[arin-ppml] Fraud reporting and self-incrimination

[Michael Loftis]

On Fri, Nov 5, 2010 at 2:30 PM, Ted Mittelstaedt <tedm at ipinc.net> wrote:
>
> It occurs to me that if a network manager at an org that fraudulently
> obtained IP addressing from ARIN were to be, lets say, fired, and if
> in revenge he were to contact ARIN and be willing to provide testimony
> under deposition that he knowingly fraudulently obtained said resources,
> that any decent attorney would tell him before he opened his mouth
> to ARIN that he secure a guarantee from ARIN that he would NOT be
> prosecuted for breaking the law. (ie: a whistle-blower clause)  Said
> attorney might also advise that the org might obtain his name through
> legal discovery and proceed to file a civil lawsuit for NDA or trade
> secret violations, would they not?

IANAL but *my* understanding is that  whistle-blower laws are
specifically there to protect in cases such as this.  NDAs/etc should
NOT be usable against (atleast americans) someone reporting a crime.
ARIN need not offer any extra protection/liability if there is indeed
a crime.  It doesn't mean that a company can't *try* a case against a
whistle-blower unfortunately.  However, IANAL, but it seems that this
is contract or civil law, not criminal law (IE breach of contract) so
the whistle-blower laws may not apply at all.

>
> If such a guarantee does not currently exist, it would seem to be to
> be a very large deterrent to such ex-employees blowing the whistle.
>
> Perhaps ARIN might find their fraud reporting greatly enhanced if they
> were to publish that they offer whistle blower protection?
>
> I don't see that ARIN can really do much with anonymous reporting of
> fraud cases.  If ARIN gets an anonymous report from an ex-employee of
> fraud, and they pull resources from an org, and that org sues ARIN for
> breech of contract, then what evidence does ARIN have?  An anonymous report
> is not going to be usable to ARIN to defend itself in a court.
>
> Comments?
>
> Ted
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> PPML
> You are receiving this message because you are subscribed to
> the ARIN Public Policy Mailing List (ARIN-PPML at arin.net).
> Unsubscribe or manage your mailing list subscription at:
> http://lists.arin.net/mailman/listinfo/arin-ppml
> Please contact info at arin.net if you experience any issues.
>