legal, intellectual-property, llc, internet, non-disclosure-agreementLet’s say I’m doing paid engineering work at a start-up after having signed a mutual non-disclosure agreement. Let’s say I create a free web account on a forum to obtain technical knowledge from that forum’s users, and I make and read posts during working hours. Does the start-up own the information contained in my posts? Are there any restrictions on my web account after my contract is over?
Does the start-up own the information contained in my [forum] posts?
IANAL, and you’ll want to check with an actual one if you’re really curious about the specifics, but I’d gather the information you post becomes the property of the entity running the forum, owing to the Terms of Service you (implicitly or explicitly) agreed to upon signing up.
This pretty much makes your other question moot. If you’ve absolutely no use for the account after your assignment is done, you could offer to set its email and password to something tied to your employer and give them the details if they want it. The account itself would then become theirs to use as they see fit, with full access to its history of forum posts. (Frankly though, no company I can think of would bother.)
With all that being said, there is one thing you should be wary about: don’t post sensitive information on a web forum as part of your work assignment – your NDA explicitly forbids you from doing so.
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