🚀 go-pugleaf

>I have not yet seen anything posted that should have been bound by a
>non-disclosure agreement...
>So, what was so awful?  Evidently, I do not wish to incite people to
>divulge confidential information.
...
>[[ I think the biggest concern was over the message sent in by David
>Kovar....I
>suspect that someone (*not* Mr. Kovar) told someone else in violation of
>the agreement, who then told someone else, etc., until someone in the
>chain asked Mr.  Kovar if it was true.  He naturally went to the net for
>confirmation.  --wnl ]]

Mr. Kovar has certainly learned his lesson. wln's estimation of what
happened is quite correct. A student where I worked walked in a few months
back and asked "Have you heard about the Sun machines with the following
characteristics and names?" Without thinking, I posted to Sun-Spots asking
about it. My manager ended up spending a lot of time on the phone with
various people at Sun mere hours after Sun-Spots hit the net, I was
exchanging mail with more people at Sun, and a friend of mine at Sun sent
me mail stating that my name had come up with regards to a non-disclosure
violation.

By not thinking about the situation I jeopardized Harvard's position vis a
vis Sun, wasted a lot of people's time, and disclosed information that Sun
wanted kept quiet but was willing to trust some people with.  I may be
"innocent" in the legal sense but not innocent of stupidity.

For anyone else who might divulge non-disclosure information while
thinking "This can't hurt anyone." or "This wasn't really covered by the
agreement." I have one piece of advice: Don't. The repercussions are not
worth the potential improvement in the knowledge base. And it *can* hurt a
lot of people, you included.

-David Kovar