texts: Do I violate GDRP if install WhatsApp as a private user?

texts:
As far as I can understand, if I install WhatsApp, the app sends my contact list to the server.

Isn't it by GDPR terms illegal to allow this data processing step if I have not asked all of my contacts (some of which might not use WhatsApp already) whether they agree or not, and ideally get their signature for that?

I've found so far this assessment but I fail to understand the text regarding the implications and ramifications of private, not business use.


texts: My physician gave my meds away to another patient. Has he broken any laws?

texts:
I receive my essential medication through a patient assistance program for the needy.  They are not a controlled substance.

The patient assistance program does not send medications directly to needy patients.  As such, my meds are sent directly to my physician for my sole use.

My physician gave away my medication to another patient.

Now I don't have access to my medication.

The cost of my medication is about $900.  I don't have $900.

I have tried to work with my physician and his staff to replace it, but have been unsuccessful for over a month.  I keep getting excuses even though I have been assertive by calling every week begging for my medication.

The patient assistance program will not send another batch of my meds, because they have signed proof that my meds were delivered to my physician.

Has my physician broken any laws?


texts: Why did OJ Simpson's trial take 9 months?

texts:
It's my understanding that most trials are over in a week.

Are murder trials typically much longer, or was OJ Simpson's case very unusual (aside from the publicity)?

Do trials essentially last as long as the financial resources of the sides, or was OJ's case particularly complex?


texts: How can I verify that a uniformed cop is a real cop?

texts:
In the state of Connecticut, when a uniformed officer or officers approach, are they required to provide identification showing they are police officers upon request?

Anyone can buy a uniform off the internet and say they are a cop. My question specifically pertains to safety.


texts: What is the precise legal meaning of "electors" being "appointed"?

texts:
Both Article 2 of the US Constitution and 3 USC Chapter 1 talk about "appointing electors".
However, 3 USC Chapter 1 clearly refers to the election day (this is when "appointing electors" must happen!), while the US constitution has no concept of popular vote in a presidential election. This seems contradictory, w.r.t. what "appointing electors" means.
(I think the precise meaning of "appointing electors" is crucial to understanding when a contingent election is triggered, which is what TX vs PA et al was aiming for, it seems)


texts: What gives e-signatures legal standing/force in the United States?

texts: Having seen language in digital contract signing that basically say that you have to agree to use an e-signature as a signature, I feel like there's a bit of a problem in that needing to agree to use an e-signature suffers the same problem as needing to agree to use an e-signature, in that you sort of should, if you have to agree to digital signing, have an ever-backwards-stretching line of agreements that need to be agreed to...but this is obviously not how it works in practice, so how is it actually working?


texts: Is it possible to exclude individuals as guardians?

texts:
I know that I can name specific individuals as guardians of my children in my will.

Is it possible to exclude specific individuals (who'd normally be considered as possibilities since they are close blood relatives) if I believe that they would be unfit parents? Is this possible whether or not I've named a guardian?

This isn't about excluding a biological parent; the question is assuming that both parents are deceased. The jurisdiction is South Carolina.


texts: What exactly does it mean when someone "represents" you?

texts:
What exactly does it mean for a lawyer to represent someone?

I thought it means assigning someone to argue for you and they would reply to all messages concerning the case. As mentioned in my previous question I got free legal aid but got a bad gut feeling and decided not to continue. The girl said it would take them a couple months to give me advice and when I said I wasn't interested anymore she tried convince me into staying by telling me they could represent me in court.

What exactly does this mean? If you agree to let someone represent you, must you follow their instructions? What would happen if you are given a court date or something time sensitive and the lawyer isn't available?


texts: Licensing requirement for usage of win32com APIs through python package (pywin32)

texts:
For my project work testing, I want to use win32com APIs through python package (pywin32). Is there any license restriction for this? OR in other words what is the license clause if this python script is used to test a commercial development?
There are two aspects:

Usage of win32com APIs (of course running machine has valid Microsoft softwares)
Usage of python package (pywin32). On https://pypi.org/project/pywin32/ it mention as "OSI Approved :: Python Software Foundation License" for pywin32. But I am not sure if this allows to use in creating scripts to test commercial product and if internally allows Microsoft license.


texts:
I signed up for an exercise class on 7/18 ("this agreement entered into on") and the contract states it's in effect from 8/1 ("contract start date" and "contract in effect from").

The class has 30 day money back guarantee within "30 days of enrolling". Should the 30 day period be considered from date of signing the contract, or from the effective date of contract?


texts: Trafficking in "Stolen" (Hacked) digital information (for example: bank account and passwords or Social Security numbers

texts:
This question is not about the initial crime of computer hacking, but rather whether a person who acquires private data from the hacker has committed a crime.

There is a curious footnote in the famous Mueller report, where apparently the investigators are contemplating potential federal violations for receiving "hacked" digital data. The footnote (page 176) follows:

Intuitively, the average person, would anticipate that private digital information (for example banking passwords, credit card security codes, ATM and debit card passwords, etc) would fall under the notion of personal property, and thus trafficking (sale and resale) of such data would be subject to prosecution.

However, this footnote seems to suggest that, because the data is intangible, it is not considered stolen property, consequently non-prosecutable.

Have I understood this correctly?
Are there other laws that apply to digital data that has been stolen?


texts: Is Running Tor software legal in Europe?

texts:
What is the legality of doing the following, under European and, in particular, Spanish law?

Using the Tor browser
Setting up a Tor relay
Setting up a Tor exit node


texts: Hypothetical question about Whistleblower Protection

texts: Let's say a US non-government employment comes in contact with very sensitive unprotected information on the web.  The information was gathered using opsint (Open Source Intelligence)  there was no other occurrence of this information on the internet, local libraries,etc. If the existence of the unprotected information was reported to the owner (Defense Contractor), what protection does the person reporting the data vulnerability, have against the embarrassed retribution by the owner of the information?  Would it be better to report the exposed information to the military law enforcement of the end user of the equipment or data?


texts: Do I have a case to challenge a private medical invoice that wasn't covered by insurance?

texts:
I had private medical insurance as part of my employer, I rang up in October for an appointment and one was "authorised" for January.

I then left my job in December and still attended in January.  (I wrongly thought I'd be charged if I didn't attend and that as it was authorised this was fine...)

However, as I left my employer my insurance was void and I've been hit with a £500 hospital bill for a 15 minute appointment.

When I attended the appointment I signed a form that basically said if my insurance doesn't cover the cost I will have to.

My question though centres around signing a "blank cheque" - are they legally able to chase me for whatever figure they choose??

When I signed the form I had no idea how much the costs would be. Surely they have a role to inform me before the event?   I kept thinking to myself if I had a MRI done I would be bankrupt.

Do I have a case to fight this in some way?

I took my insurance to the ombudsman but as this took 15 months to gain a response, I've also been hit with the "interest" for this period.

Any advice would really help..

Update:
The ombudsman advised that the insurance company didn't have to pay out as within their terms it said if I leave the policy is void.


texts: Use of anonymous informants to obtain search warrants

texts:
In the United States is it commonly accepted by judges to issue search warrants based on anonymous tips or unidentified informants?

The reason I ask is that the 4th ammendment to the US Constitution says that warrants shall only be issued on probable cause supported by oath, and a tip by an anonymous person does not constitute an oath.


texts:
I was looking up a legal term, and found this sentence:

  An anti-lapse statute is a rule of construction in trusts and estates law.

What does "rule of construction" mean (here, and in general)?


texts: Does HiPAA allow for the use of cloud services to store encrypted backups?

texts:
Considering a service allows for the communication of PHI without persistent storage.

If the user takes responsibility for storing their own data, and they choose to store it in their google cloud storage, would this be an acceptable under HIPAA?

For example:

A user wants to send a message to another user.

The service establishes an encrypted connection directly between their two devices. The server stores only contact information and no PHI whatsoever. The server does not participate in the communication once the connection is established and does not even forward the messages. (It would be helpful to know if the service might be in violation if the servers did in fact forward the messages).

The data is stored, encrypted, on each user's devices.

If that encrypted data is then stored on a third party cloud storage service, like iCloud or Google drive, then would the service be in violation of HIPAA?


texts: Who succeeds to a political party's presidential candidacy if the candidate withdraws before the election?

texts: If a president and simultaneously a presidential candidate Trump would have to quit before the November vote the remainder of his presidency would of course be assumed by Pence, his VP and running mate. But what would happen to Trump's 2020 candidacy? Would Pence automatically be able to continue running in Trump's stead? That is, would the Republican have to nominate the new presidential candidate, or is the presidential candidacy constitutionally inherited by the corresponding VP candidate? Furthermore, would Pence have the standing to participate in debates as both the VP candidate against Harris and as the presidential candidate against Biden?


texts: When can I use the emergency sick leave provided by HR 6201?

texts:
H.R. 6201 provides 80 hours of emergency sick leave for certain eligible purposes. Assuming a person works for an eligible employer and wishes to use this emergency sick leave for an eligible purpose, how soon can they use it?

To my eye, there seem to be two relevant things:

Sec. 5102 says that this leave "is available immediately".
Sec. 5108 says, "The emergency paid sick time requirements take effect not later than 15 days after the enactment of this division."

I'm not sure how to reconcile these two things. Section 5102 seems (to me) to mean that the leave should be available to employees as of 3/18, while Section 5108 seems to mean that it could be available on or before April 2 (15 days after March 18).


texts: Allow people to communicate on an international religious non-commercial website without getting into trouble with GDPR

texts:
This question seems related to this one. The new European "GDPR" ("General Data Protection Regulation") laws are confusing to me.
One can read everywhere that these will apply everywhere, not only inside the EU, although they are only there for protecting EU citizens.
So my questions are about the operation of a website without any commercial purpose, with no commercial processing of data, that should be accessible to everyone worldwide, including to EU citizens.
The purpose is strictly non-commercial to provide service of communication to a global religious community or anyone interested.
People can register accounts with user names tied to e-mail-address, and optionally more detailed information about themselves, and communicate with each other in a forum hosted on that website. Of course they do that on a voluntary basis, and they can delete their own information that they provided.
The website is currently hosted in the EU, but hosting could be transferred to another country. The domain owner is currently a EU citizen, but ownership could possibly be transferred to a non-EU-citizen.
I was wondering about these excerpts from Article 2 and Recital 18 quoted in that other question here:

Article 2 (2)c states that this regulation does not apply to the processing of personal data:

by a natural person in the course of a purely personal or household activity;

There also an unofficial description in Recital 18, that say:

(1) This Regulation does not apply to the processing of personal data by a natural person in the course of a purely personal or household activity and thus with no connection to a professional or commercial activity. (2) Personal or household activities could include correspondence and the holding of addresses, or social networking and online activity undertaken within the context of such activities. (3) However, this Regulation applies to controllers or processors which provide the means for processing personal data for such personal or household activities.

I am not able to parse this gibberish into human language with certainty of its meaning. Of course, all people handling any personal data on that website are natural persons. What would an unnatural person be? A cyborg? A Bladerunner replicant? A golem?
Activities there are neither household activities, nor private. Communication there is quite public.
Of course people could theoretically post any kind of data in the forum. In some cases some forum post might contain what is considered someone's private data, i.e. address of someone where some public event would take place. Or a quote from some person with their name or nickname etc., even quoted from other websites. We are opposed to restricting, policing and censoring the communication taking place. Could this be cause for trouble, given the non-commercial scope and purpose of the website?
And of course, there is some automation happening to make the website function. How else could a website operate? So for example I guess IP addresses have to be stored to make a login session persist while navigating the site.
I would like to know if there is anything to take care of here to not get into trouble with GDPR. And if it might help to transfer domain ownership and hosting out of the EU.
Thanks.


texts: What does 'to the order of' mean (excluding contexts of bills, promissory notes)?

texts:
Source: p 33 Middle, JC Smith's The Law of Contract (2016) by Paul S. Davies.

If the procedure envisaged in Eccles v Bryant is followed and each contract is concluded
only when an exchange through the post is complete, there is a grave risk that X may find
that he has committed himself to buy Y 's house, but that W has changed his mind and
refuses to buy X's house, with the result that X has two houses on his hands. And Y may find
that he has committed himself to sell to X, but that Z has changed his mind, meaning that
Y is left without a house at all. The risks are inevitable because of the delay involved in the
process of exchange. If the solicitors of all four parties could meet together and exchange
the signed parts of the contracts virtually simultaneously, all risk could be eliminated; but
it will usually be impracticable for them to meet. A solution has been found in a system of
'exchange' by telephone. If all the contracts have been signed and all the parties are ready
to proceed, W 's solicitor may agree to hold the contract signed by W to the order of X's
solicitor who in turn will agree to hold X 's signed contract to sell to W to the order of W 's
solicitor. X 's solicitor will also agree to hold X's signed contract to buy from Y to the order
of Y 's solicitor—and so on down the chain. Some of the contracts may have been physically
delivered in advance and held to the order of the delivering solicitor until the time agreed
for the 'constructive' (or notional) transfer. But it seems that there need be no physical delivery at all.

The OED lacks the correct definition, as the following do not pertain:

[23.] a. Law. A decision of a court or judge, made or entered in writing. In the Supreme Court: a direction of the court or a judge other than a final judgment.
b.  Banking and Finance. A written direction to pay money or deliver property, made by a person legally entitled to do so.


texts: Can I design or remix a model in SketchUp Make and legally share it via Thingiverse, MyMiniFactory or similar?

texts:
SketchUp Make is licensed for non-commercial work only.  This includes the output from the software.

  Trimble Navigation Limited and/or its affiliates ("Trimble") gives you
  a personal, worldwide, royalty-free, non-assignable and non-exclusive
  license to use the executable version of the Software for
  non-commercial use only. Non-commercial use means: you may not sell,
  rent, lease or lend the output of the Software or the Services.

The above retrieved 2016-02-07. The full SketchUp Make license can be found on the SketchUp website.

In what ways does this restrict my use of SketchUp Make generated material with sites that allow the sharing of models (and deisgn files)?  This would include sites such as Thingiverse, MyMiniFactory and 3D Warehouse.

As this question is related to 3D printing I originally posted on 3D Printing.  It was suggested the I make a seperate post here for more specific legal advice and reference the first post to give the printer angle.

For example, must I always set a non-commercial license for my designs?
Thingiverse allows several different license choices to be selected.

Can I permit the design to be printed by someone for money?
Thingiverse has links to 3D HUBS and Print a Thing which can be disabled per model.

Obviously the SketchUp Pro license makes many of the restrictions on what can be done with the output go away, which would be much simpler.  However I do not expect to generate anywhere near the costs of purchasing a license ($695 US at the time of writing) by tweaking a few designs now and then.

I want to comply with the licenses but I need to understand the limits of what I am permitted to do with SketchUp Make in order to do that.  It may be much more prudent for me to invest my time in learning other tools that have no restrictions on what can be done with the output.

As this is a legal question it might matter what jurisdiction I am in and what jurisdiction the sites I may share to are in.  I am based in the UK.  Thingiverse is based in the State of New York.  MyMiniFactory uses the Laws of England as a base.  3D Warehouse selects the State of California.


texts: Can a person obtain a notarization under an alias?

texts:
Hypothetical scenario: Alan Jones and Peter Piper both live in the United States and are good friends. Alan uses the screen name J7 in a computer account, and a need has developed for Alan Jones to sign a document using the name J7 and acknowledge it before a notary. Alan has no intent to deceive anyone. Peter is well aware of the screen name. Peter is a notary, is not related to Alan, and has no financial interest relating to the document. Alan and Peter both live in a state that allows the use of personal aliases for non-deceitful purposes, and allows notaries to identify signers on the basis of personal knowledge.

So is Peter allowed to take the acknowledgement of J7 and complete a certificate of acknowledgement listing the signer as just "J7"?

"J7" is a personal alias, it is not a name for a business.

The question is inspired by postings on notary forums and blogs where the notaries/authors assert that a person's true legal name is whatever appears on the legally acceptable identification document they present to the notary and the name on the certificate of acknowledgement should exactly match the name on the ID credential, regardless of how the name appears in the document being notarized. The implicit assumption in these postings is usually that the signer and notary are strangers.


texts: When including libraries licenses, do I need to include the libraries' dependencies' licenses too?

texts: So I am building a project with SDL2_image, and I noticed that it includes libpng, jpeg, libtiff, and other dependencies. If I want the code to be closed sourced, do I need to include the dependencies' licenses too, or would just the base license (SDL2_image in this case) be enough?


texts: What licensing issues are relevant when writing software using methods from research papers?

texts:
I am writing some software that uses methods described in a few papers. The paper describes algorithms in terms of mathematical functions and equations. An example is, for instance, this one). The paper itself doesn't contain any source code - that is my own creation.

Where can licensing terms for the papers be found? What rights are implied when there is no reference to a license? What do I need to be aware of as I convert the algorithms described in the paper into a software package?


texts: What, if any, accomodations does a landlord need to make while HVAC is broken?

texts:
The AC in the 3-story townhouse I rent broke and needs to be replaced. The landlord obtained several quotes and decided on a contractor to do the replacement, which hasn't been scheduled yet (but is probably a week or so out). Temperatures are forecast to be near 90 for the next several days (and above 90 next week), and it gets unbearably hot in the house when it is that hot outside. Fans help when it is cooler outside, but don't provide adequate relief when it is that hot.

The landlord first had (or tried to have) the AC repaired 3 times, before deciding to replace it. Our first notification to the landlord and property manager that there was a problem with the AC was almost a month and a half ago

Does the landlord have an obligation to provide any kind of accommodation until the AC is repaired? Accommodations could be anything from renting portable AC units (how many?), paying for a hotel, reducing the next rent payment, or something else. Is the answer dependent on the forecast or actual temperatures, and does it change if children are living in the rental?

This is in Virginia, USA and the lease is a common law lease (i.e., not governed by the VRLTA).

From what I could find online, the landlord has to maintain the residence in a fit and habitable manner, but "fit and habitable" is never defined, nor did I find anything about the landlord making accommodations for the broken equipment until it is adequately repaired.


texts: How do I find who owns (and is responsible for) the maintenance of the fence between two houses?

texts:
According to the official land registry .gov.uk website "there’s usually no record of the exact boundary between two properties, or who owns the hedge, wall, tree or fence between 2 properties".
So how is responsibility determined?
The same website also mentions that sellers will be asked to fill in a 'Sellers Property Information Form' aka a SPIF or a TA6 which includes questions where the seller indicates which boundaries he/she believes they're responsible for. Are the answers on the TA6 legally binding, and what happens when two vendors of two adjoining properties provide different information about the same boundary?
Background - I'm involved in a situation where a vendor may have misrepresented the ownership of a boundary wall that requires expensive repairs (i.e. they claimed not to be responsible for the wall with the large cracks in it!)


texts: Do/can integration clauses terminate other contracts?

texts:
Question 1. Sometimes it's not clear what contracts (especially implied ones) already exist. If parties want to solidify everything in a single written agreement, what's the best way of doing this? It may not be possible/easy to individually expressly terminate each one of the existing contracts. This could be a problem because some contracts contain specific details on how they can be terminated (such as "this contract can be terminated by both parties agreeing to it in writing").

From https://www.lawinsider.com/clause/integration-clause is the following clause enforcable and able to over ride termination conditions set forth in other contracts (emphasis mine)?

  Integration Clause. Except for the other Loan Documents, this
  Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between Bank and Borrower
  regarding the Loan, and all prior oral or written communications
  between Borrower and Bank shall be of no further effect or evidentiary
  value.

OTOH I've seen clauses written like this from a different page on lawinsider.com

  Merger Clause. This Agreement..., contains
  the final, complete and exclusive statement of the agreement between
  the parties with respect to the transactions contemplated herein, and
  all prior or contemporaneous written or oral agreements with respect
  to the subject matter hereof are merged herein.

Technically speaking does this terminate any previous contracts? It seems to say "if we forgot anything from a previous agreement, just include it here".

Question 2. Is there any difference between Merger Clauses, Integration Clauses, Entire Agreement Clauses, or are they all names for the same thing?


texts:
Let's say a State has two obligation, on one hand, it must return a person to country of origin under treaty law, on the other hand, the person seeks asylum and thus, under 1951 convention principle of "non-refoulement" applies.

does it matter that one of those obligations initiated earlier than the other one?
Is there a hierarchy among humanitarian obligation and other obligations of a State?


texts: I think I'm being unfairly punished in my workplace - do I have legal recourse?

texts:
I have suffered what I think is unreasonable, prejudiced punishment at my (industrial) job. Is there any legal recourse for me to defend against this?
I'm in Manitoba, Canada.

My superior is unfairly giving me warnings. I think it's likely he's being prejudiced against me. If I get too many warnings then I will lose my job.

Examples:

He gave me a warning for stretching. Workplace health and safety encourages us to stretch to prevent injury, however, I met his eye once and he gave me a warning for stretching.
He's being biased in punishing me instead of others when others have the same amount of fault. Example: I "clean up" what other workers miss, but other workers tend to leave more stuff for me to "clean up" so they aren't doing their job properly and giving me excessive work. The superior is supposed to manage the workers to do their job, but he blames only me.
He gives me excessive work when I have a permanent injury. I also have restrictions on the injury for work, but the work he orders (almost forces) me to do exceeds my restrictions.


texts: Is an adult child representing one of their parents in a divorce case a conflict of interest?

texts:
I couldn’t find the answer to this question anywhere, so I thought the experts here will be able to address this.

In a divorce/family law case, can a son who is a lawyer defend one parent against the other? Does this constitute a conflict of interest or anything similar, especially if one spouse only is comfortable with the son defending her.


texts: Existence of a software development contract

texts:
i have a question regarding software development contracts.

Take for instance two company, A and B whose primary business mainly involves the reconfiguring and resale of microcomputer system.

Company A and company B had a signed letter agreement which tasked company B to build a video editing system for company A. After the completion of the system, company B will have the rights to own one half interest in the software.

In such a situation, is it a normal contract or is it a software development contract.


texts: Can a corporation terminate my account, just because I keep complaining on legitimate issues?

texts:
For privacy, I don't want to identify which discount broker in Canada. Last week, I received this surprising letter.

Based on information received by our Compliance Department, we have decided to terminate our relationship with you. You are advised to close your account by May 21, 2021.

I answered all questions on my account opening application truthfully. I'm a Canadian citizen and permanent resident in Canada. I can think of just one reason for Broker to terminate my contract.
I emailed their Compliance Department multiple times because their service keeps getting disrupted and their customer service is so shoddy. They never improved, so then I emailed  Head of Compliance. Their phone lines are always busy – no reasonable person can wait for hours. Their trading software glitches! Their staff don't answer emails punctually  – obviously customers shouldn't have to chase for replies!
When they do reply, they apologized. They never denied my complaints, or ask me to stop complaining – not once! But I know it's difficult to prove that Broker terminated my contract just because I complained against them. Broker's lawyers can just fabricate some legitimate reason for closing my account.


texts: NASA's ISS live feed is center to an app that I am developing. I am wondering if it is copyright infringement to embed the live stream in my app. I think that it might be ok to use it because according to US copyright law, any US government work is not protected under copyright law. First of all, is this true? Second, because NASA is part of the US government, does that mean that NASA's ISS live stream is owned by the US government, and therefore not protected by copyright law?


texts: Can someone force me to delete a particular email?

texts:
Let's look at the following scenario: institution X holds a webinar, and after it is finished sends a follow-up email to all the participants leaking their email addresses in the CC field of the email message.
After that, I receive a new email saying that the data is leaked and they want each one of the participants delete that particular previous email.
After one more day, they ask for the confirmation that the participants deleted the email.
Is there any legal way institution X could enforce the participants of the webinar delete that particular email? What happens if a participant does not delete it? What if they save it first in a file and deletes the email? Is such a confirmation really needed/mandatory?
If it helps, we could consider the European Union as the place where this happened, but I would be interested what would be the case in the United States.


texts: Who would I report these bylaw infractions my landlord made to?

texts:
I am living in a shared house with the lease holder. I suspect the lease holder has broken several laws. He has

rented out a storage space as a bedroom. It has no windows or door and I believe this is a violation of applicable Building Code. No one currently is living in the area now but on a regular basis he rents out the area for extra money.
tries to only rent to Christian men. This is a form of discrimination.
replaced the locks on the doors without permission from the home owner.

Who would I report this activity to? I am moving out due largely to point 1.


texts: Do I own copyright in a recording I just made?

texts:
I am a freelance recording engineer in Australia.

I was engaged to make a recording in the expectation I would be paid for my services. After the job, the producer indicated that the job was pro-bono and would not be paying for my services. They had already passed the material onto the client.

In this situation, who owns the recording copyright in the material?

My reading of section 97 of the 1968 Copyright Act (Cth) is that as the "maker" of the recording and the absence of any "Valuable Consideration" that I am owner of the copyright in the recording until such time as I "release" the copyright to a third party, or I receive "valuable consideration" for the services involved in making the recording.

The producer contests that there was a verbal agreement to make the recording for free and yet I have a hard and fast policy on doing work for free. I don't do it. If it had even been mentioned in passing, it would have been shut down immediately.


texts:
I'm exploring the world of Creative Commons, a very familiar feature on Wikipedia. Consider the following note:

  Share Alike—If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may
  distribute the resulting work only under the same, similar or a
  compatible license.

I'm trying to understand the limits of this provision.

For example, let's say I find a picture of a bear that I like. However, I don't like the background, so I use photoshop to alter the background. I may be required to include a notice that I altered the image, which is still technically in the Creative Commons domain.

But suppose I create a map illustrated with a variety of images, including the Photoshopped bear. I assume I would be required to include a notice that the bear is an altered Creative Commons image. But would that image effectively pull the entire map into Creative Commons status?

If I write an ebook that contains a variety of images and text in the Creative Commons domain, would I risk losing ownership of my entire book?


texts: What would be the consequence of unpaid debt to a French company to a British person?

texts:
I live in the Scotland. Leaving out the details, I (allegedly) owe some money to a French company under a contract in French law. If I did not pay this money and was taken to court in France and lost, what would happen?

For example, would it be put on my credit record like a county court judgement (CCJ)?

Would the court in France be automatically able to enforce a debt collection against me through the Scottish courts?

Or is there very little they can do as it is a commercial matter and I don't live in France?

===

To explain why I am asking. I could just pay up and forget about it. That would feel wrong to me, and I think I am in the right to not pay or to pay substantially less. If I take a stand I need to weigh that up against the consequences in terms of time, stress, extra cost and damage to my reputation that may potentially come my way, and decide if it is worth it. The amount in dispute is 850 euros.


texts:
The question is very simple, does the trademarking of a name, mean that they own that trademark in every language?

For instance, Windows is a trademarked product that has their namesake trademarked to protect against unauthorized usage. Could I then trademark the name sake Fenestrae? For those less versed in classical languages, "Fenestrae" is the Latin word for "Windows".

What laws or consequences might I face from doing such a thing? Would I even be able to trademark the namesake?


texts: Can an employment contract exclude "reasonable notice at common law"?

texts:
In an employment contract, is this enforceable?

The Company may terminate your employment at any time, without just
cause, by providing you with the minimum notice or pay in lieu, that
you are entitled to under the Employment Standards Act. You agree that
your right to notice of termination of employment will be limited to
the notice provided for in this Agreement. You further understand and
agree that by complying with this paragraph 5(c), the Company
satisfies its entire obligation to you, and you will not be entitled
to receive any further severance pay, notice, pay in lieu of notice,
compensation or damages of any other kind, including reasonable notice
at common law.

5(c) states "if a term is found to be unenforceable, the remainder will remain in affect".
Also can the same contract require the employee to give at least 2 weeks notice or is that too one sided?


texts: Do I need user consent to respond to their email sent through my website's contact form?

texts:
I have a contact form on my website which collects the follow four fields: Full name, email address, subject, message.

I'm not storing any of the data in a database or in cookies.

When the user submits the form I receive an email with the information so that I can respond to them via email.

Am I breaching GDPR? Do I need permission to send them an email etc?


texts:
Fellow Lawmen,

I have come across this clause in a Lease agreement & I cannot find definitions anywhere on the internet:

“The rights of the parties under this Lease are cumulative, and shall not be construed as exclusive unless otherwise required by law.”

What does this mean. Much thanks.


texts: US: Is it legal to jam radio/cell communications if entirely confined to your own private property?

texts:
In the US, is it legal to jam radio/cell communications if such jamming is entirely confined to your own private property? And does it matter whether you are in a building or not?

Imagine now that you have constructed a Faraday cage on your property so that external radio/cell signals cannot enter and internal radio/cell signals cannot exit. If you are inside the Faraday cage, is it legal or illegal to operate a radio/cell jammer?

These questions are intended to ask about the legality of a private citizen doing this without knowledge or approval by any governmental authority. If the jurisdiction typically matters let's say New York, New York, USA.


texts: I do not understand the EU's requirement to have a GDPR representative located in the EU

texts:
I do not really understand the EU's requirement to have a GDPR representative located in the EU for a data controller and/or processor located outside the EU.
From the EU's point of view they obviously want to have someone who cannot avoid interaction with them, but since the representative is more or less not reliable for misbehaviour of the data controller outside the EU, there seems not much difference in what the EU can do with our without such a representative if the outside controller is not responsive to data requests or violates GDPR.
What am I missing here?
This is different to the question what happens if a data contoller ouside EU ignors and/or violates GDPR, which is discussed here In which jurisdictions outside the EU can the GDPR be enforced?


texts: What are the key elements of an effective demand letter?

texts:
Context: Florida,   a plaintiff contends that a financial decision made collectively by the board does not comply with specific bylaws calculations resulting in damages (not receiving proper monetary share).  Attempts (formal motion in meeting and emails) to correct issue was voted down by the board.  I do not expect the board to change its position based on the demand letter, however, I want to ensure that the demand letter is viewed positively by a judge or the like.  If a letter can be crafted to tip the scales in changing the board's mind, any guidance is appreciated.

My questions have bullet points of what I understand, however, I seek the wisdom of the experience and lessons-learned with respect to the questions:

What are the goals of a demand letter?

Request Specific & Actionable Remedies
Persuade the reader (judge) to conclude ???
Persuade the reader (board) to conclude ???
Any other sensible goal?

If you have added a goal please advance to the question: Having established the goals, what strategies support an effective demand letter?

Example: "Communication Considerations" Demand letter goals:

letter is organized
letter is sent ASAP
no inappropriate threats

Is there a good template that embodies goal-driven strategy?  or is this held tightly by practitioners/

Finally, to what degree does a judge (or similar authority) expect the demand letter need to provide financial data and communications to support any demands, claims and assertions?  Is it enough to reference the email dates and subjects, that was sent to all board members?  Guidance (pointers to examples) to understand what degree of detail is appropriate within the context is appreciated by this newbie. This questions posed because data is voluminous and would delay the letter.


texts: Told by police that I'm being detained. No probable cause or statute/law given. Am I free to leave?

texts:
I recently watched this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSJTxalznxE
It's of a man open carrying a shotgun and filming from a public street. Nothing he did was illegal which later in the video is even confirmed by the female officer.
Yet when the man asks the cop if he was being detained she responded "Yes" and when asked for a reason, she said something along the lines of I'm carrying out an investigation from a call we received.
I read another post on this website about what constitutes probable cause and it's my understanding that in the instance of this video, the police officer did not have probable cause to detain this man.
Given that there is no probable cause as per my personal understanding of the situation and that no law was broken, according to the officer's own words, would it be illegal to walk away from the cops?
Bonus question: If this man decided to run away, what reasons do the cops have to chase after him and if they did in fact chase after him, what would the reason for his arrest be?


texts: What does the phase "general interest" mean in trademark law?

texts:
Several USPTO trademarks use the phrase "general interest" in the goods and service description. For example:

Goods & services: hardware allowing the user to stream video of general interest.

What does the phrase "general interest" add when a trademark is being interpreted? What is the legal consequence of including it, or excluding it, from a goods & services description?


texts: Remove liability for user submitted content

texts:
I run a website and recently had a small legal dispute with content posted by a user. A copyright owner wanted me to remove content, I acknowledged the request, requested for proof of ownership, confirmed ownership, removed the infringing content and the copyright owner left me alone.

I'm happy to remove infringing content but not sure how explicitly I should tell content owners about this.
I have a contact and copyright infringment link clearly available on my website where explicit instructions are left on how to make a report.

Am I required to have a disclaimer telling users not to post copyright infringing content? I clearly do not want to be liable for such content.

I've googled some templates and explanations about this but they refer more to taking ownership of user submitted content, not removing ownership.

for reference my website is kek.host and I provide services which keep users anonymous such as text hosting, email forwarding, chatrooms.

Edit: The servers are located in the united states currently, although that changes roughly once a week and across several countries including canada, australia, russia, netherlands and a few more I'm not yet aware of.

Clarification of Question: Am I legally obligated to explicitly tell users not to upload copyright infringing or illegal content?

For example, shops don't need "Stealing is a crime" stickers, it's just implied. Do the same rules apply to me?


texts: Do you pay tax on belongings you bring with you to the US?

texts: If an employee relocates to the USA for a short period of time and ships their belongings from their home to their new residence in the US, are there any duties that need to be paid ?


texts: Questioning the meat served at a local restaurant

texts: I ate at a buffet which allowed me to take out my food and the meat supposed to be chicken tandoori. I got a piece of chicken that I thought was a thigh but when I tried to bite into it the bone looked very dark and hard. I examined the meat more closely and it did not resemble chicken. I noticed that there was a section that resembled a ankle bone and socket or knee cap and socket. I got  really ill and put the meat in my freezer. I wanted to know what animal has a bone that resembles a socket? I know it is not chicken. Who can I get to examine this meat/bone and tell me what it is? Health department, FDA or attorney general? My fear is that it is from a large wild animal not FDA approved to eat.


texts: Is employer responsible to disclose workplace before hiring?

texts: I was originally hired to do some in office computer work. During my interviews, I was on the premises 3 times.  Employer showed me this “workplace”, my desk, etc. I worked there for about a month, and then out of the blue the employer told me I need to do work in the underground lab. Due to my health condition I’m unable to be exposed to that environment.  If I knew I would need to work there, I would NEVER accept the job. Is the employer responsible in any way to show the actual physical work place BEFORE hiring? Now they are saying “we told you”, but I don’t really remember them telling me. Also the job description doesn’t have any of it. I thought employer should show the actual working place , especially if it is not an ordinary one.  Is there any law in the U.S. requiring the employer to disclose and show the actual physical work place?


texts: Is the Absence of Account deletion possibility legal in Europe? (GDPR)

texts:
This website explicitly states there is no easy way to "delete your account". It is accessible from within Europe.

How legal is this?
What would be my lever to force them to delete my account?

Note on context: I actually came across the problem not because of any misuse of my data, but because this extremely buggy app seems to not work correctly for some people having created their account from the web rather than the phone app. I hence thought of deleting everything and then recreating it from the phone... But could not.

https://support.mindbodyonline.com/s/article/217734897-Can-I-delete-my-account?language=en_US#:~:text=There%20is%20not%20a%20way,retain%20for%20record%20keeping%20purposes.


texts:
I recall reading that it is very difficult to lose U.S. citizenship. For example, that you can pledge alliance to another country and still remain a U.S. citizen. Is this true?

If this is the case, what are the circumstances in which a US Citizen can lose citizenship?


texts:
Okay, this is (I hope) proposed tongue-in-cheek, but having lived in Missouri most of my life I suspect it is seriously proposed.

Introduced by Representative McDaniel HB1108 would have every MO resident, ages 18-35 to own an AR-15, with a tax credit to cover 75% of cost.

House Bill 1108

My question is, just how illegal is this law?

I am not versed in law, but it looks like it would have issues with

Fair trade, since it would subsidize the purchase of a single item from a single company.
Religious exemption

But, what do you think?


texts: Is information only about financial transactions personally identifiable in terms of GDPR?

texts:
I am creating application where you can manage your incomes/expenses e.g. on eBay. Main functionality is:

create new item and specify price you've payed to get it
set price that you've

All other information is derived from this like monthly profit, statistics of sold item categories etc.

This is Android application, so user will install it from Google Play. Information will only be stored on user device. Possibly in the future it could be exported to device memory and user could share it on own will.

Is this information classified as personally identifiable in therms of GDPR (like finance related)?


texts: What Iowa law states that a leased tenant cannot kick out a non-leased occupant/squatter

texts:
I have a temporary roommate who is not on the lease and is becoming a hindrance via not paying any form of rent nor showing any signs of moving out. I tried calling the police, but was told that in Iowa that because they have been here for 3 weeks they are legally considered a resident and can not remove them for me.

I have tried looking for and have not found this law. Would anyone here know which law this would be and where I could find it?


texts:
I have seen many ways of requiring user acceptance of their data usage on the internet. Which are conforming? Keep in mind I am talking just about the consent acquiring mechanism.

In order from the least options offered to the user to the most options offered:

not allowing to use the site until the user clicks Accept. No options, just an "Accept" button.
A banner stating that "By browsing the site you accept the conditions". Just an "x" to close the banner. Using the site is allowed while the banner is displayed.
A banner with an "Accept" (and possibly "Reject") button. No other options. Site navigation is allowed while the banner is displaying.
A banner with an "Accept", "Reject" and also a "Settings" options where the user can fine tune the way his data is being used by the site.

I have heard from developers which studied GDPR that the law requires options for fine tuning settings (something like data required for basic functionality, data required for site analytics, data required for personalized ads, etc.). Which if true would make only the last variant above compiling. However I have personally observed only a handful of sites implementing this. Are all others non-conforming?


texts: Extradition after statute of limitations expires?

texts:
If a villain were to commit a murder in Norway, which has no statute of limitations for murder, but managed to evade the police and escape to another country - how would extradition work? This assumes that the villain successfully stayed under the radar, until the statute of limitations for murder in the country they escaped to expired, but they are in a country which has an extradition treaty with Norway.
As a random example: Portugal has a statute of limitations of 15 years, after which even the alleged child killer that kidnapped and murdered Madeleine McCann cannot be charged. If they escaped Norway to Portugal but stayed hidden for 15 years would they be extradited back to Norway?


texts: Why do contracts sometimes have strange capitilization?

texts: I've seen contracts where unusual words have their first letter in upper case. What does this happen? For example instead of "tenant" it says "Tenant" or contract" it's "Contract".


texts: Aviation regulation in Liechtenstein, Dominica and Tuvalu?

texts:
I have understood that both Liechtenstein, Dominica and Tuvalu are not members of ICAO. I have also read that Liechtenstein have delegated the application of treaty to Switzerland.

My question is the following:

Is correct my assumption that the aviation regulation and authority in Liechtenstein is provided by Switzerland?
What is the applicable regulation at Dominica and Tuvalu?


texts: Can the CEO of KODK be found guilty of insider trading?

texts:
Recently the American legacy film company KODK announced a deal with the US government to manufacture generic pharmaceuticals domestically.
This announcement sent the price per share for the company from around $2 on July 27th to $50 on July 29th. A day prior to this major announcement, significant trading activity occurred, leading some to speculate that the company's executives were involved in insider trading. Others have downplayed the seriousness of these accusations and have instead attributed the unusual volume to a bungled press embargo.
These days, the majority of class action lawsuits against KODK seemingly focuses on two particular points.

The CEO Jim Continenza bought 46,737 shares on 6/23/2020 (prior to the drug deal announcement). However, the company has defended this by pointing out that Mr. Continenza regularly makes similarly sized purchases of his company's stock every fiscal quarter + he hasn't sold any of his holdings.

The CEO Jim Continenza was granted options on 6/27/2030 (prior to the drug deal announcement). However, the company has defended this by pointing out that Mr. Continenza was granted these options in order to shield him from potential dilution as a result of a debt-equity swap

From a legal standpoint, how likely is it for KODK to be found guilty of insider trading based on the above two points?


texts: What types of contracts (that do not create a duty of care) can make legal actions criminal?

texts:
A few questions (mostly about copyright) have me wondering if it's possible to enter into a legal contract which would make an action criminal when the same action would be perfectly legal had one not entered into the same contract.
To narrow the question down, I'd like to exclude contracts which establish a duty of care.  So, to be clear, I am asking about contracts which do not that create a legal responsibility for another person's well-being (physical or financial).


texts: If a person under the age of 18 is married in a state other than California, are they considered emancipated if they live in California?

texts:
The California courts website states:

  There are 3 ways to get emancipated:

  Get married
  ...

Most sites seem to cater to the most obviously applicable situation, where a minor is married in California, and they pretty much unanimously agree with each other on the way one can go forward with this particular scenario (first parental and court approval to the marriage, followed by marriage, which in turn immediately grants legal emancipation).

My question relates to the aforementioned situation, but where the minor was instead married in another US state, rather than California (Nevada, for example).


texts: Is there a reason for a landlord to have more General Liability Insurance than the tenant?

texts: A prospective tenant wants me to have $2M / $4M General Liability Insurance and they only want to provide $1M / $2M. Is there a reason for this on a one year lease agreement that can be renewed annually? (They are a public university.)


texts:
I live in California. It is illegal for people record my video and voice in a private area without my permission.

In a normal situation, I think that I can call police.

However, can I ask the person provide me money in exchange that I am not going to call police?


texts: If I have a midi file of a public domain work, it the midi file copyrighted? This is a question that is related to this thread/question: Can I use public domain midi files commercially?


texts: Can I put an well known alias of mine, in place of my legal name, in the space where one lists the Copyright Holders?

texts:
I had made some code of mine publicly available under the MIT License. (See the actual copy of the license file here)

The license as per norms starts with the lines

The MIT License (MIT)
Copyright (c) <year> <copyright holders>

If you would have seen the license file attached with my code, I have used a well known alias of mine. By well known, I mean that all my public profiles on the internet use this alias.

But this is not my legal name.

Is it not advisable to do so, in context of copyright laws?
Do you see me running into any legal troubles claiming violation of copyright because I used an alias?
If I did want to use my alias, what steps would you suggest I undertake, so as to not run into trouble if I wish to claim copyright in the future.


texts: Does fair housing law prevent landlords from making deals?

texts:
I've had a couple of negotiation dealings with various corporate landlords (for residential housing) in a couple of states, and, basically, every time I would try to negotiate any sort of a remotely creative request, they would refuse to accommodate any such request, covering it up as being prohibited from doing so by the Fair Housing laws.

For example, me making a very economically reasonable offer for both parties to sign a limited month-to-month lease on a brand new and half-empty student housing apartment complex in Indiana after the school year has already started (since they wouldn't be able to fill it up for another year anyways), but they outright refused to even consider it.  Instead, couldn't they simply accept any such offers from anyone who proposed it?  As long as conditions are the same, e.g. they're still heavily under-occupied?  Or do the fair housing laws mandate heavy documenting etc that really does make any such deals impractical?

As a tenant, in which ways do the federal and state fair housing laws diminish my negotiating power and my ability to negotiate some kind of a custom deal from a corporately-staffed landlord?  Or do the corporate landlords simply use such laws as a pretext for making the tenant submit?


texts: What US laws exist around storing/processing personal data of US citizens outside of US?

texts:
If a company is located in the European Union and stores all personal data in EU servers (to comply with EU regulations), will it comply with US regulations (including state laws)?

Here are few related links, but I'm not sure if  i understood them correctly:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_laws_of_the_United_States

Do US companies have an obligation to protect of personal information?

http://us.practicallaw.com/6-502-0467


texts:
Therr is Person A with SoleTraderCompA
and person B with no company.

Person A wants to sell to B,
B wants to buy.
Both residents of Germany.

How can this be processed?
Transfer obligations etc.

eg. Does B have to open a UG (limited liability) and buy STCompA?

Any ideas would be appreciated.


texts: What role, if any, would unethical behavior play in a malpractice case?

texts:
My understanding, as a layman, is that a lawyer need not obtain the "best" or optimal result for a client, only a "reasonable" result. In academic terms, a lawyer need not earn an "A." A "C" is adequate from the point of view of professional competence. But the lawyer must not earn an unreasonably bad result, that is, an "F."

Suppose the lawyer acted unethically, e.g. proceeded with important decisions without consulting with the client. And suppose those decisions turned out "badly" (e.g. a C- or a D but not an F). Would the unethical behavior count against the lawyer, or aggravate the gravity of the poor result in a malpractice case? Could unethical behavior even be actionable in its own right, independently of the result?


texts: Do other countries than Germany have traffic laws that regard a group of civil vehicles as one single vehicle?

texts:
I'm mostly interested in the situation in France, but this might be interesting for other countries as well, especially in the context of the current rise of bicycle usage:
Germany has § 27 in its traffic law (StVO), permitting huge groups of cyclists to go through traffic as one single vehicle, even crossing red traffic lights as long as the vehicles at the front passed at green.
Do similar laws (for civil use) exist in France or other countries?
A first look at the French code de la route revealed nothing, and Wikipedia has no translations listed for the German article.

German law: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/stvo_2013/__27.html
Wikipedia: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verband_(Stra%C3%9Fenverkehr)#Radfahrer


texts: What is the motivation behind the "rules for coordination of benefits"?

texts:
I am looking at a law which motivation I don't understand:

WAC 284-51-205
Rules for coordination of benefits.
(1) When a person is covered by two or more plans, the rules for determining the order of benefit payments are as follows:
(a) The primary plan must pay or provide its benefits as if the secondary plan or plans did not exist.

I'm pretty sure there are some historical records about how this rule was born. I mean, the discussions about the rule before it was legislated. Could anyone point to those?
I'd really like to know why is the person covered by more than one insurance can't choose which insurance to use first, if that same exact person is paying for the insurance company service. That doesn't make much sense to me, but I'm a first generation immigration and know to little about the US law in general.  This seems to be violating the ideas of private property in my mind -- one is not in control of own money when uses publicly available services.


texts: How can I get past a ban on energy drinks at my school?

texts:
Whenever I enter my school I'm forbidden to drink energy drinks. I asked them why and they listed lots of reasons why I wasn't allowed.

I asked "why is smoking not forbidden but something so simple as drinking energy drinks is?" and they replied "smoking is a personal decision and drinking energy drinks doesn't just harm you but everyone around you due to the "behaviour" you output under the influence of energy drinks".

Are there any ways I can legally get around this ban?


texts:
From the Wikipedia article:

Argumentative is an evidentiary objection raised in response to a question which prompts a witness to draw inferences from facts of the case.
...
For example, if a lawyer on direct examination were to ask his (My Note: or her) witness, "So he was driving negligently?," opposing counsel could raise an argumentative objection. This is because negligence is a legal term of art, and the witness cannot reasonably answer the question. Since the lawyer is "arguing" his (My Note: or her) case through the witness, the objection would be sustained, and then stricken from the record. (My Note: I guess what is meant is '...then the question would be stricken...')

So what is the adjective for questions that do not ask to draw inferences or, I guess additionally, to state opinions? I think not 'objective' otherwise we might say 'subjective' instead of 'argumentative'. Same for 'direct': 'indirect'

Update: I can't believe I didn't say this before, but I believe factual vs argumentative relates to, respectively, positive vs normative.


texts:
Some Texas districts/counties publish a 10-day demand letter that can be used when trying to retrieve property from a person, such as Cleburne, Dallas and Houston.
Some of these letters reference Chapter 31 of the Texas Penal Code which covers theft.
If property (let's say a vehicle, because some of the letters note the offense of UUMV) is taken in a county/district which does not have one of these letters published, such as Tarrant county. Can these letters still be used in those counties? Is this a Texas-wide law, and what part of Ch. 31 of the penal code makes the refusal of the 10-day demand a criminal matter? Would the Tarrant County DA be compelled to investigate a theft based on the outcome of a 10-day demand letter?


texts: Employee rights to access performance data

texts:
I currently work in NH, USA. I am going through the process of a mid year review with my manager. To prepare the employee perspective I requested a report from our Work Flow system to identify the start date, end date and associated information for my performance. My manager refused.

Do employees have any obligatory access to their own performance data as needed to do a proper analysis?


texts: Can I search for a type of case using Pacer.gov?

texts: My interest is not in one particular case, but in a type of case (e.g., class action employment discrimination under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, as amended).  Is there a way to search for such cases on Pacer.gov?


texts: Can a business impose a minimum amout for credit card payment without notice?

texts:
Recently, I visited a bar I regularly attend and purchased what I normally get, which has a pre-tip total of less than $10. When I went to pay the check with my credit card, I was told that there was a $10 minimum for all credit transactions.

It is worth noting that there are no signs anywhere that indicate this $10 minimum nor has such a thing been enforced in the months that I had previously been patronizing this location. There are signs indicating that credit cards are accepted.

Personally, I do not keep much, if any cash, on me. So this created a conundrum. I eventually got the barback to relent and take the card, but I was wondering few things:

Does the placement of a sticker stating, "We accept XYZ credit cards," essentially obligate a business to accept that card?
If a business is obligated to accept a credit card, are they obligated to openly declare the conditions for that form of payment (especially in a restaurant where payment happens after services are rendered)?


texts: Is it illegal to perform wifi hacks on your own home network using tools like WiFiPhisher, Aircrack, and Wireshark?

texts:
Apologies if this has been asked countless times. I've seen it a few times around here however they usually pertain to someone having written permission. And I don't...

Or if someone could post a duplicate thread with more information.

I recently finished my ethical hacking course in uni. I've competed in several cyber security competitions. But I want to continue my practice over the summer because there is another competition next fall.

If I want to use tools such as Aircrack and WiFiPhisher to see if I can get wifi passwords and use Wireshark to see if I can sniff my own traffic. I am able to do this with no consequence on my own private home network, correct? If I pay for my internet, do I not need permission from my ISP?


texts: What are the Responisbilities of a Witness (Witness Signature)?

texts:
When signing a contract or a consent form, does the person signing as a witness have to:

See that the signatory (primary person signing) has filled in any/all blank values
Confirm that the signatory understands what they are agreeing to
Understand themselves what the signatory is agreeing to

Or is it as simple as the witness only needing to confirm that the signatory has signed, and nothing else?


texts: Libel complaint against publishing company d/b/a/ as newspaper

texts:
A newspaper defamed a Plaintiff. The newspaper is the business name of a publishing company (ie. the publishing company d/b/a/ the newspaper). Can the Plaintiff write the following in his or her complaint?

Libel Count I
(against newspaper)

Rather than,

Libel Count I
(against publishing company)


texts: Are comments posted on websites owned by the website or the commenter?

texts: If a user comments on a website, and a third-party business owner uses text from that comment for commercial purposes, is that plagiarism or theft?


texts: What laws are there regarding being pulled over by an unmarked cop car/undercover cop?

texts:
Although this has never happened to me, I've read and heard about people driving on the road and then being signaled (in some way, usually with reds and blues) to pull over for a ticket and the car doing this isn't the usual police car for that area but instead an unmarked car.

Are you legally required to pull over for this unmarked car just like you would for a regular police car? What laws mention or describe this situation (in any state)? If it is required, how are you to know if the police car is legitimate?


texts: What are the laws on showing another company's logo in my book on branding?

texts:
I am writing a book on best practice branding for entrepreneurs and want to demonstrate my points using well-known (as well as our own client) logos.

The logos will be used for illustrative, educational purposes and shown in a good light. I can put a line at the start of the book explaining that the use of the logo does not imply any endorsement or sponsorship from these brands.

Will this be enough?


texts: Qualifications or exceptions to a requirement to report to a port of entry

texts:
Wikipedia's article titled Canada–United States border says this:

  It is illegal to cross the border outside border controls. Everyone crossing the border must be checked.

There appear to be some exceptions and qualifications:

The International Peace Garden is a park about 3.65 square miles in area that is bisected by the boundary between North Dakota and Manitoba. Visitors enter the park on a road that has the international boundary moving down the middle of it, and when they leave the park going either north or south, they report to border guards as if entering the country. But within the park everyone can freely cross the border.
The Haskell Free Library and Opera House has the boundary between Vermont and Quebec running through the building. One enters in Vermont, and moves freely about those parts of the building that are open to the public, including areas in both countries, and then exits in Vermont. This page on their web site says "Visitors from Canada must park their cars on the Church Street side of the building and walk around the building to the main entrance. [ . . . ] It is expected that all visitors will return to their country of origin." Apparently in order to drive into the U.S. they have to stop at a border crossing station, but they can walk around the building and then walk back.
A small part of an industrial-looking building in Beebe Junction, Quebec is in Vermont, and a big part of its parking lot surrounding the building is in Vermont, and it looks as if lots of trucks going from the east side to the west side of the building drive around the south side, taking them about 50 feet into Vermont over a course of 300 feet or so of roadway and then returning to Quebec while remaining on the plant's grounds. (On Google Maps, see 45.005882 degrees north latitude and 72.144024 degrees west longitude.)
About a mile west of the library a street called rue Canusa is in Quebec and the north and south sides of the street are lined with single-family residential houses. The houses on the south side of the street are in Vermont. Do people visit their neighbors across the street without going to a border crossing station?
Similarly, in some places two farmers' houses are fifty feet from each other with the boundary running between them and the nearest official border crossing miles away. It seems incredible that they don't visit each other or otherwise cross the boundary.
The International Boundary Commission marks the boundary with "monuments" (one of which is depicted below). Sometimes these get repaired or replaced and sometimes a new one gets erected. The workers who measure the location and pour the concrete and otherwise work on construction of the monument would routinely cross the border a few dozen times in the course of a day.
Similarly if a pipeline or a railroad track or a highway is built that crosses the boundary, the workers might walk back and forth while working.
A conversation between two hunters in Alberta and a rancher in Montana is described in this question posted by the person who took the picture that I'm also including here, and they could all three have circumambulated this monument without thinking about it, and the conversation probably took place when all three of them were in one country or the other.

Does some law enumerate exceptions or qualifications to the rule about "everyone crossing the border"?


texts: Fraud if a director lies about being unable to pay

texts:
Context: Canadian Law; contractor; fraud

Would it be considered fraudulence on behalf of the director (specifically CEO) of a company if they were to lie about being unable to pay a contractor, but instead chose to spend the money on other purchases? If that company later went bankrupt/insolvent,

Could this impact pro-rata payment to creditors (i.e. give preference to the creditor)?
Make the director personally-liable (if this is considered fraud) and allow the contractor to sue the director personally?


texts: How long can the government charge you after arrest but before trial?

texts:
If a person has been arrested already, can the federal government bring up additional felony charges while that person awaits trial?

And if so how long does the government have to bring up the charges before trial?

And will the charges be in one trial or in a separate trial?

Say a man is arrested for embezzlement, and while awaiting trial the arresting agency found evidence of tax fraud. Could the agency charge the man with tax fraud and embezzlement in one trial, or would it need to be two separate trials?


texts: Legality of online publishing of public records containing home addresses of large #'s of people?

texts:
Suppose that:

(1) a person living in Washington state receives a large number of documents from a public records request, each containing names and mailing addresses (for hundreds of thousands of people in total), along with a variety of other data; and

(2) they then publish this collection of documents onto their own (non-commercial) website, and make tools to search/filter the database in various ways, selecting/displaying lists of individuals based on criteria from data about them in the records; and

(3) government agencies already provide all of these documents online for free download. But they only provide the records online one-by-one rather than in aggregate, and they offer limited ability to search/filter records.

Is it illegal under Washington state, or Federal, law for an individual to publish large #'s of public records containing personal information (such as home address) like this, on their own website? Would the person publishing the records likely be open to civil suits by the individuals whose information was published on the website?


texts:
In the United States, Where does a no-parking zone start when there is a no parking sign? Assume the sign is the first such sign on this stretch of road.
Can I park immediately at (before) the sign?  Or does the zone extend back before the sign, perhaps to some range from where it can be seen?
For example, is this car parked legally, assuming the nose of the car is not past the sign?


texts: Why *must* a defendant be present during a criminal trial?

texts:
The Sixth Amendment guarantees:

  In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury....

I recently discovered that, in general, these "rights" are not optional!

For example, under under Federal rule: if you want a bench trial in a criminal matter, both the prosecution and the judge must agree to waive the jury (FRCP 23a).  (Many states do, however, allow a criminal defendant to unilaterally opt for a bench trial.)

Likewise: Under FRCP 43, a criminal defendant cannot opt out of being present for his entire trial.

These rules seem opposed to the basic civic principles that surround the presumption of innocence before conviction, and the right of a person to pursue an effective defense.  I can think of plenty of reasons why a person may not want to show his face in a public court, much less sit through the entire process.  Including reasons that may prejudice the triers of fact: e.g., disfigurement, handicaps that produce irritating tics, etc.

The notes on these federal rules cite a great deal of jurisprudence and history.  Before I attempt my own research, can anyone point to principles or customs that might illuminate or reconcile these FRCP mandates with the basic understanding of American criminal justice I described?


texts: I'm a US citizen opening a business in the EU: where do I file taxes?

texts: I'm opening a business via the e-residency program with Estonia. I am a United States citizen and reside there, as well. Who should I file taxes with?


texts: Legal to treat customers differently based on where they live?

texts: I work at a hotel in the United States (Georgia). Some of our rooms are pretty nice while others are in desperate need of maintenance, pest control, etc. The owner of the hotel regularly tells me not to rent the nice rooms to locals. If we only have nice rooms left, I'm supposed to tell them that we have no vacancies. Even though I understand his reasoning to some extent (locals often will not treat the rooms as well as out of town guests, so give them the rooms that are already beat up) it still feels wrong to discriminate this way. I was just wondering, is it legal to do this?


texts: Can a landlord refuse to rent to confidential address recipient

texts:
Someone I know has a court ordered confidential address (due to domestic violence) that allows them to use PO Boxes for all correspondences and their name and physical address cannot be made public.

Their apartment is refusing to renew the lease unless they registers with a third-party pet screening website that states that it collects personal information and shares it outside the country. They let the landlord know that they cannot register with the site since that violates the court order; however, the landlord is saying that they will not renew the lease unless they register (even though they have no animals).

What is their defense against this?

Although the apartments are mean, have had their car towed several times for not displaying the parking placard, had to do plumbing on the apartment 3 times for flooding coming from upstairs (while not putting them up anywhere while they did the week-long construction) and even tried to have them sign a 13-month lease calling it a 12-month lease... this is their only option at the moment.


texts: How basic were Senator Kennedy's questions to Matthew Spencer Petersen?

texts:
The recent hearing of the candidates for district court judge sparked some media attention as President Trump's candidate, Matthew Spencer Petersen, could not answer (video here) some law-specific questions asked by Senator Kennedy.

I was able to identify the four terms that were mentioned in the video linked above, here they are the way they were asked by Senator Kennedy:

  Can you tell me what the Daubert standard is?
  Do you know what a motion in limine is?
  Do you know what the Younger abstention doctrine is?
  How about the Pullman abstention?

Obviously, Mr. Petersen failed to answer those questions to various degrees.

Since I am a layman concerning law I am interested in how "basic" the questions really are:

Should Mr. Petersen, as a Juris Doctor, know of those things in his sleep?
Is his excuse valid when he says that he has no background in the field(s) (he mentioned litigation once) the terms are corresponding to?


texts: In California is it legal to offer less to a senior developer than a non-senior developer

texts:
So I've read about the Fair Pay Act, which is unclear if it also covers people of the same sex. I know it is not legal for the company to prohibit salary discussion between employees.

I am currently in a situation where someone of my current title (Software Developer) is making significantly more than me due to some nice negotiation skills. Right now I am in negotiations for my Senior position, however the first offer was an extreme low-ball as it would have me making less than the non-senior developer still. Does California have any legal coverage for such a situation?

Edit: Responses I got made me think the situation is unclear.

I am about to be promoted from Software Dev 2 to a Senior Dev 1. The other person is Software Dev 2, yet with the extra responsibilities and skill, they are offering me less than some one of a lesser title.


texts: Can a California ballot initiative prevent its own repeal except by an unrealistically large legislative majority?

texts:
Background: an upcoming ballot initiative in California, Proposition 22, contains as part of its text the condition that the law it brings into effect can only be amended by a 7/8 legislative majority. As an article in Bloomberg explains:

The long-term implications of Proposition 22 are profound, advocates say, because of strict—and by their account, unprecedented—lock-in measures: If approved by voters, the measure could only be amended with a 7/8 majority of state legislators. “In practical terms, this means there will likely be enough votes to permanently prevent amendments,” reads the report. Any future amendments deemed inconsistent with the purpose of the proposition—meaning anything that challenges independent contractor status—will be prohibited, according to the researcher’s interpretation of the measure.

This measure appears to make it unrealistic for this proposition to ever be modified or repealed, and I am wondering whether it is legal for a California law to entrench itself in such a way. Specific related questions are:

Can the proposition be repealed by a simple majority of California voters through a future ballot initiative?

Can the proposition be repealed by a 2/3 legislative majority who would legislate its repeal through a change to the California state constitution? (Such changes can be made by a 2/3 majority, to my understanding.)

If the answer to 2 is "yes", doesn't that mean that the 7/8 majority restriction is legally meaningless and that the clause with that language should not have been allowed on the ballot by the California state official who is in charge of such things (the Secretary of State, I'm guessing)?

Is there anything special about the number 7/8? That is, can a future ballot initiative include a similar condition in which the number 7/8 is replaced by 99/100? Or by an absolute prohibition on the law it institutes ever being repealed by the legislature?

Does the US Constitution or other US federal laws have anything of relevance to say about the validity of such self-entrenching legislation?


texts: Can non-competes be enforced after expiration?

texts:
I had a non-compete that with company X that I could not work directly or indirectly for company Y for 10 months. I left company X and I became a contractor for company Z who assured me that the non-compete would not hold up for abc reasons (I was promoted so the old non-compete didn't hold up) and they were confident they could defeat the non-compete if necessary. They then placed me at company Y. I worked for 10+ months as a contractor and started as a full time employee recently.

Now that it has been past 10 months, and company Y never found out or questioned my status, is there anything they can do if they found out I had been working there the whole time?

thanks,


texts: Does the gavel have a legal significance, or is it purely ceremonial?

texts: Judges in US courtrooms famously use a gavel at appropriately dramatic points in a trial.  If a judge fails to use a gavel, or uses it at the wrong moment, is this legally significant?  Or is the gavel purely ceremonial?


texts:
Let's assume that person A carries on themselves spices such as chilly, cayenne peppers, or something else of the same fiery disposition. Person A is attacked by person B. Let us further assume that person B is unarmed – no mêlée weapon or fire arm of any kind. During the struggle, person A uses said spice to harm (possibly permanently) person B.

Is there any case where this happened?

Would person A carrying spices as a weapon to use in self defence at risk of being prosecuted for assault? This source suggest that it might be seen as an offensive weapon.

This is based on a comments on martial arts.


texts: Do I need permission to use Twitter videos with the embed feature?

texts:
I see news agencies always asking for permission to use user shot videos.

Most of them go like this,

  Hi, I am from the XYZ news. Could we use your footage on our website
  and socials? With credits to you of course.

Actual example: https://twitter.com/RTLnieuws/status/1117839658241667072

I thought that anybody could embed the videos without permission when using the embed feature, so why are they asking for permission? Or I'm I wrong?


texts: Can the U. S. Supreme Court take as much time as it wants until it renders a decision?

texts:
I am wondering whether there is any formal (I could not find one) or informal (e. g. custom) limit on the time that the U. S. Supreme Court can take from the date when a case enters the docket (alternatively: from the time certiorari is granted) to the date when it renders a decision. Could a case theoretically remain on the docket for years before it is decided?

Do the terms have any significance for this question - i. e. would it be strange if the court grants certiorari this term but only decides the case on its merits next term?


texts: Is it legal for a private school to make COVID testing mandatory?

texts:
The CDC writes:

It is unethical and illegal to test someone who does not want to be tested, including students whose parents or guardians do not want them to be tested.

I presume its not talking about forcibly testing the student, but rather about not allowing the student in without being tested.
Towards the beginning of the article it says:

While these considerations were developed with public schools, including charter schools, in mind, private schools may also find these considerations useful.

My question is, under what law is it illegal to to not allow students into school unless they have a test and would that law apply to private schools?


texts: My attorney dropped me without notification via letter and then filed a withdraw for a worker's comp case. He claims it is irreconcilable differences but I barely talked to him about my case. Actually I can't speak because I had a stroke at my job and my mother is my POA and Medical Health Surrogate. I received a phone call from his office 2 days prior to an alleged letter that he claims to have sent me on a Sunday (2 days after the phone call) that I never received and then today I received a filing of his withdraw that he filed on a Saturday. The phone call was between one of his attorneys and my mother where the conversation was not heated or was there any problems, just the attorney giving a 45 day update on the litigation of the case. There was nothing that happened during the conversation which I sat next to my mother while she was talking to him. He also filed a lien against me if I receive any worker's comp money but only made 3 filings: 1) to state he was my attorney, 2) to file for money back for travel, 3) to withdraw as my attorney. What do I do?


texts: Can sending a single message on social media be considered harassment?

texts:
My ex-fiancée sent me a WhatsApp message a few months back to "inform" me that she got married and that I should forget and forgive.
What I didn't know back then was that it was her second marriage in few months. She recently divorced someone and married with someone else. I found that out recently and sent her a WhatsApp message saying that I didn't know she married twice and I am disappointed in what I saw in both husbands. And I am genuinely sad for her.
Also I told her I will not forget or forgive her quoting the message she sent me. All of that was in 1 WhatsApp message. Afterwards, she called me and told me that she will file a complaint against me for harassment.
Is this considered harassment?


texts: Original author of project that a company abandoned

texts:
I'm the original author of a project that was made on company time and resources. While waiting for this project to come to life it just died without any support on marketing it and not using it at all.

Now I'm wondering if I can use this as my own releasing it for proprietary purposes or as an open source project. Are there legal outcomes when in the case of the company taking it back as their own proprietary product?

I'm no longer an employee on said company.

Philippines


texts: Can 501(c)(3) nonprofits sell goods and services like a for-profit?

texts:
United States/NY state here.
I would like to form a business entity whose primary purpose will be helping the public at large with a very specific charitable cause. This will be a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit. However I would like to sell a variety of goods and services, so as to raise money to fund our charitable activities. Things like coffee mugs, t-shirts and other kits related to our cause that the public-at-large might be interested in buying.
Are 501(c)(3) nonprofits allowed to sell goods and services to the public (like any other for-profit would)? Provided that the proceeds/revenue from said sales is actually put to good use? Or do nonprofits need to perform financial gymnastics, such as owning, say, a C-corp or S-corp that does that sales, and passes the dividends back to the nonprofit, etc.?
If nonprofits are not allowed to sell goods and services, where is this documented and what are some legal gymnastics I could finagle to get my desired outcome?
And if they are allowed to sell goods and services, what constraints, regulations, restrictions, etc. apply?


texts: My bill payment is due between the 12/6/2020 and 29/6/2020. Can i pay on either of those dates as well as the days between them?

texts: Like i said my bill is due between 12/6/2020 and 29/6/2020. Could i set up a direct debit payment paying it on the 12th or the 29th as well as the rest of the days in between them? I don't think you need images or links to answer this one. I've come to the conclusion that those two date are included in the window of payment but would just like to check with a profesional. Thanks!


texts: What data processing requires opt-in consent for an existing customer under GDPR?

texts:
I'm a customer of a bank and presumably they can claim legitimate interest for the account and service updates they send. However I also received an email and letter about their referral program where they offer money to refer new customers. I never explicitly gave my consent for any marketing purposes.

If I am a customer and I have given my consent to be contacted for things like service availability and payment notifications, does this allow them to contact me for other reasons like this referral program?

The company also says that their email and letter is not marketing material as it is not something that everyone will receive and it contains a code unique to me. This doesn't make any sense to me as it's clearly targeted advertising.

If this is not allowed how can I make a complaint about their behaviour?


texts: Using IP(Internet Protocol address) to calculate Tax

texts:
I understand that if I sell things online, I need to calculate Taxes based on customer location.

Can I use IP(Internet Protocol address) to locate customer or should I ask them explicitly?

If it is fine to use IP to identify customer's Country, is it fine to locate customer State/Province.

I need it because Canada has different taxes in different Provinces.


texts: Under Irish law can the Gardaí give a person's statement to a 3rd party government department?

texts:
I have an Irish law question. I have tried to get a few solicitors to answer it but they seem unable to give me a concrete answer. I'm hoping someone on here can help or point me in the right direction.

Under Irish law, can the Gardaí give a person's statement to a third party government department who are not directly involved in the ongoing case? And if they are allowed to do so, am I entitled to find out the person's name they gave it to?

The Citizen's Information website states that I have a right to "Know the identity of anyone to whom the Gardaí disclose [data they hold on me]". However, on contacting the Gardaí they have told me that they do not have to disclose any names of individuals they have given the statement to.

Any help would be appreciated.


texts: Is taking our phones on a class trip allowed?

texts:
We are a German, 8th grade class and will go to a two-day-long trip (in Germany).

Everybody is excited, until the teachress told us she would take our phones overnight.

She has made a contract with the parents in which she states, "I will take your kids' phones overnight."

She doesn't name a consequence if we don't give her our phones.

Is she allowed to take the phones anyways and are there any loopholes we could exploit to retain them?


texts: Does quoting a line from a film infringe copyright?

texts:
I want to quote a line from a film in my novel. Specifically:

  "Don't ever lose your sense of humour, Dan. Don't ever lose your sense
  of humour."

From About Last Night (1986). So, it's not a long excerpt, just two sentences.

I know I can't quote a single line from a song without incurring expensive permission fees. But, that's a short body of work. Does it apply to movies, too?


texts: Temporarily Stopping a Lawsuit for Medical Reasons

texts:
If the entity prosecuting a lawsuit or the entity defending a lawsuit becomes unable to do the necessary work in that lawsuit due to medical reasons: What is the proper way to let the court know?  Send the judge a letter explaining the medical reason?  Notify the court the party is physically incapable?  Ask the court to halt proceedings until the party has resumed their health?  Or, what?
Exactly how much of one's medical history must be shared to halt a case for medical reasons?
---So, does one do a continuance for each thing pending and is there a limit on how long a continuance can be?


texts:
I am looking to publish a list of prices for which companies are willing to sell certain generic (commodity type) products. These companies have already published their own "price guides" that list the cost of each product in a table format.

I will be taking the cheapest price for each product and incorporating it into my own "master price guide," which I will then publish periodically on our website for paid subscribers to view.

Does the act of re-publishing these prices infringe on the copyright held by the companies who released the information in the first place? I will be publishing the prices in an entirely different format from the company tables where I get them from.

Would these prices be considered facts? Business operations? Or am I infringing on their copyright?


texts: Can the Governor of Maine remove Maine's Attorney General?

texts:
As I understand it, the President of the United States has an Attorney General (AG) that serves at the pleasure of the President. That means the President can fire the AG at any time. Can you take a look at Maine? Its legislature elects the AG and as I understand it, the AG has a special common law status as a constitutional officer.

The Governor of Maine is supposed to ensure that the laws are executed faithfully. Does he have power to do so when it comes to the department of the AG? I'm not only interested in the AG, but I am also interested in the assistant AGs who serve at the AG's pleasure. I assume that if the Governor can't fire the AG, then the Governor also can't fire any AAGs.

I'm trying to understand who is in charge.

Can the Governor of Maine fire the Attorney General? Otherwise the department of the AG seems like a 4th or 5th branch of government.


texts: How can I tell what is meant by "assault", as opposed to "battery"?

texts:
In English law, I'm struggling to find a consistent definition of "assault", or at least, a way to decide what definition to apply:

Sometimes it appears to mean "to intentionally or recklessly cause another person to apprehend immediate and unlawful personal violence". With this definition, an actual act of unlawful physical contact is a battery, which is something different to an assault. Alice threatening to punch Charlie is an assault, Bob punching Charlie is a battery.
Other times the word "assault" appears to be an umbrella term which self-referentially includes "assault" OR "battery". Using this definition, it doesn't matter whether there is physical contact: it can be referred to as an assault either way. Alice threatening to punch Charlie is an assault, Bob punching Charlie can be called an assault or a battery - both are correct terms.

The terms "assault" and "common assault" also seem to be interchangeable in some texts, or in other texts used to differentiate between the two possible meanings of assault (so e.g. a text might claim that "common assault" is sub-divided into "assault" and "battery"). I have even seen this explained the other way around, whereby "assault" is sub-divided into "common assault" and "battery", so even this use of the terms is not consistent.

The confusion is perpetuated by judges. For example, James J. in Fagan v Metropolitan Police Commissioner [1969] 1 QB 439 said:

  An assault is any act which intentionally—or possibly
  recklessly—causes another person to apprehend immediate and unlawful
  personal violence. Although "assault" is an independent crime and is
  to be treated as such, for practical purposes today "assault" is
  generally synonymous with the term "battery" and is a term used to
  mean the actual intended use of unlawful force to another person
  without his consent. On the facts of the present case the "assault"
  alleged involved a "battery."

I'm not sure what to make of this. We are to "treat as such" that "assault" is an independent crime, but then it goes on to contradict this by saying that in the present case we can include the "battery" as being part of the "assault", because the two are "generally synonymous". It's hard to see how he can justify both positions simultaneously.

So, ignoring the every day English language meaning of the words, is there in fact a clear and precise definition of "assault" (in which case some sources are simply using it incorrectly), or do I just need to accept that there is confusion, even within the law itself, and rely on context to establish in any given instance which meaning is meant?


texts: If a licensee creates a derivative work, do they own the work?

texts:
This is a follow up to this question asked on freelanceing SE. The background is, I know some clients want to hire an app developer but want to own everything created. As the developer it would be nice to reuse portions of the source code. I've heard some clients agree to grant a license back to the developer to use reuse the source code.

I'm not sure I'm understanding the info from freelancing right, but if the developer reuses the source code licensed back to him, does the new owner have a claim to it? If so, how can this be avoided?

In general what would a contract term look like for allowing the developer to keep a perpetual license to reuse the source code and own derivative works created with it?