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AMD NDA Scandal

Posted by kdawson on from the all-your-words-are-belong dept.

crazyeyes writes "Just two weeks ago, a Thai journalist walked out of the hush-hush AMD event in Singapore over a controversial NDA that required him to 'send any stories to the vendor before his newspaper can publish it.' AMD categorically denied it happened, but today, we not only have proof that it happened, we also have the sordid details of the entire affair. Here's a quote from the editorial: 'First off, the non-disclosure agreement covered everything confidential said or written over the next two years on the product, and had a duration of five years, during which anything published or used in marketing would have to receive written approval from AMD before it could be used. Worse, at the end of the five years, all copies of the information made would have to be returned to the chipmaker.'"

3 of 187 comments (clear)

  1. Back to school for you! by ColdWetDog · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You are also forgetting the NDA is excluding basic human rights organized by the constitution, one of which is the freedom of the press.

    Did you sleep all the way through your civics classes? "Freedom of the press" refers to prohibitions by the U.S. Federal government concerning what journalists can publish. Private entities are "free" to restrict how their own confidential information is dispersed.

    You really need to get out more often.

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  2. kdawson by uofitorn · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Seriously, who is this guy? All he ever does is post stories that link to sketchy blog postings that tend to bash MS and other big corporations. I'll be amazed when I see a story by him that contains some actual substance.

    --
    "What kind of music do pirates listen to?" -Paul Maud'dib
    "Yeeeaaarrrrr n' Bee!!" -Stilgar, Leader of Sietch Tabr
  3. Re:If the journalist was stupid enough to sign it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    'or' is just a way to factor a sentence much like you would factor an equation. 'publish or used in marketing' can be split into two ideas, 'published in marketing' and 'used in marketing'. 'published in marketing' makes no sense while 'used in marketing' does and additionally implies additional actions beyond publishing.

    Because 'publish in marketing' does not make sense, 'used' must be bound to 'in marketing' and the meaning of the phrase becomes 'publish' OR 'used in marketing'.