Confidentiality Non-Invocation by Client Removes Confidentiality Defense
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/83#Confidentiality_Non-Invocation_by_Client_Removes_Confidentiality_Defense
Properties
Instance of
ConfidentialityNon-ApplicabilitytoPublicDangerDisclosure
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#ConfidentialityNon-ApplicabilitytoPublicDangerDisclosure
Applied to
Threatened species finding in environmental assessment report submitted to public authority
Balancing with
Client Loyalty
Faithful Agent Obligation Within Ethical Limits
Concrete expression
Because the developer client was not even aware of the threatened species finding prior to Engineer A bringing it to the client's attention, and never directly requested that Engineer A maintain it as confidential, the confidentiality rationale that supported non-disclosure in BER 89-7 does not apply in the present case — Engineer A's disclosure obligation is unimpeded by confidentiality concerns
Confidence
0.92
Importance
high
Interpretation
Confidentiality obligations require affirmative client invocation — when a client has not treated information as confidential and was not even aware of it, the engineer cannot invoke confidentiality as a basis for omitting material findings from formal reports
Invoked by
Engineer A Environmental Firm Principal
Tension resolution
The absence of any client confidentiality claim removes the primary competing obligation, leaving Engineer A's public welfare and objectivity obligations unimpeded and requiring formal written report inclusion
Source Evidence
Source text
There does not appear to be any affirmative action on the part of the client to treat the information as confidential, since it appears that the client was not even aware of the situation prior to it being brought to the client's attention and the client never directly requested that Engineer A maintain it as confidential.
Text references
There does not appear to be any affirmative action on the part of the client to treat the information as confidential, since it appears that the client was not even aware of the situation prior to it being brought to the client's attention and the client never directly requested that Engineer A maintain it as confidential.
There does not appear to be any indication of an effort on the part of the client to treat the information as confidential.
in BER Case No. 89-7, the facts revealed that the client had confided in the engineer and may have relied upon the engineer to maintain the information in confidence.
TTL
@prefix case83: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/83#> .
@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#> .
case83:Confidentiality_Non-Invocation_by_Client_Removes_Confidentiality_Defense a proeth:ConfidentialityNon-ApplicabilitytoPublicDangerDisclosure,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Confidentiality Non-Invocation by Client Removes Confidentiality Defense" ;
proeth:appliedto "Threatened species finding in environmental assessment report submitted to public authority" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Client Loyalty",
"Faithful Agent Obligation Within Ethical Limits" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "Because the developer client was not even aware of the threatened species finding prior to Engineer A bringing it to the client's attention, and never directly requested that Engineer A maintain it as confidential, the confidentiality rationale that supported non-disclosure in BER 89-7 does not apply in the present case — Engineer A's disclosure obligation is unimpeded by confidentiality concerns" ;
proeth:confidence "0.92" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "83" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-02-27T19:04:02.625201+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "83" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-02-27T19:04:02.625201+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "Confidentiality obligations require affirmative client invocation — when a client has not treated information as confidential and was not even aware of it, the engineer cannot invoke confidentiality as a basis for omitting material findings from formal reports" ;
proeth:invokedby "Engineer A Environmental Firm Principal" ;
proeth:principleclass "Confidentiality Non-Applicability to Public Danger Disclosure" ;
proeth:sourcetext "There does not appear to be any affirmative action on the part of the client to treat the information as confidential, since it appears that the client was not even aware of the situation prior to it being brought to the client's attention and the client never directly requested that Engineer A maintain it as confidential." ;
proeth:tensionresolution "The absence of any client confidentiality claim removes the primary competing obligation, leaving Engineer A's public welfare and objectivity obligations unimpeded and requiring formal written report inclusion" ;
proeth:textreferences "There does not appear to be any affirmative action on the part of the client to treat the information as confidential, since it appears that the client was not even aware of the situation prior to it being brought to the client's attention and the client never directly requested that Engineer A maintain it as confidential.",
"There does not appear to be any indication of an effort on the part of the client to treat the information as confidential.",
"in BER Case No. 89-7, the facts revealed that the client had confided in the engineer and may have relied upon the engineer to maintain the information in confidence." ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 83 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-02-27T19:15:08.546548"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 83 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
83
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-02-27T19:04:02.625201+00:00
First case
83
Generated
2026-02-27T19:04:02.625201+00:00
Attributed to
Case 83 Extraction
Generated
2026-02-27T19:15:08.546548
Generated by
ProEthica Case 83 Extraction