Should a private contract that requires a citizen to sign away a fundamental right (the right to say something that is not confidential, is objectively true and does not incite violence) be enforceable?

Not sure if all three conditions apply here though.

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Aurornis 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

You can’t be forced to sign away your rights, but you can make an agreement to enter into an arrangement with confidential information with another party and agree to penalties if the contract is broken.

Making anyone free to reveal anything without consequences even after entering into an agreement about it isn’t going to work. You’re probably thinking only about the narrow case where a company is wrong and the employee is whistleblowing, but that is protected when done through the right channels.

However this wasn’t really whistleblowing. This was someone trying to make profit on her own book and sell more copies by sharing info she agreed not to.

	▲	catlifeonmars 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Whether or not the whistleblower makes a profit is kind of irrelevant though.

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cmiles74 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

In this article, I believe the UK is asking this same question. It will be interesting to see where they land; I suspect this is why the author hasn’t had to pay any fines yet.

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twoodfin 11 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

She wasn’t required. She had the agency to choose not to sign it.

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JKCalhoun 10 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I don't think that matters in terms of whether it is even enforceable. I could sign a document allowing management to take my first born son but them doing so is not legal. "But he signed it!"

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loeg 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/unconscionability

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twoodfin 10 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Sure. Was that what happened here, or was it an everyday contract to enforce confidentiality in return for some benefit?

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cmiles74 9 hours ago | parent [-]

If people are being forced to sign anti-disparagement agreements “everyday”, I think that is pretty concerning.

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twoodfin 8 hours ago | parent [-]

She was forced to sign it?

	▲	JKCalhoun 8 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Hard to know. If she did not sign it was she waiving her severance package? Perhaps she signed it believing it was unenforceable. I suppose when one side has lawyers, we all need them now?

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luckylion 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

You could also sign an NDA. And then you'd be bound by that NDA to not disclose the information it is protecting. Should penalties from that should also be non-enforceable because it would limit what you can say?

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hliyan 11 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Consider that you have no agency if a gun is pointed at you, and that you do have agency if the gun is a water pistol. In your mind, does everything in between exist in a spectrum, or do they fall into one of the two buckets into which the above two scenarios fell? I.e. is your conception of agency binary or continuous?

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jowea 10 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

We aren't allowed to sell ourselves into slavery.

	▲	tzs 8 hours ago \| parent [-]
		A significant difference is that it is not legal to own slaves or trade in slaves. That makes contracts for the sale of slaves inherently unenforceable. It is not illegal to refrain from speaking. If you want to enter into a contract that requires you not to speak under certain circumstances there is probably nothing inherently unenforceable about it. I'm pretty sure for example it would be legal for the Diogenes Club [1] to expel you if you violated their no talking rule, if someone would actually make a real Diogenes Club. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diogenes_Club