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Comment by ocdtrekkie | Hacker News Reader

As someone who's been on a few NDA'd betas before... I just don't understand why people leak. Is it the feeling they can break the rules without likely facing truly serious repercussions? (Has anyone ever gone to jail or even been seriously fined for violating a video game NDA?) Is it the notoriety of it?

I mean, I won't deny there was a fun factor to having a New York Times reporter beg me to violate a Google NDA once. But even then, I had more fun knowing something the New York Times didn't than breaking my agreement, ruining my personal reputation/credibility as a trustworthy individual, etc.

And generally if I have access to these sorts of things, I'm enthusiastic about what the company is doing, and the last thing I'd want to do is sabotage them.

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NDAs generally fall under civil law, and, with few exceptions (e.g. contempt of court), you can't be incarcerated for civil (rather than criminal) infractions.

You can still be fined to high heaven, though, and subject to forfeiture if you can't pay...

And likely to not be allowed into other programs from other companies as you've now tainted yourself as untrustworthy.

Have you ever actually heard of someone being fined over a video game NDA though? Players being banned for violating NDAs in closed testing isn't super uncommon, but I've never seen someone actually taken to court over it.

It would be up to the plaintiff (e.g. video game company) to claim monetary damages occurred, and to what extent. I haven't heard of it, but that doesn't mean it hasn't happened... the outcomes of many NDA cases are themselves not disclosed.

It either comes down to personal philosophy (such as freedom of information), or fake internet points (or fake internet fame).

Or cash, don't forget cash.

Don't forget good old ignorance either.

Same reason criminals tell strangers about what they’ve done. Humans love to brag.

Could be a great way to get someone you hate fired or sued. Just leak something with an image using your enemies' watermark on it. Or something else that can be tracked back to them.

were you offered compensation for breaking your NDA? because i always assumed that's the reason people leak -- to get one last payday before being blackballed.

No, I was not. But I doubt that would've impacted my decision... At the time, I viewed any sort of involvement with a Google project as a valuable career/networking opportunity.

Did the NYT think you worked for the Pentagon and that NDA stood for National Disclosure Agreement?

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