NDA for remote developers?

[craig.duncan]

We are currently working with an offshore company on some database development, and it is easiest for us to provide an instance of the database with our data included.

Does anyone have a good model for a non-disclosure agreement when working with outside developers?

Thanks,

Craig

[SeanF]

Hi Craig,

I have faced the same issue in the past, and it is especially pronounced when the development work requires giving complete access to the server or all of the source code. 

NDAs are very common with freelancers in the US, but if a NDA is signed with a semi-anonymous developer in a jurisdiction where enforcement is unrealistic makes it a difficult decision. One can try and work with IT shops rather than individual developers, but they often just re-outsource the work to individuals anyway.

Realistically, the options are to either trust the developer, or to try and give them small pieces of work, which then have to be re-assembled by an in-house developer. It also makes it difficult to outsource for server administration or the like.

In your particular case the best option would be to write scripts to obfuscate the sensitive data, or else prepare a smaller database containing only fictional data. If the work requires large datasets, consider adding the creation of dummy data as a work item. 

Regards,

Sean

[Damir Simunic]

I second that: if you can’t avoid giving access to your production dataset, the best is to copy it and obfuscate (or create a fake  replica of the approximately same size). Even with the most respectable/largest agencies you have no guarantees, NDA or not.

Check out fakenamegenerator.com: “order in bulk” option lets you generate up to 50.000 names/addresses/emails/credit cards/national ids/etc., with tunable demographics, for free.

Best,

Damir

p.s. Believe it or not, five years ago or so I get a proposal portfolio from an offshore company that included detailed data from a few of their other customers: chat transcripts, company data, contracts, etc. It was all just dumped in one big blob of stuff they send over to each prospective employer.

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