So I guess we’ll part ways then

[eltf177]

Glad to hear you'll get paid, and I too will be interested in hearing how many of their freelancers disappear after this unreasonable demand...

[Kagato]

That kind of thing sure as HELL would not fly in New Zealand, as it would be considered a direct violation of the Privacy Act here and would land the company in a LOT of hot water legally. (Largely because depending on how indepth the 'scan' of the hard drive is, they could potentially gain access to privileged/private information that they are not entitled to)

One could also make an argument of it being an anti-competitive practice, though that might be a little bit of a stretch depending on the state/country in question.