Skype or Google Hangout are convenient and widely used tools that enable relatively quick communication between clients and service providers beyond e-mail. There are also free, low-threshold offerings for project management and document exchange that many agencies guilelessly offer their clients for low-friction collaboration. We have always wondered: do these agencies actually not sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with their clients? Well, we know a majority of agencies that do.
And that's exactly where the catch is. Our board member Stephan Luckow has studied the issue extensively, talking to many colleagues and studying mountains of terms of use. He has summarized his findings in the 4-page article Strictly Confidential in the current issue of Screenguide (#30) veröffentlicht. Between us: The provocative working title was "Tools against Confidentiality".
Excerpts:
In summary: Signing the NDA and then continuing to use the convenient free tools - it doesn't add up. You cannot ensure that you have done everything to protect the trade secrets you have been told in confidence.
If the customer does not want to agree to a customised NDA, you only have a few alternatives: The use of software on servers with an operating location in Germany; consistently from hosting companies that are not subsidiaries of US companies; ideally with the operation of free and open source software [...]
We can only recommend reading the entire article. But beware: once you understand it, you can't ignore it.
Supplement
Stephan Luckow
Free/Libre-Open-Source-Lobbyist