Confidentiality agreements

We read many inside stories about confidential decisions taken by large corporations which were leaked to the media. These information were leaked out by their employees who were covered by confidentiality agreements. The employees talked to the journalists and asked for their names to be not published.

Many investors in Singapore are required to sign confidentiality agreement by the financial institution and by FIDREC. They dare not even discuss the matter with people that they need to seek advice. I find that these investors  are rather naive about their legal rights and how to respond to such legal matters.

Compare their behavior with the American employees who are willing to give information to the media that were supposed to be covered by confidentiality agreements, on the understanding that their names will not be quoted and that the information cannot be traced to the source.