Confidentiality Principle Invoked for Government-Acquired Specialized Knowledge
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/170#Confidentiality_Principle_Invoked_for_Government-Acquired_Specialized_Knowledge
Properties
Instance of
Applied to
Engineer A Dam Failure Forensic Investigation Engineer
U.S. Government Dam Failure Investigation Client
Balancing with
Contractor's right to best available expert
Transparency in adversarial proceedings
Concrete expression
The specialized, privileged, and confidential knowledge Engineer A acquired while retained by the U.S. government to study the dam failure cannot be disclosed or deployed in adverse expert testimony against the government, because Section III.4.b was specifically enacted to prevent engineers from disclosing such information
Confidence
0.93
Importance
high
Interpretation
Confidentiality of government-acquired specialized knowledge persists after engagement termination and is reinforced by the adversarial participation prohibition; the two provisions work in tandem to protect former clients from having their own information used against them
Invoked by
NSPE Board of Ethical Review
NSPE Code Section III.4.b
Tension resolution
Confidentiality obligation prevails; the contractor must seek expert witnesses who did not acquire specialized knowledge on behalf of the adverse party
Source Evidence
Source text
Section III.4.b. was enacted to prevent engineers from disclosing such information
Text references
Indeed, he may be called upon to give an opinion as to the very facts with which he was involved as a consultant with the government.
Section III.4.b. was enacted to prevent engineers from disclosing such information
There is a danger that Engineer A's opinions, based on his firsthand knowledge and his understanding of the facts of record, would touch upon privileged, specialized, and confidential knowledge gained while he was retained by the U.S. government.
TTL
@prefix case170: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/170#> .
@prefix owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> .
@prefix proeth: <http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#> .
@prefix prov: <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .
case170:Confidentiality_Principle_Invoked_for_Government-Acquired_Specialized_Knowledge a proeth:ConfidentialityPrinciple,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Confidentiality Principle Invoked for Government-Acquired Specialized Knowledge" ;
proeth:appliedto "Engineer A Dam Failure Forensic Investigation Engineer",
"U.S. Government Dam Failure Investigation Client" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Contractor's right to best available expert",
"Transparency in adversarial proceedings" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "The specialized, privileged, and confidential knowledge Engineer A acquired while retained by the U.S. government to study the dam failure cannot be disclosed or deployed in adverse expert testimony against the government, because Section III.4.b was specifically enacted to prevent engineers from disclosing such information" ;
proeth:confidence "0.93" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "170" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-03-01T21:06:41.468366+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "170" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-03-01T21:06:41.468366+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "Confidentiality of government-acquired specialized knowledge persists after engagement termination and is reinforced by the adversarial participation prohibition; the two provisions work in tandem to protect former clients from having their own information used against them" ;
proeth:invokedby "NSPE Board of Ethical Review",
"NSPE Code Section III.4.b" ;
proeth:principleclass "Confidentiality Principle" ;
proeth:sourcetext "Section III.4.b. was enacted to prevent engineers from disclosing such information" ;
proeth:tensionresolution "Confidentiality obligation prevails; the contractor must seek expert witnesses who did not acquire specialized knowledge on behalf of the adverse party" ;
proeth:textreferences "Indeed, he may be called upon to give an opinion as to the very facts with which he was involved as a consultant with the government.",
"Section III.4.b. was enacted to prevent engineers from disclosing such information",
"There is a danger that Engineer A's opinions, based on his firsthand knowledge and his understanding of the facts of record, would touch upon privileged, specialized, and confidential knowledge gained while he was retained by the U.S. government." ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 170 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-03-01T21:17:58.664805"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 170 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
170
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-03-01T21:06:41.468366+00:00
First case
170
Generated
2026-03-01T21:06:41.468366+00:00
Attributed to
Case 170 Extraction
Generated
2026-03-01T21:17:58.664805
Generated by
ProEthica Case 170 Extraction