THE CAMPAIGN GOAL
The goal of our campaign is simple – legislative and regulatory change that will make NDAs unenforceable for anything other than their original purpose – the prevention of sharing confidential business information (“intellectual property”) and trade secrets.
NDAs are unnecessary for protecting victim identity, catastrophically damaging to innocent parties, and immoral when they hide harmful information from the public.
Heightened awareness and global discussion around the misuse of NDAs has resulted in policy changes in some organisations (e.g. the BBC, Conde Nast & University College, London), new guidance from regulators (e.g. the Solicitor’s Regulatory Authority in England & Wales) and new laws in some US states (e.g. California where we worked with Ifeoma Ozoma, the co-sponsor of the Bill) and in Ireland, where Julie & Zelda are working with Senator Lynn Ruane on bringing forward a new Bill. They are also working with legislators in Canada on new legislation which has been introduced in Prince Edward Island and is in process in several other provinces and with the federal Senate and with a government task force in Victoria Australia, all modelled on the Irish Bill.
But this isn’t enough. NDAs are still being used every day by the powerful to protect themselves.
OUR STRATEGY
Our campaign will focus on 4 strategies.
01
LOBBYING
GOVERNMENTS
Lobbying government to recognise that NDAs are currently being used to create dangerous environments and that the law needs to be changed.
02
PUBLIC
AWARENESS
Building public awareness of the immoral use of NDAs and give people the information and power to say “no” to signing.
03
CODES OF
PRACTICE
Advocating that regulators, businesses and institutions adopt a code of practice that will not allow NDAs to hide information about harmful people, practices and products.
04
A SAFE
PLATFORM
Providing a safe platform for people who have been pressured to sign an NDA to anonymously step forward and share how it has affected them.
who we are
Zelda Perkins
Co-Founder
Zelda Perkins has been campaigning since 2017 when she was the first woman to break an NDA, signed decades earlier, with Harvey Weinstein. She brought the systematic abuse of NDA’s to the attention of the British Government and international press, giving evidence at two parliamentary inquiries, which have uncovered an epidemic of misuse, and pushing the England and Wales Solicitors Regulatory Authority to take disciplinary action against the lawyer who created her NDA for Weinstein. Her actions have been inspiring others, to come forward by her example. Zelda was named a Person of the Year by Time magazine in 2017 and by the Guardian in 2020.
Julie Macfarlane
Co-Founder
Professor Julie Macfarlane is a Canadian law professor, Member of the Order of Canada, who has won many awards for her work in advocating for access to justice. In 2016, in her personal negotiations with the Anglican Church, she persuaded the Church and their insurer to end the default practice of forcing NDAs on victims of clerical abuse. Later that year4, she discovered that a colleague terminated following an investigation for harassment and other misconduct was protected by an NDA that had been negotiated before his departure from the University of Windsor, and that he had been able to move to another law school who knew nothing of his history. The University continued to hide the facts in the NDA enabling the perpetrator to successfully sue her for “defamation”.
THE CAMPAIGN TEAM
We have a fantastic team working to achieve the goals
of the campaign.
Stacey Buchholzer
Coordinator
Liz Le Clair
Fundraising
Bushra Ahmed (UK)
Fundraising
Braunte Petric
Videography
Oliver Balmokune
Infographics & Video Captions
SHANNON HANCOCK (CANADA)
Testmonies Checker
Neville McKay (UK)
Testimonial Checker
nancy patrick (canada)
Testimonial Checker
Julie Sharrard (Canada)
Testimonial Checker
bernie mayer (Canada)
Testimonial Checker
partners
Below are some of our amazing partners who we are working with to realise the goals of the Can’t Buy My Silence campaign.
Studio NinetyOne
Design Partner
Studio NinetyOne is a brand focused design agency based in East London and North Cornwall. Since 2005, we have worked with an eclectic mix of clients who understand the value of great design. We are known for creating brands full of character and heart. As part of our commitment to social change we worked with Co-founders Zelda Perkins and Julie Macfarlane to develop the unique Can’t Buy My Silence brand and creative as part of their campaign to ban the misuse of non-disclosure agreements. As a design agency we are committed to supporting the campaign to end the mis-use of NDAs to cover up wrong-doing in the design industry and beyond and our proud to play a part in its development.
BILL EYERS
Campaign Consultant
Bill Eyres is a sustainability and social justice campaigner who has worked in politics, the charity sector and for ethical businesses like The Body Shop and The Co-operative Bank and major brands like O2. He has worked on high profile initiatives against the financing of landmines, domestic violence, trafficking of women, and climate change with well known campaigners like Anita Roddick, Jonathon Porritt and Emma Thompson. Bill has a won a variety of awards for his work including the Winner of the Global Good Awards Individual Outstanding Leadership Award in 2015 and with the agency VCCP a Webby in 2019 for a campaign on online child safety.
SPEAK OUT REVOLUTION
Data Insights Partner
Speak Out Revolution is an award winning not-for-profit, founded in 2020, with a mission to cancel the culture of silence on harassment and bullying in our workplaces. They provide a safe platform for targets of workplace harassment and bullying to anonymously speak out via their Speak Out Dashboard and use the collective insights to raise awareness, educate and empower everyone to become allies for more inclusive work environments. Find out more about their work at speakoutrevolution.co.uk. You can help us collect information on the prevalence of NDAs as well as bullying and harassment by completing our survey here.
DEKODE CANADA
Web Development Partne
Dekode Canada is a digital marketing company based in Toronto, Canada. They specialize in website design/development and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Their growing portfolio of clients includes a range of industries such as retail, medical, dental, safety, food, law, accounting, entertainment and more. With their SEO services, they have managed to achieve top search engine rankings for their clients, even surpassing that of companies like Amazon, Staples, and Best Buy. Their philosophy is simple – if you can imagine it, they can build it. Learn more about Dekode Canada on their website at dekode.ca.
our allies
UK
canada
International
Press backgrounder
Information on the campaign and its current actions for media outlets. For further updates please contact us at info@cantbuymysilence.com