Non-disclosure agreement
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A non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is a legal contract or part of a contract between at least two parties that outlines confidential material, knowledge, or information that the parties wish to share with one another for certain purposes, but wish to restrict access to. The purpose of such contracts is often primarily to prevent the disclosure of information covered by the agreement. An NDA creates a confidential relationship between the parties, typically to protect any type of confidential and proprietary information or trade secrets. As such, an NDA protects non-public business information. Like all contracts, they cannot be enforced if the contracted activities are illegal.
NDAs are commonly signed when two companies, individuals, or other entities (such as partnerships, societies, etc.) are considering doing business and need to understand the processes used in each other's business for the purpose of evaluating the potential business relationship. NDAs can be "mutual", meaning both parties are restricted in their use of the materials provided, or they can restrict the use of material by a single party. An employee can be required to sign an NDA or NDA-like agreement with an employer, protecting trade secrets.
Why this is an issue
Sometimes repair information, such as schematics, source code or software tools may be covered by an NDA. Making it difficult for users to learn how to service, maintain and repair and improve on a product. This becomes a particular issue when a manufacturer no longer supports a product.
When product details are hidden, faults, such as security vulnerabilities may be more likely to go undetected.
Some manufacturers attempt to manipulate reviews by forbidding users from revealing benchmark results or other information about a product.