sign, or else.”

I’ve refused to sign a couple, though. Particularly ones that have a non-compete clause in them. Be firm with these things and also with the kind of people waving them around. Have confidence in yourself. Don’t be intimidated. Take time to READ through documents carefully before you sign, well… anything.

And seek a lawyer. I’ve bugged the crap out of lawyerin’ friends and family with these NDA docs, getting them to review them for me, at no charge to me of course. And I’ll do it again if I have to.

From the About.com article – things to look out for in your NDA:

• That you can’t work for a competitor for one to two years
• That anything you conceived of while employed is the property of the company, even if you did it on your own time
• That you give up your right for a trial if there is an issue with the contract

Blog To The Death

Blogging – only the strong survive. From today’s NYT:

They work long hours, often to exhaustion. Many are paid by the piece — not garments, but blog posts. This is the digital-era sweatshop. You may know it by a different name: home.

A growing work force of home-office laborers and entrepreneurs, armed with computers and smartphones and wired to the hilt, are toiling under great physical and emotional stress created by the around-the-clock Internet economy that demands a constant stream of news and comment.

Of course, the bloggers can work elsewhere, and they profess a love of the nonstop action and perhaps the chance to create a global media outlet without a major up-front investment. At the same time, some are starting to wonder if something has gone very wrong. In the last few months, two among their ranks have died suddenly.

Full story here.