I have a new idea for a website. I found a few programmers but their all overseas (Not in US). Will them signing and returning the doc protect my idea ?
Yes and no. Legally speaking, a signed contract protects you. Realistically speaking, it is just a piece of paper. You say they're all overseas. Depending on what country they are in, they may feel that it is unlikely that you would be able to prosecute them. In addition, the laws in that country might only uphold your rights as they apply to systems developed in this country. That is not to say that you will be screwed because you use overseas programmers. If that was the case, outsourcing would not be as popular as it is. You just need to be careful. Your ability to protect your rights can be impaired by the distance. Do your research, get customer feedback, and search for complaints. Certainly have an NDA signed, but don't assume that it is enough by itself.
I agree with what bluegrass said. I would definitely make them sign one, but you will have trouble making them accountable if they choose to break the agreement and let slip a few things. If the programmers live anywhere in Asia, the Middle East, or eastern Europe you can pretty much guarantee you won't be able to do anything if they choose to break the agreement. If your website idea is really that good and you're afraid a programmer might try to steal your idea, just hire a programmer in the U.S. It might be more expensive, but you will be less likely to be scammed and get better results. It has been my experience based on the one overseas programmer in India I've hired before that they do not put out the best quality work and tend to exaggerate their abilities. Of course, I'm sure there are also some very qualified programmers in India, too.
NDAs in general are fairly unenforcable for "ideas" any way as it is next to impossible for you to prove that they got their "idea" from you and not some other source - they are more useful when you are going to be giving them corporate data that is not otherwise available. They are therefore more of a fear factor than real deterent Add overseas element and they become even more unenforcable and even less of a deterent. The other possibility is having an anti-competition agreement to prevent them from launching a competing service, or working on one, within X months/ years however depending on how vague it is and if you are dealing with individuals or companies it may not be possible - for example you couldnt make a freelance web designer sign up to not producing any more websites for 1 year after delivering yours unless you were paying enough money for them not to have to work for a year..... companies generally are less protected by law than individuals so it would more be a case of no company being willing to sign such an agreement - again enforcablility is an issue again.
If you're looking for top talent (and paying accordingly) you're going to scare away a lot of potential developers. And even if you get some people to sign it, it's mostly a worthless document. Believe it or not, the idea you're working on is probably not an original idea -- and any buzz (or biz) generated by the developers talking about it will only help you. I laugh at so many business owners who push NDAs on employees, and a month later they're paying people to generate buzz about their site! It's silly and not worth it for most things to have NDAs -- and most serious developers or development firms won't even look at a non-competition agreement unless you're pretty much setting them up with salary for the length of the agreement (like Astaroth mentioned). I had someone send me both an NDA and a non-com for a >$200 project once. I tore it up and mailed him back the pieces. I can laugh about it now, but these sorts of agreements are very serious and shouldn't be put out there lightly by business owners -- I refused to ever work with that company again.