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Writing Permission Forms for Network Analysis?
Jacob asks: " I have recently left a consulting/training firm to work in the public sector as a contractor. Part of my job functionality includes analyzing network traffic and security. This of course includes using products such as ethereal, snort, ntop and other network sniffers/analyzers. While working as a consultant I was legally covered by the company in which I worked for. Since I am no longer working for that company I do not have that same protection and I am worried about the possibility of being accused of 'sniffing passwords' or 'viewing confidential data' as a result of a normal network analysis. What is your experience in creating a legally binding contract or permission forms to perform network analysis and/or security audits?"
IMHO, talk to a real lawyer. That way you can be sure the contract is legally binding, as well as probably closing up some legal loopholes that you might overlook yourself.
In situations where you might incur large amounts of liability, it's usually well worth the money to talk to a lawyer.