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There's no indication that company was doing anything illegal though.

ethics and legality are different things of course. You need to figure out how to handle things when they are opposed. There are no easy answers.

There is an easy answer. If you feel that there are circumstances under which you cannot abide by the terms of the NDA, then don't sign the NDA.

The problem is most NDAs are for things I can abide by, and I won't know until after signing that this is an exception.

In fact in this case I wouldn't have expected the things the NDA is stopping me from talking about were even things.

How would that work? Normally you don't get to hear much until after you sign the NDA.

Perhaps not illegal, but by definition, unethical, otherwise the NDA on the actual intended role would not be needed.