NDAs are very court-tested. A recent example that comes to mind is when Oculus Rift was sued over VR technology it supposedly swiped from a partner, the jury wasn’t particularly impressed by the central trade secrets claim, but the NDA was the NDA, and the NDA said $500,000,000, so the verdict was $500,000,000. Brutal!
On an everyday consumer level, it’s true that this kind of legal total war doesn’t much happen. But the threat is being forced into a lawsuit that will cost a fortune to fight and that you are much more likely to lose. Most people wouldn’t get a CNN story about their case even if it is egregious.
