texts: Can employers fire someone for "lying" on personality questionnaires?

texts:
Many employers, typically those offering minimum wage jobs, have applicants fill out a personality quiz.  They usually probe whether the applicant believes stealing is justifiable, if they value their job above their own well-being, if their outlook on the world is bleak, and other personal questions.

It's generally accepted that you put in what the employer would value, and not your true values.  However, once employed, if you revealed in conversation your true beliefs, and they ran counter to what you wrote down, could this give the employer just cause in termination?


texts: Is the Senate rule against "impugning a senator" constitutional?

texts:
I was astonished by the news that Warren was silenced by the Senate for "impugning a senator" because in my eyes the rule itself seems to conflict with democratic principles of the USA as well as the 1st amendment. It seems incredible that:

1) A rule that prevents criticism of politicians during political debates in Senate because that would allow the majority to prevent minority from criticizing majority, therefor cementing perpetual rule by the current majority. In particular, this rule would prevent quite rightful impugning of senator MacCarthy in 1950s.

2) A rule that dictates what somebody can or cannot say about the conduct of a public person seems to violate the 1st amendment.

Can anybody clarify how this rule can even exist?


texts: Why aren't foreign VPN companies forced to keep logs?

texts:
This link explains the inconsistency with what VPN services consider 'logging'. Certainly, there is no way for us to verify their claims without an extremely rigorous independent audit. But even that can be sabotaged.

Regardless though, many VPN service providers vehemently claim that they do not keep logs. An example is NordVPN, which is based in Panama and so there is no domestic legislation that forces it to keep logs:

NordVPN Privacy Policy:

  "Our top priority is customer data security. Operating under the
  jurisdiction of Panama allows us to guarantee our no logs policy,
  which means that your activities while using the privacy solutions
  created by NordVPN.com are not monitored, recorded, logged, stored or
  passed to any third party."

What I do not understand is companies like NordVPN have hundreds of servers around the world, most of which are not in the country that they are originally based in. Surely, no-logging is impossible for most of their servers? Or are companies compelled to log depending on where they are based? So US legislation would not apply to a VPN server in the US which is run by a company based in Hong Kong - but this doesn't make sense - wouldn't US legislation apply to them regardless of where they are based?

This link says, again, that one of the pros of VPN servers being based in Hong Kong is that companies are not compelled to keep logs (I assume this is in contrast with servers in the US and other countries):

  "There are no mandatory data retention laws in Hong Kong. Most Hong
  Kong-based providers offer a “no logs” service, and international
  companies are not required to keep logs relating to their Hong Kong
  servers (although some companies, notably US based ones, choose to do
  so)."

Surely legislation does not discriminate based on where a company is based? Eg. all companies that operate in the UK are forced to abide by the Data Protection Act (DPA). Whether or not they are based in the UK does not matter. As long as the data that that company possesses remains in the UK, it has to be treated in compliance with UK law.

Also, why would US companies with servers in Hong Kong willingly keep logs if the law is not forcing them to? Sounds like a great marketing tool if they were able to claim they intentionally choose not to log.

My assumption here is that any legislation regarding mass surveillance of private citizens is followed by companies the same as legislation regarding anything else (DPA, legislation about the treatment of employees, etc.). Chinese companies with offices in the UK cannot treat their employees according to Chinese law, so why does are they allowed to treat legislation pertaining to internet traffic differently?

As for who would do the forcing, the local governments. Eg. the US government, that passes mass-surveillance legislation. If the US government argues they need logs to keep track of the movements of criminals and especially terrorists, wouldn't a company saying "we do not keep logs by choice" be condemned as impeding government counter-terrorism efforts? If the law requires all VPN servers in the US to keep logs, wouldn't a company not keeping logs be in violation of the law and hence 'criminal'?

If it's a legal loophole, it sounds like a dumb loophole if politicians are trying to claim they need logs to track down criminals (including terrorists), while allowing VPN providers to not keep logs.


texts: If I ask a police officer if I am compelled to do something do they have to answer me honestly?

texts:
Let's say that I'm being questioned by police as a suspect, and I'm too stupid to have asked for an attorney I could trust to be there.
The police are going to try to get me to do things that may be against my own self interest, such as answering potentially incriminating questions, provide my DNA/fingerprints to them, or consent to a search.  The police are going to do their best to make it sound as if I should, or have to, do this without informing me that I have a choice in the matter, all this stuff helps them with their job and they have no incentive not to do so.
Let's say I do not wish to go along with one of the things the police want from me, like provide my DNA.  Without an attorney present for me to consult with I ask the police offers trying to convince me I need to give my DNA whether I am legally required to provide it.
My question is whether or not the police officer has to inform me that I could refuse to give the DNA sample?  A police officer has the right to utilize deception to get evidence, and I've already foolishly sacrificed my own right to an attorney present to answer these sort of questions for me.  So can a police officer knowingly deceive me into thinking I have to provide my DNA after I explicitly asked him whether I was compelled to do so?  Or is the police officer still held to a standard of honesty when it comes to describing my legal rights, even if he can otherwise freely deceive me?
I know from a previous question that the police officers don't need to be up front with whether or not they are detaining me, but in this case I'm not asking whether they have the right to be evasive, and instead whether they can actively misrepresent the facts of my legal rights and requirements.
I use DNA sample as my example here, but I'm curious for any situation where a suspect may be uncertain of whether or not their legally required to consent to something an officer wants, not just providing DNA samples.


texts: Is it legal to download paid books for free in Pakistan?

texts:
Is it legal for me to download paid books for free from PdfDrive, as there are tons of paid books available there for free?
I live in Pakistan.

Is it legal to download it for purposes that are otherwise legal?
Why do the publishers who hold the copyright not take action against this?


texts: Exposing to the public video streaming content

texts:
Here's my question: Is it legal to expose tv series from web sites on a mobile platform? Would the developer(s) be sued for creating such a software ? Or since the data is already exposed online(i.e web sites where users can watch their tv series online), it would be considered legal to expose the data on a non-commercial or commercial platform ?

Would be better if instead of the actual video, it would be the URL (link to the ressource) ?


texts:
Will a termination by convenience clause always be honored by the court, if it is used in a manner that is completely unethical? Eg. can a company terminate an account that just bought an expensive subscription without refunding said subscription?

Edit: can someone actually tell me whether this runs afoul of a tenet of contract law?


texts: If I live in the US can I be prosecuted for answers describing illegal activities?

texts:
The internet allows for some level of anonymity and occasionally you will find posts that give detailed descriptions of how to perform an activity that is illegal.  Examples may include how to covertly grow marijuana, or swindle money.

If I live in the US and make posts or provide answers to questions that explain how to perform an activity that is illegal in the US, can I be prosecuted?

This question is about sharing the "how to" information only, not actually performing any illegal activity.


texts: Patent application: can the citation of a figure from another author be considered fair use?

texts:
I would like to include a figure from a scientific paper which illustrates some background for my invention. I can cite the source and I can make it clear that I'm using it for illustration and discussion purposes only.

Is that a strong case for "fair use" or do I need to be concerned about violating the original author's copyright?


texts: How would the defendants in the McLibel case have more defenses in the U.S. than in the U.K

texts:
McDonald's sued two activists in Britain for libel, and won what I would consider a "mixed" verdict in the so-called McLibel case.

My understanding is that defendants in Britain have to prove statements true by the preponderance of evidence, whereas in the U.S. the standard of evidence is "compelling" (a lower standard).

Also, the judge found partly in favor of the defendants. My understanding of American law is that no defamation occurs if the 'sting' of the actual facts (as found by the judge or jury) is greater than the sting of the false allegations.

In fact, according to wikipedia,

  [Judge} "Bell ruled that McDonald's endangered the health of their workers and customers by "misleading advertising", that they "exploit children", that they were "culpably responsible" in the infliction of unnecessary cruelty to animals, and that they were "antipathetic" to unionisation and paid their workers low wages."

Which of these, or other defenses would give libel defendants more protection in the U.S. than they enjoyed in the U.K.?


texts: Would hiding a footer (with copyright information) on a website template be legal?

texts:
Let's say that I decide to create a website template that users can download for free or purchase a license. The free version includes a footer on the sidebar that includes something like:

© Copyright Someone
Template made by https://www.example.com

A user sees this template and decides to download the free version. Then, when he opens the files to edit it in a text editor, he notices the copyright notice on the footer. He also sees a comment in the HTML file (that is not visible when the file is viewed in the browser) that says something similar to:

These links must stay here. Only remove them if you purchased a license.

Now, it's safe to assume that if I registered the copyright and did all the paperwork, I could take legal action on that user if he removed that copyright notice. But, if they just hide the footer while still keeping it in the code, could I still take legal action?


texts: What does it mean for O.J. Simpson to be found "liable for their deaths"?

texts:
In the "trial of the century", O.J. Simpson was found not guilty of murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her husband Ron Goldman.

However, he was later found in civil court to be "liable for their deaths" and still owes 60 million dollars (as of 2017) to the victims' families:

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/11/us/jury-decides-simpson-must-pay-25-million-in-punitive-award.html?mcubz=1

What does "liable for their deaths" mean here?  Is it pretty much a conviction of murder, but done through the civil courts, since one cannot be found guilty in criminal court, due to "double jeopardy"?


texts: Unauthorized online banking personal identity compromised

texts:
My father in law recently died. I have just found out that his girlfriend has been accessing a trustee account utilizing an old user ID and password. No funds were withdrawn, but the bank's cyber-security unit found that she was viewing statement activity on a daily basis for numerous months.
The bank has now suspended all online banking access to this account.
Question is, what is the legal position of father in-laws girlfriend in this.  Isn’t this a federal crime?


texts: Are identifiable cryptocurrency miners helping crime?

texts:
Say there is a cryptocurrency whose issuers use electronic signatures issued by the government to prevent Sybil attacks (identity forging) to the voting mechanism when new currency units are created. The identity of currency issuers is pseudonymous to the general public but the issuers can be exactly identified by the government.

Lets assume the cryptocurrency is reliable and gets widely adopted among the public. After some time someone commits a crime using the cryptocurrency as a medium (maybe to pay for a murder etc.). Can the original currency issuers be judged for accessory (helping to commit crime) since they were the origin of the money? There may be many transactions from money creation to the final criminal. The transactions may either be pseudonymous (=traceable, like bitcoin) or fully anonymous. The type of transactions may be set before the cryptocurrency is created.


texts: Does GDPR apply to location data collected by apps?

texts:
I've just been reading this article in the New York Times which expounds on the business practices of mobile apps which collect your location data and use it/sell it.

The article gives examples of apps which give a vague/misleading message on the permissions screen ("you'll get personalised weather data"), but which actually sell the data to tens of different companies.
As far as I'm aware (which isn't very far), the data processor only has the right to use the data for a purpose which you have agreed to.

So are apps which do this in violation of GDPR? (Or, would they be if they do it in Europe?)

One thing to note is that the apps usually associate the data with a unique ID assigned to the device rather than your name or phone number, for example. However, it's well-known (and shown in the article) how it is usually trivial to tie back "anonymised" data to individuals.
How does this use of a unique ID affect the GDPR situation?


texts: Can a hacker be arrested without investigating his computer?

texts:
So I would first like to state I'm not asking this because I'm trying to find out how much evidence it would take for law enforcement to arrest me (I'm not a hacker).

From what I've gathered, law enforcement can't legally arrest you without having enough evidence to convict you (Even if they have your IP tying you to a hacked website or something). From what I've learnt, they only get the evidence by investigating your computer. Is that right?

Or do they really need to investigate the hacker's computer? And if they do have to investigate the hacker's computer what exactly would they need to "Find" to convict him?


texts:
In spite of recent communication from the Government, I have not seen any statutory instruments pass Parliament referencing Tier 4.
Some speculation implies a vote will take place in January, but as of this time Parliament is in recess.
Is Tier 4 just guidance, and if so, could it retroactively be made Law?


texts: Legality of scanning a site with SSLLabs SSL Server Test in order to find and report weaknesses

texts:
I am wanting to scan a site (which I do not own) to see if they are vulnerable to anything like Heartbleed or the POODLE attack, not because I want to exploit any such vulnerabilities for malicious purposes, but because I want to inform the site owner of any possible vulnerabilities in their site which may need to be looked into.

But what is the legality of using the SSLLabs SSL Server Test to determine if there are any vulnerabilities in the site (in order to report them) without the site owner's prior permission? As I understand that certain more intrusive scans are only legal with the prior permission of the site owner, I also understand that attempting to detect whether a site is, say, vulnerable to Hearbleed or not can have some legal issues. So is it legal for me to scan a site with this tool in order to report any weaknesses to the site owner, or should I seek prior permission from them first? I am in the UK, but the site that I want to scan is hosted in the US.


texts: Is an unsolicited email about job openings from a government office considered commercial under the CAN-SPAM Act?

texts: As per the title, is an unsolicited email about job openings from a government office (consider, as the specific case, a military recruiter) considered commercial under the CAN-SPAM Act?


texts: Why would someone face 2nd and 3rd degree murder, and manslaughter for the same killing?

texts: A judge just dropped the 3rd degree murder charge against Derek Chauvin.  He still faces a 2nd degree murder charge and a manslaughter charge.  This doesn't make sense to me.  How can someone face multiple homicide charges for the same killing?


texts: Would a Notice of Entry of Appearance be required in federal bankruptcy case going pro se?

texts:
Let's say someone were to initiate a Chapter 13 bankruptcy in federal court of course. And they had an attorney prepare the filing and take the case through confirmation.

But a while later, the petitioner wants to take the case pro se, and then file a modification of the plan.

Would the debtor need to file an notice of entry of appearance to the case with the court (sending notices to the creditors, and trustee of course) first?

The local and federal rules seem to cover this in the case of another attorney stepping in of course, but seem silent in the case of the actual petitioner doing so.

The rules all seem to state that the petitioner can file a motion in his own case at any time even if he still has an attorney. But is that really the case? Would the court simply ignore the filed motion for modification?


texts:
A company has been closing all my social media account, saying I infringe their copyright. Their documents say they have the name (example) 'Chocolate Cookie Extreme Baking Company'. In their text however they claim they own the name 'Chocolate Cookie' in the whole baking industry. Is this even possible?

My name is 'ChocolateCookie Company' (note the lack of a space there) and therefor I think they are not in their right. However I do not own the trademark for 'ChocolateCookie Company'. Do they?


texts: Consequences of blank check on privacy policy?

texts:
Some websites intentionally hide access to privacy policies and terms & conditions they require users to agree to.

For example, consider the Hotel De Anza.  If you click through the steps of the reservation process, the final page has a section titled "Privacy & Promotional Offers" which says "The privacy of our guests is very important to us. Please view our Privacy Policy." It then requires the would-be guest to check a box saying "Please acknowledge that you have read and accept our privacy policy."

However, the words "Privacy Policy" are not links, and there are no other links available which allow the user to actually see the privacy policy.

Searching for "privacy policy" on the domain where the user must agree produces many results for "Search Criteria View" at different hotels.  Of the top five results, three had no privacy policy linked to from the page that turned up in search results, and two (Bedford Village Inn and The Heathman Hotel of Kirkland, Washington) had footer links to different privacy policies.  I don't think either apply to the Hotel De Anza.

This privacy policy, which the user must indicate they agree to, could say things like "We may sell your detailed personal information to whatever spammer we like for marketing purposes and not require them to keep it safe."  With the prices some of those hotels charge, their guest lists could fetch a good price as a list of potentially lucrative scam targets.

Additionally, secrecy laws protecting private companies would in most cases prevent any individual scam target from finding out how they got on the list.  Companies are apparently not required to accurately disclose how they got any individual's information, which is often through a many-layered chain of data brokers to help make sure no individual company can be held accountable for any violations.

The words about the importance of privacy and reviewing the privacy policy seem more than a bit disingenuous when the site hides any links to the policy.  The same goes for Terms and Conditions which other sites require similar explicit acceptance of, while hiding links to the actual policy.

Are there any negative consequences to a business which acts in this way, or are all the negative consequences on their [prospective or actual] customers?


texts: How is plea bargaining not illegal extortion?

texts: How does that work? Is there a certain setting where extortion is legal?  Do certain government officials have immunity?  Is extortion permissible inide a court room?  Can a police officer on the street say "hey man if you plead guilty to this speeding ticket I'll ignore the pot I smell in the back of your car"?


texts: What are the standards for binding pleadings? Staples? Paper clips?

texts:
When submitting pleadings to a court, normally there are two pieces: a court-provided cover sheet and the pleading itself. What is the normal way to connect these pieces of paper?

(1) staple everything together

(2) staple the pleading but attach cover sheet with paper clip

(3) paper clip everything together loose


texts: Conditions on using the Java Virtual Machine specification

texts:
The appendix to the Java Virtual Machine specification states:

    License for Evaluation Purposes. Specification Lead hereby grants you a fully-paid, non-exclusive, non-transferable, worldwide, limited license (without the right to sublicense), under Specification Lead's applicable intellectual property rights to view, download, use and reproduce the Specification only for the purpose of internal evaluation. This includes (i) developing applications intended to run on an implementation of the Specification, provided that such applications do not themselves implement any portion(s) of the Specification, and (ii) discussing the Specification with any third party; and (iii) excerpting brief portions of the Specification in oral or written communications which discuss the Specification provided that such excerpts do not in the aggregate constitute a significant portion of the Specification.
    License for the Distribution of Compliant Implementations. Specification Lead also grants you a perpetual, non-exclusive, non-transferable, worldwide, fully paid-up, royalty free, limited license (without the right to sublicense) under any applicable copyrights or, subject to the provisions of subsection 4 below, patent rights it may have covering the Specification to create and/or distribute an Independent Implementation of the Specification that: (a) fully implements the Specification including all its required interfaces and functionality; (b) does not modify, subset, superset or otherwise extend the Licensor Name Space, or include any public or protected packages, classes, Java interfaces, fields or methods within the Licensor Name Space other than those required/authorized by the Specification or Specifications being implemented; and (c) passes the Technology Compatibility Kit (including satisfying the requirements of the applicable TCK Users Guide) for such Specification ("Compliant Implementation"). In addition, the foregoing license is expressly conditioned on your not acting outside its scope. No license is granted hereunder for any other purpose (including, for example, modifying the Specification, other than to the extent of your fair use rights, or distributing the Specification to third parties). Also, no right, title, or interest in or to any trademarks, service marks, or trade names of Specification Lead or Specification Lead's licensors is granted hereunder. Java, and Java-related logos, marks and names are trademarks or registered trademarks of Oracle America, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries.

    Remainder of appendix omitted for brevity(see link for rest),

Does this mean that it is illegal to create a implementation of a Java Virtual machine without having access to a TCK for that implementation? What counts as an implementation?


texts: US Anti-trust law, price fixing and app stores

texts:
This question clarifies that apple doesn't have a large enough share of the smartphone market to be considered a monopoly. The argument being that because they are not a monopoly they can bundle their apps and not be in violation of US anti-trust law.

Looking at the issue from a slightly different angle, couldn't it be argued that Apple conspired to raise and fix the price for apps and certain services to favor their own platform. For example they were found liable for this behavior in this case. Even though Apple clearly didn't have 90+% of the eBook market.

What if my app developer wanted to use Amazon as a payment processor and not Apple? How is it legal for Apple to restrict products & services in such a manner?


texts: Need generic form to allow my friend to talk with my son's school

texts:
I told the principal I wanted my friend to be able to communicate with the school regarding my son. She gave me a form to sign. I filled it out and signed it. (Unfortunately I don't have a copy.) The school is somehow not satisfied and is not willing to talk with my friend or provide her with copies of documents.

Is there a generic form I can download for this? I'd like to start again, this time making a copy before I give it to them.


texts: Is it legal for a District Attorney to choose a policy to not prosecute certain crimes?

texts:
San Francisco DA announced that he won't prosecute certain crimes like public camping or public urination (second source). "San Francisco's new district attorney has chosen social justice over the rule of law" according to one opinion.

Can he do that? Is it legal for a DA to effectively decriminalize a class of crimes, and therefore substitute the laws deliberated and adopted by legislature and affirmed by courts with his own vision of social justice?

I thought DAs, as well as judges, are sworn to uphold the law as it stands rather than replace it with their own.


texts: Report Photo - Violation of Business Private Information

texts:
Yesterday I found that a person that was collaborating with my business published photos of him inside my facilities on his Instagram account. In those photos, some private data of my company and my clients was clearly exposed. This is extremely serious because he wasn't allowed to do so (and in fact no one can do it without our permission) and we recently found that this person is a fraudster.
How can I report this photo to be removed from his Instagram account (which is a public account by the way)? I tried to report but Instagram clearly didn't understand the issue!
Thank you!


texts: Can a medical invoice that was disputed collect interest and be due years later?

texts:
This is a bit embarrassing. A couple years ago I had been seeing a specialist doctor. I had been a victim of a crime, so the city/police department was paying for my treatment. It had been my understanding that the city/police would fully pay for a set number of visits, but it appeared that was based on the assumption the doctor's office was charging a lower rate (i.e. normally it was $200/hr but for low income or people who were victims of a crime it was $125/hr).

Anyway, I had stopped seeing the doctor and I'm better now, but the office sent me an email reading:

"Could we please get your police case number, so we can bill them for a outstanding visits?"

First, I don't know how I missed payments, as I always paid in person before I left.
Second, I noticed they had been inconsistent in the amount they were charging me per session (sometimes $200, sometimes $125). I pointed this out and said I think that they may owe me money back. They never responded.
Third, I do not know how it could have gone on for months with only at the end asking me for the police case number.

This was such a long time ago, I can't remember all the details clearly. Is there any point in pursuing this? Could it be I have a large bill incurring interest that will come back to haunt me?


texts: Has the fugitive slave clause of the US constitution been used since passage of the 13th Amendment?

texts:
The Wikipedia article on the 'Fugitive Slave Clause' of the US constitution (Art. IV § 2(3)) says (emphasis added):

The passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which abolished slavery except as a punishment for criminal acts, made the clause mostly irrelevant. However, the clause is still law and still in force, and may be enforced today

Is this correct, and if so, how?  Has the fugitive slave clause been invoked since the abolition of slavery? If so, how recently (has it been used in this century, for example)? Under what circumstances would it hypothetically apply following the abolition of slavery?


texts: Civil actions versus Bankruptcy tolling?

texts:
This is pretty heady question I am told -taking an artful experienced procedural expert etc. to address.

Relevant to this question is the bankruptcy (automatic stay) tolling of time when a bankruptcy is active and whether that does or does not apply to the facts of this particular situation as to does the automatic stay of bankruptcy stop the statue of limitation clock (6 year clock in Washington State)  in tolling the time to seek a claim against another party.  Here the the claim is to void a fraudulent quit claim deed of property worth 1.5 million dollars from the debtor as that relates to Washington's 6 year statute of limitations.

The Facts: a debtor in a chapter 13 that which was active 5 years— the chapter 13 was finally closed recently--few days ago. The debtor owned real property (worth over 1.5 million dollars) that was fraudulent taken from the debtor using a forged quit claim deed (he was aware of the illegal transfer (forged quit claim deed) this happened 7 years ago -2 (two) years before he filed for chapter 13 bankruptcy.

Facts that form the claim he wants to pursue is formed of fact that show the taking of property that was in his name by another party that used a forged quit claim deed (forged the debtor's signature on a quit claim deed) and then sold the property to other parties.  The debtor knew this happened and the theft (forged quit claim deed) happened over 7 years ago.

Question: does the bankruptcy tolling (stay order) of time of bankruptcy apply in stopping the state’s 6-year statute of limitation clock to bring a claim against another party>  i.e. does the stay order (tolling of time in bankruptcy) extend the 6 year statute of limitations clock?

In other words, will a complaint by the debtor (as he will be a plaintiff in superior court of Washington) to void out the quit claim deed be dismissed because he failed to file within the 6 year clock?  (facts of the claim are the property was illegal taken using a forged document) So, will that claims be dismissed because the debtor (now plaintiff) waited over 6 years to bring the complaint?

Will the tolling of bankruptcy help the debtor to avoid dismissal of a claim?

Note, (maybe relevant) the debtor listed the subject asset in his chapter 13 plan and gave notice to the party that forged the quit claim deed (that party didn't appear and was deemed in default under bankruptcy procedures); the debtor obtain a ruling in his favor in the bankruptcy court; however bankruptcy courts are courts of limited jurisdiction so the question rests also of how much legal weight a default from bankruptcy court carries in a general proceedings court (superior court is a general proceedings court); this is part of the question too(?)

Can the debtor (now out of bankruptcy) be stop from bring a claim to void the quit claim deed because the debtor waited too long?

Does the 5 of the years the debtor was in bankruptcy apply to extend the state’s statute of limitations? If so, what case law or rule applies to show the time was extended.  The party who forged the quit title is not  a creditor as that is defined by case law and bankruptcy rules.   Also, the debtor knew the forged quit claim deed existed.  As that relates to fraud as generally not know -as a principle one uses to extend statute of limitations – in other words, debtor can’t use that because he knew of the forge quit claim deed.


texts: My company handed me a letter today telling me I owe them money because they overpaid me. Do I legally have to pay them?

texts:
I work an hourly job. I got a letter today telling me that they overpaid me and I owe them money. My job pays minimum wage and I'm not sure how they "overpaid" me, their computers pay me per second that I work. I can view the hours I've worked in the past but they're on a website that my company owns so I'm not sure if they're 100% legitimate.

The company is large, there's a few thousand stores nationwide, so it's not a mom-and-pop shop.

I turned in my two weeks one week ago, so they most likely knew about this before but didn't tell me. They haven't taken any money out of my account yet and I put a block on direct withdraws. However, I'm worried they will just take it out of my last paycheck.

My question is, do I actually owe them money?


texts: Renouncing your citizenship but the government doesn't accept; can you still get a stateless person passport from Germany?

texts:
[This has been also asked on another site]

I'm just curious:
It is been claimed here that the requirement of having renounced your current citizenship to get German citizenship can be accomplished by simply applying to your current government to renounce your citizenship. The user suggests that, to the German government, whether Turkish government allows you to renounce your citizenship or not is irrelevant, meaning that, during the German citizenship application process, even if you provide them with your renunciation application form with a big "Denied" stamp on it, the German government will consider you a stateless person, hence allow you to become a German citizen (provided that you satisfy all the other criteria).
First of all, does this true? Can you give any formal reference?
Secondly, does this mean that, after "renouncing" your citizenship, can the same person apply for a stateless person (grey) passport from the German government?


texts: Can I get in trouble just for owning a copyright? Even if I never touched or even saw the work

texts:
Let's say some author is dying and decides to give me the copyright for the book they wrote, because they don't like their heirs.

Or some hobby developer over the Internet gives me the copyright to the software tool they just wrote, as a token of appreciation.

I am thankful for their appreciation, and accept without thinking further. I don't intend to make any money from owning these copyrights. I actually never even saw the said book, nor ever downloaded said software. Prior to giving me the copyrights, the author gave some printing companies an non-expiring licenses to print the book, and the developer made the software open source (but not public domain), so I don't even feel bad for doing absolutely nothing with these copyrights.

QUESTION: Now, can I get in legal trouble just for the simple fact of owning these copyrights?

For instance, someone discovers that the book was mostly plagiarized from a pre-existing book and contains steganographed illegal pornography. It is revealed that the software is largely copy-pasted from non-open code, plus it embeds malware that helps terrorists and spams children with Nazi hate speech. Or some more horrible things.

If you think I could get in trouble, please give legal precedents where people have been somehow punished for just owning a copyright, without having ever touched the actual work. Precedents in any jurisdiction are OK, but if I have to choose to one let's say USA.


texts: Where to find court rulings related to spousal alimony?

texts:
I've been to CAB - https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/
I've been to a lawyer (initial consultation) some time ago
I've been to a meetup - https://fnf.org.uk/
I've read the book - https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/cka/Family-Courts-without-Lawyer-Handbook-Litigants-Revised/0956777406

Now I'm having another conversation with a lawyer and I'm not particularly happy (not to say outraged) that to answer a simple question they require £95 + VAT for 30 minutes Skype session.

Maybe it is a common practice in law industry - in my industry (web development) we share our knowledge in an open-source manner.

I'd like to educate myself and learn about a number of cases related to spousal alimony in the UK.

Some resources that come to my mind:

http://www.bailii.org/
http://www.lexisnexis.co.uk/

If possible, I would like to obtain links to court cases dealing with spousal alimony so I could educate myself in the matter.

While I appreciate professional legal advice (I know it is required) I have a belief that by obtaining some knowledge first I'll be in a position to ask better questions.


texts:
Here's a slight variation on this question: "If two spouses are named in an agreement but only one signs, is it valid?"

In our case, I signed an agreement that only has my wife's name printed on it. My wife was not present when I signed. So, there's an agreement with her name at the top and my signature at the bottom.

If the person named in an agreement is not the person who signed, is the agreement enforceable?

For the curious, here's what happened: is a finger squiggle on an iPad truly binding?


texts: What happens if you have to turn up at two or more courts at once?

texts:
I was wondering, when a court sends out "invitations" for persons to appear at a court session, it usually includes a "you have to appear if not sick (or else)" clause.

Now naturally it can happen that two such court sessions intersect, especially if there are two different courts involved.

Question: Do I have a legal right to have one session be moved, or am I at least excused in such a case?

Common sense dictates yes, and I'm sure in most cases one can reason with the judges, but court doesn't always stick to common sense as I know. I want to know the legal right, not if it should work out in practice.

Note that I'm not seeking legal advice here, I'm just curious. Also, for the scope of the question, I had to restrict it to Germany (where I come from), but please feel free to add the situation in other countries in the comments.


texts: Recouping initial investment to form a nonprofit

texts:
If I were looking to start a nonprofit organization and invested significant personal funds to, e.g., build a required facility is there a reasonable mechanism for me to recoup that investment over time? (but not beyond the initial investment amount)

I'm just looking for a very high level "maybe if you do XYZ" vs "absolutely not short of dodgy accounting".


texts: Who gets the pay-out from insurance after a house fire? The person who lives there, or the person who paid the premium?

texts:
Two siblings inherit a house 50:50. One lives abroad and wants to sell-up and split the money, the other is jobless, doesn't want to sell, lives in the house and won't negotiate with other sibling.
The absentee owner is the sensible one and has fully ensured the house, after a house fire the house is un-inhabitable and the insurance company pay the policy holder (the one who doesn't live there!)
My questions are....

does the sibling who lived in the house have any legal claim to the insurance payout? (he owns half the house but paid non of the premiums)
is there any legal requirement to use the insurance money to repair the house?


texts: Suggestion for Open Source Licence for alpha software

texts:
I'm looking for a good licence for software available publicly, but is in pre-alpha development stage (i.e., use it at your own risk and don't use it in any commercial software etc.)

As it's pre-alpha, the best license would be simply one that read something like "Don't use this for anything, even though it's online".

Is there an open source license that is very restrictive?
Would a simple notice saying "Don't use this" actually be any good?


texts: Can we copyright a product without revealing our identity?

texts: What I want to ask is if we can have product copyrighted without the public knowing our identity (only the government would know) or we can be traced back by our copyrighted product? Example like does GPL can be traced back to my identity? P/s:Sorry, guy with copyright condition like something like you can do anything to my work but leave the sentence on that when you done :'If you like it please support me to donate to me at xxx.xxx.xxx(many way to donate without identity (sorry because I'm wasting your time). Anyone ro im going to accept One of the answe


texts: Can an employee complete the I9 form remotely?

texts:
This USCIS instruction says that:

Employers may designate an authorized representative to fill out Forms I-9 on behalf of their company, including personnel officers, foremen, agents or notary public.

On the other hand, the Employment Eligibility Verification consists of three sections. In Section 1, can an employee complete the I9 form remotely?


texts: Can schools in Australia fail VCE students for missing class?

texts:
My high school has an attendance policy in place where you are allowed to miss 6 periods of class with a medical certificate and six without. They claim that after you miss these combined 12 periods they will fail you for that subject.

My question is, are they legally allowed to fail year 12 students due to their attendance? The school isn’t super specific with what they mean by fail, but are they allowed to force us to drop out of year 12? Or not allow us to do our exams or SACs etc.


texts: Can a separation agreement finalized in a California court be overturned by a Canadian (BC) Court?

texts:
1) A separation agreement was made between M & F (both Canadian) but living in California.

2) The agreement states that F entirely owns n Properties in Canada.

3) M moves back to Canada, and over 10 years later wants to challenge the separation agreement.

4) The case is circulating the courts now, and M is claiming the separation agreement is one-sided and unfair. M wants some of the properties and has placed a CPL(lein) on F's properties in the meantime.

5) F is forced to constantly travel between Canada & California to deal with this.

How is it possible that the Canadian courts are even considering this? Do they have jurisdiction to over-turn a separation agreement made in California?

M believes that F gave the BC Supreme court jurisdiction by replying to M's motion with a counterclaim. Is this a true, does it really work that way?

Thank you. Please let me know if you require any clarification.


texts: Research of US public corporations: disclosing amounts paid to buy other companies or other assets

texts:
Are US public stock traded corporations, like Intel or Google, forced by law to disclose how much they paid for buying companies and other assets?

How and who is allowed to access this information, if at all?

I know the accounts have to be audited and published to stockholders. However, what does the law say about the amount of detail here? Do stockholders get a total amount or an itemized list of amounts paid for buying companies, patents, real estate, and other assets?

Could they mud the picture using a proxy company for buying assets?


texts: Can job interview questions be confidential?

texts:
Some time ago I had a technical job interview with Google. The invitation email had a line

  our interview questions are confidential, so please keep things under wraps

Is this legally enforceable?
I doubt that, as I did not sign any contract with Google. And this condition looks like "upon reading this you agree to following".


texts: Is an employer allowed to inspect office drawers and cabinets in Australia?

texts:
My employer (in New South Wales, Australia) conducts frequent office inspections. Although they used to only look at fire and electrical hazards, the health and safety team (made of employees that volunteer for this task) have recently started inspecting the content of the drawers and cabinets located under and above our desks.

Here are my questions:

Is an employer allowed to inspect drawers and cabinets without the employee's consent?

If yes, can the employee request this to be done only when the employee is present?

Is it different if the cabinets are locked or can be locked with a key (even if the employer has a general key to open all draws)?

This link suggests that an employer is not allowed to do so, but they don't provide any reference: http://workplaceinfo.com.au/hr-management/hr-policies/q-a/can-you-search-employees-bags-and-lockers

"If a locker is granted for an employee’s use, to the exclusion of all other persons, an employer has no unqualified right to open the locker."


texts: GDPR - does a unique device identifier count as personal data?

texts:
I'm planning to sell my software online. The payment process is handled by a reseller (FastSpring), so the personal data collected (like the buyer's name and e-Mail address) is never stored on my servers.

I supply a license that allows the user to use the software on up to three devices. To enforce this, I store a unique device identifier in my database whenever a license is used to activate the product.

Does this unique device identifier count as personal data under the GDPR, i.e. do I need to add GDPR disclaimers to my privacy policy and take the required steps, such as appointing a "Data Protection Officer" in my company, or can I safely go without it?

I'd argue that the unique device identifier does not allow me to trace the license to any specific individual, only to a device.

Would it help if I encrypted the device identifier in my database?


texts: Can I follow and make the similar to a state document that is open to the public

texts: I am trying to make an Request for Proposal (RFP) and I found a similar one made by the state of NM. The RFP is open to the public; other parts are not as they are confidential. Can I make a similar one and used it because I liked the way they made theirs and liked some words they put in the RFP.


texts: Can a specialist in a healthcare facility refuse to accept a previously discharged patient? (Tenn.)

texts: Consider a person had been to a specialist practice facility (say facility A) for a medical concern. Unhappy with the specific doctor, he/she decides to leave the facility and look for a new facility (facility B) and hence the facility A discharges the patient. Can the facility A then refuse service for the patient in a future date and time because they have been previously released from practice. I'm interested on the legality of this action in United States and in particular Tennessee


texts: Can a person outside the US, who is affected by a product in a US class action, join the class case?

texts:
This question is motivated by a class action suit in the US, against a US manufacturer who sells their products worldwide. The product is alleged faulty, and a class action suit has been filed in the US.

Can people overseas (not US citizens) who also bought the identical product by the same US company, and suffered the same alleged defect, join the US case, or do they have to file in their own country as a separate case? What would be the effect of being overseas (if any)?


texts: Can I take a bow and arrows on the train in the UK?

texts:
I'm interested in taking up archery. Attending the closest club would require that I take the train there as I cannot drive.

Would I be able to take a bow and arrows, secured in a case, on the train?

The train operator is Northern Rail in the UK.


texts: Can I be prohibited from fixing bugs in a licensed software?

texts:
I have purchased software product, which the company claims is licensed to me, and it contains an EULA that says that I am not allowed to reverse engineer or modify the software at all, and a violation of this would allow them to revoke my license.

Now, I'm an experienced software developer who has built a business around using said software product. I rely on it, and have done so for over 15 years now. Losing access to it would be a serious blow to my business, hence I like to avoid losing the license, of course.

More than once in the past it has happened that I run into programming errors of said product, hindering me to use it as intended. And while the software lives up to its expectations in general (i.e. I cannot claim that it's useless to me), certain bugs limit its provided and documented functionality.

Now, being an experienced developer, I am usually able to figure out the cause of the error by just observing how it behaves. And while I am often able to "work around" the bugs, sometimes the only way to solve the issue is to modify the product's code or interfere with it in some way that requires me to look at the code, i.e. reverse engineer parts of it. (Note: The code in question is not encrypted nor protected in some other way.)

By doing that, the company claims I am in clear violation of their EULA.

I initially argued that the purpose of their "no reverse engineering" rule is to prevent harmful hacks, such as trying to disable their product registration and copy protection, and the company agrees with that. However, they argue they cannot make exceptions to their rule at all (which I believe they confuse with enforcing trade mark violations, where too much leniency could make them lose the rights to their claims).

Which leaves me almost no options:

I am not allowed to fix their bugs myself, even if only for my own use of the software.
Neither are they willing (or able) to fix them.
Which leaves me to to simply not use parts of their product due to the bugs in them, even though these buggy functions are provided for my use. So it's not something hidden I'm trying to exploit here - it's part of their documented feature set.

Are they in their full rights to revoke my license when I violate this particular rule from the EULA?

Bonus question:

I am in the European Union, while their company is in the USA. Does that make a difference, i.e. are their laws in Europe that help me with arguing for my case? (Let's ignore the often-heard argument that shrink-wrapped licenses are not enforcable - instead I like to focus solely on the issue of defects in a product.)

Sure, even if the company is in the wrong, they could still then disable my license, but I'd like to understand if I am in the wrong here by expecting that they're liable to either fix bugs or let me fix them myself. If there's some good arguments in my favor, I may also want to make this case more public, or at least suggest that to the company if they remain uncooperative.


texts: What if persons involved in the accident with the same Insurance company?

texts: I really don't know how to ask this question properly, but this is my situation. Last week, a car rear-ended me while I was waiting to make a left turn, because there was on-coming traffic. It was just my luck that he and I are with the same insurance company, PROGRESSIVE. I thought since we both are insured by the same car insurance company, the whole process will go smoothly and will be able to get my car fixed up in one week using the other guy's insurance policy. However, Progressive told me I can't depend or rely on the other guy's insurance for it may or may not be good and that they can't tell me the EXACT reason, even though Progressive told me that this accident is his FAULT. So, I have to use my insurance to fix the damage and pay $1,000 dollar deductible. I simply don't like how progressive is handling this accident or do I want to pay them $1,000. I want Progressive to pickup the bill and pay for the whole damages to my car. I have been with progressive since 2003 and they have been auto-withdrawing the premium straight out of my bank account since 2003. So, what are my options?


texts: Deducing and using an email address under GDPR

texts:
I was recently contacted on a work email address by a recruiter, working from a private recruitment agency. I have had no prior contact with this recruiter or agency before this.

The work email address I was contacted on is not listed in the public domain anywhere that I know of (not on the company site, not on LinkedIn etc).

When I questioned the recruiter about where he found my email, they stated that they had:

  "[...] had contact with people at [CompanyX] before and know the email syntax".

I can only assume this means they knew I had started work at the company (this information is available on LinkedIn in the public domain) and knew the email syntax, and so used this knowledge to guess my email address and contact me.

Given new GDPR legislation in the UK and Europe, specifically around the need for a company to gain explicit consent to contact someone before doing so, is this approach for contacting people legal under GDPR?


texts: Is it illegal in any U.S. states to enter a restroom whose sign is not one's sex?

texts: As a trans woman in the U.S., I'm very worried about this. When I'm halfway through transition, will I be arrested for using either restroom?


texts: What needs to be done if I'm inheriting a gun?

texts:
My grandfather recently died and I was asked by my dad and his siblings if I wanted my grandfather's .22 rifle. I agreed, but have no idea what to do to legally take possession of the gun.

My assumption is that it's registered with the state of Florida (where my grandfather lived) and I will need to get it registered in Virginia (where I currently live). Are there any other steps I need to take to ensure it's legally in my possession?


texts: In Canada, is it legal for citizens to launch a small object into space?

texts:
Let's say a citizen is able to launch a rocket or a weather balloon into space with an electronic device (probably a GPS) and a small gnome attached on it, would it be legal?

Does this require to notify government or a particular agency?


texts: Is recreational marijuana actually legal in states that voted it to be legal?

texts:
Update to clarify what is meant by "actually legal": my question is whether, in states that voted recreational marijuana use to be legal, it is possible for anyone in the US Government (federal, state, or local) to prosecute and convict you for using marijuana recreationally.

My understanding is that, for example, Nevada voted it to be legal recreationally, but it's still illegal at the federal level. And so, there's a difference in what federal law says, and what state law says. How is this difference reconciled?

Also, how is it possible for different jurisdictions to create laws that contradict one another? Shouldn't there be a filtering process that wouldn't allow the non-superseding jurisdiction to pass the law in the first place?


texts: In my years living in the United States, I've used my SSN several times, but I've never been required to use my Social Security Card. Is there any process or activity that requires the card that your Social Security Number is printed on?


texts: Can you make campaign donations on someone's behalf?

texts: (For US Federal election law only) If someone were to give me a sum of money, and direct me to donate it to congressmen that voted a certain way, would I be able to donate it on their behalf (i.e. in their name)? Would I need power of attorney to do so? Or could I otherwise get authorization to act as an agent?


texts: Consulting agreement between my corporation and client also includes me individually

texts:
I own a Canadian corporation, which consults on software. Recently, I've been offered a contract with a US company. Instead of making the contract solely with my company, it states that "Consultant" is comprised both of my company, and myself individually: Bob Smith, an individual, and Bob's Software Company, Inc. ( together “Consultant”)

The NDA portion is directed at my person, and obviously all the legal responsibilities would also involve my person, not just the corporation.

Is this a usual practice? Is it something to be wary of?

Thanks!


texts: Technical Standards and Papers - Can the equations be copyrighted

texts:
This question is very similar to Licensing Issues of Methods for software and Copyright of technical standards however, the answers are, likely quite rightly unclear as it may depend on a  specific case.
With this in mind I've asked the question more specifically to my requirements and expand on it a little.
I want to develop a computer program that can undertake engineering calculations. In the first instance it would be used internally at the company I work for, but if possible, I would also like to sell it to third parties.
Many of the equations will be based on British Standards that are owned and copyrighted by the BSI Group.
I would therefore need to:

Copy and use the equations
Copy and use their constants (some are publicly available such as constant for gravity, but others are based on experimental outputs, which may or may not have been developed for the British Standard document)
Copy and use their constant and variable descriptions

For guidance I can refer back to the original documentation.
I have been in touch with the BSI Group and they have advised that for internal use, My proposals are acceptable on the basis that the documents are licensed to the company and not an individual.
I have not been offered an answer form them whether this permission can extend to selling the software to third parties.
Grateful for thoughts.
Edit
I eventually got a response as follows which echos the accepted answer:

You can reproduce factual data such as equations, numerical values and
formulas. However you cannot reproduce a table that includes the data.
In other words you must extract it and present it in your own work.
Text, figures, tables and diagrams would require our permission.


texts: Anti-Piracy measures (freeware software)

texts:
So I was checking out the license agreement of a software product that I acquired the past days and noticed this section, please notice it was freeware software:

You agree that if you are found to be distributing unauthorized copies of this
software, or if you are found to be using a copy of this software that was not
licensed to YOU that you will agree to cover all applicable
legal expense incurred by X in your prosecution.  You further agree that these
costs should not be less than 20,000 Euro per event.

I found it weird to include such statement and I have not seen anything like that in the past. Is it common for a software company to take such measures against piracy even on a "freeware" product?
Sorry if this is off topic, first time posting here.


texts: What are the limits on police "qualified immunity"?

texts:
When the police seize property in the course of their official duties, they have "qualified immunity."  How is that immunity qualified?  I.e., what are the minimal conditions under which they could be stripped of that immunity and subject to criminal charges like Theft?

To take the most extreme example I can think of: A police officer encounters you during the investigation of a crime.  You happen to be moving that day, so all of your belongings are in "plain view" between the yard, open house, and open moving truck.  The cop decides he really doesn't like you and so, even though there is no nexus between you or your property and the crime he is investigating he decides to seize all of your property as "evidence."  Because it's in "plain view" he doesn't need a warrant.  He properly logs your property into evidence, and then lets you know you won't see it until the case has been adjudicated.  (What case, and when will that be?  He won't tell you because it's an open investigation, but he notes that these things can drag on for years.  I.e., he articulates an intent to deprive you of your property for so long a period as to satisfy the requirements of Theft.)

Is this cop immune to any criminal charge for this action?

What if you, as the victim, can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he did not follow proper procedures.  E.g., he took something that was provably exempt from the "plain view" doctrine and therefore should have not been taken without a warrant, which he did not have?


texts: How much authority does Department of Justice has over sexual harassment cases inside a private company?

texts:
In the recent exposes about Harvey Weinstein, a pattern of executives and assistants aiding him to prey on females have been reported. Whether it be his offices, his hotels or his restaurants, few assistants, in each of the settings,  help in creating a false professional pretext to lure victims to the location and then slithering away to leave her alone with Weinstein.

I know that discrimination cases against a company can be investigated by federal prosecutors. Can federal prosecutors investigate a pattern of sexual harassment inside a company? Can the acts of executives and assistants who aided Weinstein be viewed as solicitation?


texts: Is informal written consent in the form of text-messages/email legally binding?

texts:
For the purpose of this question, let us assume the contract is for common goods and services.
Lets say I meet a Plumber over some online marketplace (e.g. Facebook, Craigslist, etc) and he writes that he will fix so and so problem with my bathroom while guaranteeing that he will pay out-of-pocket for any potential unexpected damages that might be incurred during the repairs (e.g. flooding of my house if he proves to be incompetent).
Another hypothetical scenario is where I commission a local graphic designer to create a logo for my new business. During the negotiation phase, the graphic designer acknowledges that he will hand over all copyright claims to the newly created work once he has been paid. The designer makes this pledge via an email, as opposed to a signed written agreement.
In either scenario, are their promises legally binding?


texts: Supposing a man buys a box of food at a clearance event where signs are posted that say "All Sales Final." When he gets home, he discovers that it is a week past its expiration date. Is he just out of luck?


texts: How is Texas eviction process different from California's?

texts:
For people moving from California to Texas (the direction of the migration is paramount and hard to dispute), and who may be familiar with the eviction process in California, what would be the differences with that in Texas?

For example, in Texas, I've noticed that a lot of agreements prohibit the tenant from withholding rent, whereas in California, tenants have the right to withhold rent and "repair and deduct" (for people in San Francisco who don't necessarily care about their credit, it might be cheaper to pay a retainer than continue paying rent, and under certain circumstances, they practically cannot be evicted through a jury trial).

E.g., what notices are required, how much time in advance, how soon does a case have to be heard etc.


texts: Difference between the term "law" and "legal"

texts:
In one document, I found Indonesian term "asas ketertiban dan kepastian hukum"  translating into “the principle of order and the certainty of law”.

Instead of "the principle of order of law" and " the principle of certainty of law", I only found "the principle of legal order" and "the principle of legal certainty" in some English legal documents or dictionaries.

My question, are "the principle of order of law" and " the principle of certainty of law" acceptable? What's the difference between "law" and "legal"?


texts: Miranda warning - requirement to be "read"

texts:
Colloquial commentary, TV cop-shows and the like often make reference to the Miranda warning being read to a suspect although this is not mentioned within the linked Wikipedia article.
The dictionary meaning of the verb to read includes:

Speak (the written or printed matter that one is reading) aloud.

Is the use of read purely customary, or is/was there a specific requirement for an officer to actually read from a phyical piece of paper etc?
Or is it legally acceptable to just say the warning out loud, as is the case in England and Wales for example?
(I assume that each state may have its own procedures in place, as might national/federal law enforcement agencies.)


texts: CAN-SPAM Act - Commercial Advertisement or Promotion

texts:
CAN SPAM Act requires telling your email recipients where you're located:

Your message must include your valid physical postal address. This can
be your current street address, a post office box you’ve registered
with the U.S. Postal Service, or a private mailbox you’ve registered
with a commercial mail receiving agency established under Postal
Service regulations.
The FDC defines the CAN SPAM Act as including  "all commercial
messages, which the law defines as “any electronic mail message the
primary purpose of which is the commercial advertisement or promotion
of a commercial product or service,” including email that promotes
content on commercial websites".

Some emails are sent without explicit commercial content. For example:

A user signs up and receives a verification email
After confirming account, they receive a welcome email
If they request a password reset, they get an email with password reset link
When they complete a purchase, they get an email confirmation their purchase
When tracking information is available they get tracking
After completing a purchase, they're asked to leave feedback or a review for the product they purchased

Does any of this constitute commercial advertisement or promotion? Would a business be required to include a business address at the end every email sent from the list above?
Thanks


texts: Why do my lawyers want to keep copies of our green cards?

texts:
My company hired a law company to apply green card for me and my family. They did a good job, we all have green cards now.

However, they asked for copies of all our green cards, and I don't feel comfortable at all, given the fact that they already have all of our informations, e.g. passports, SSNs, etc etc

I plan to reject this request. However, I wonder if there is any valid/legal reason that they want to keep a copy of our green cards.


texts: Do card/miniature packs (Pokemon, Magic, etc.) or similar fall under gambling laws?

texts:
I'm in the process of creating a game that I want to run on Kickstarter and hopefully sell after from a website and eventually in store (long term goals). The purchasers will receive a pack of miniatures (perhaps closer to cards?) of random rarity, stats, etc.

While discussing this with a friend he mentioned that this may be considered gambling and that he had heard of lawsuits toward big card companies because they hadn't disclosed the odds of getting certain pieces.

Is this a real legal issue? If so what must you disclose to be covered?


texts: How to properly record invention activites

texts:
I am doing some online search on inventions and patents. Step 1 seems to be keeping accurate records. They also say to have a couple of individuals sign and date the entries. I am assuming these are people you trust. Would your family count? What are some best practices in recording notes about your invention?

I posted the question on the patent site. And I believe Dawn was interested in confidentiality aspect. I completely agree; that is my concern also.


texts: Can a court award percentage of revenue as copyright infringement remedy?

texts: If someone infringes my copyright and has been using my software to run their profitable business for years – e.g., a tariff company has been using my tariff collection software – can I specifically request that damages include a portion of revenue collected via the use of my IP? If so on what grounds?


texts: Is a contract valid if it releases a party from liability for probable injury?

texts:
Suppose party A contracts with party B to release party B of liability for all possible injury resulting from party B providing party A a service in which there is significant risk of injury. If a strict probability figure is needed for this scenario, consider it >= 50%. This is in California.

Question form 1: This probability figure is included in the contract.
Question form 2: This probability is common knowledge (e.g. jumping out a third story window)


texts: Is inheritence affected if a sibling has debts?

texts:
I have a situation where a house which is situated in
West Pomeranian Voivodeship (english)
Województwo zachodniopomorskie (polish) (Poland)  has been left to be inherited equally between 3 siblings. One of the siblings (sibling A) has debts (relating to child support + possibly others).

The parent (who currently owns + lives in the house) is at a fairly old age.

In the event that the parent passes away and the house is left to be inherited, does the debt + child support that (sibling A) owe to the government / state have any effect on the inheritance share of the remaining siblings (the other two)?

Where the siblings reside: Two siblings including sibling A currently reside in Poland, while another sibling resides in another country (non EU).

Who lives in the house currently: The remaining parent (still alive).


texts: Can I sublease my apartment without my co-tenants approval in Indiana

texts:
I’m currently studying at Purdue University in Indiana and I want to sublease my apartment for the summer.

One of my co-tenants who is also on the lease is not agreeing to sign the sublease form. But my landlord has no objection in me doing that.

Can I still get a sublease and make a contract with her?


texts: At what point does a bunch of ingredients become a medicine?

texts:
In most if not all countries it is illegal to sell unlicensed medicines and medical treatments.  It is however legal to sell the reagents, equipment and instructions to individuals for them to create the medicine or perform the procedure.  Is it defined where the line is between these situations?
Two fairly high profile examples of this are:

CRISPR

There are available kits that allow you to perform CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing.

COVID vaccine

There is an open source method for producing a nasal COVID-19 vaccine.

The RaDVaC vaccine is a good example.  Currently it is only available as a free open source (CC BY-SA 4.0 and OCL-P v1.1) white paper, and all the ingredients and equipment must be sourced individually.  I presume from the CRISPR example it would be legal to sell "kits" with all the necessary items.  Just this step would cover most of the "methods" section of the instructions, as that is dominated by the choice of epitopes.  I could probably perform a number of further steps, such as preparation of the appropriate dilutions of reagents and possibly creation of the the chitosan nanoparticles, prior to shipping.  I could perhaps reduce the instructions from a 90 page document to "mix this powder with water, wait an hour, spray it up your nose".
Is it possible to work out a priori which of these "kits" would be legal to sell?  Any jurisdiction would be interesting, I guess if this is on the internet "somewhere with an extradition treaty with the US" is probably the important factor.
If I need to say it, I think doing this would be a really bad idea from a public health standpoint for many fairly obvious reasons.  Perhaps not as bad as selling CRISPR kits though.


texts: What case was it where Clarence Thomas sided with the liberal justices in order to remain consistent with a previous ruling?

texts:
I have a memory of a case but I can't seem to find it.

What I remember is that there was a case in which the court split along partisan lines. Then, a few years later, a similar case came before the court except that the decision from the previous case, if consistently applied, would now result in the opposite party benefiting. All the justices flip-flopped except for Clarence Thomas, with the result being that the liberals "won".

Does anyone know what (two) case(s) I'm talking about?


texts: GDPR - am I the processor if I don't host the website?

texts:
I work for a web development company and we are developing a web app for our client. The web app and database will be hosted on the client's server. Our involvement will just be to update the codebase and database schema as required.

For the purposes of GDPR, are we a data processor as we develop the web app?


texts: How is it determined who in an organization (corporation) has the authority to agree to what, in terms of contracts like settlements?

texts:
I'm curious about how it is determined who has the authority to bind a company to an agreement. For example say there's a company BoBo. Sam is fired for just cause from BoBo. Sam puts together evidence that his termination was unjust (perhaps proof that he was framed or was illegally discriminated against). Sam demands monetary compensation else he takes it to court. BoBo agrees to Sam's demand.
For a written contract, detailing the settlement agreement (including how much BoBo will pay same, and the fact that same discharges all related claims) who from BoBo should sign for it?
For example the secretary or janitor probably wouldn't suffice. Would any supervisor or manager? Would it have to be a VP or CEO? What process would be used to decided? I guess the hire up the corporate latter, the more authority an individual would have to bind the company to an agreement?
Does anyone have a link to an example of a real settlement agreement between an individual and company? I would be interested to see. In terms of practice, when someone signs on behalf of a company, does it usually contain their position in the company? For example in the signature block

sign here:Joe Blow___
Joe Blow
General Manager of BoBo

Hypothetically if someone clearly unauthorized to sign the contract (like the temporary receptionist) does and Sam somehow is given his money, could Sam come back and say "this contract is invalid and I still am taking to this to court" (thus double dipping) or could BoBo argue "this person didn't have the authority, Sam must return the money and we were in the right to fire him!"


texts: Does section 2870 of the California Labor Code apply if my employer has headquarters in California but I do not work there?

texts:
I do not live in California, but my employer does business, has headquarters, and is incorporated in California. Which state's laws apply to the employment agreement? In particular, does Section 2870 of the California Labor Code apply?

2870.
(a) Any provision in an employment agreement which provides that an employee shall assign, or offer to assign, any of his or her rights in an invention to his or her employer shall not apply to an invention that the employee developed entirely on his or her own time without using the employer’s equipment, supplies, facilities, or trade secret information except for those inventions that either:
(1) Relate at the time of conception or reduction to practice of the invention to the employer’s business, or actual or demonstrably anticipated research or development of the employer; or
(2) Result from any work performed by the employee for the employer.
(b) To the extent a provision in an employment agreement purports to require an employee to assign an invention otherwise excluded from being required to be assigned under subdivision (a), the provision is against the public policy of this state and is unenforceable.


texts: Can my apartment complex return packages to sender if they are not picked up?

texts: I am living in California and I have received an email from my apartment complex manager that states that packages not picked up from the mailroom as of Friday will be marked return to sender. Is this legal (given 18 U.S. Code § 1708. Theft or receipt of stolen mail matter generally)?


texts: In what circumstances can a missing person be replaced in business deals?

texts: Suppose there's two people who found a startup company as associates in the USA. In case one goes temporarily missing, is it possible for the other to take over decisions for both of them (e.g. agree to an acquisition)? Is there some kind of deal stipulated when establishing the society that covers these situations, and is it imaginable that they agreed on terms such as "if Person A can not be contacted successfully for 24 hours, then Person B is allowed full decisional power" (regardless of how poorly thought through such an agreement might be)?


texts: Possible to leverage copyright law in a way that enables the right to be forgotten?

texts:
If I understand correctly, the "right to be forgotten" legislation and related efforts allows a content owner (human) to prevent derived works from being displayed in a search engine about themselves.

Suppose we simplify the problem a bit, and I were to create an alias/A.K.A. for myself. Is there any way I can copyright, license, or publish unique content under this pseudonym that allows me to arbitrarily or wholly revoke discussion about that content?

For example, the corporate personhood of Apple prohibits discussion and derivative  works regarding their private and internal API's. None of these topics are visible on Google, even there are underground websites that discuss such content.  How can an individual leverage similar rights?

Question

What legal frameworks allow me to publish unique and original content that also gives me the legal authority to:

Remove that content from search results with the broadest international law support (in whole, or part)
Remove that content from the republisher, or derived work (DCMA takedown equivalent)

I'm guessing the right tools is some combination of Copyright, IP licensing, and NDA.

I am unsure if the recipient/3rd party observer must consent to these terms of use prior to reading the content.

Is there any example of how this would be done in practice?


texts: Help interpretting Florida Statute and specifically Jurisdiction on the waters of the state

texts:
Florida Vessel Statutes state:

327.58 Jurisdiction.—The safety regulations included under this chapter shall apply to all vessels, except as specifically excluded, operating upon the waters of this state.

The definition of Operate:

327.02 Definitions -
  (33) “Operate” means to be in charge of, in command of, or in actual physical control of a vessel upon the waters of this state, to exercise control over or to have responsibility for a vessel’s navigation or safety while the vessel is underway upon the waters of this state, or to control or steer a vessel being towed by another vessel upon the waters of the state.

Definition of "Underway":

It seems to me, that they do not have jurisdiction, unless you are operating/underway and not while at anchor. If you are at anchor the jurisdiction would fall under the U.S. Coast Guard, as per:

Am I missing something here? Or does the State of Florida not have jurisdiction, unless you are operating?


texts: Is non-solicitation specific to hiring capacity

texts:
If a person signs a non-solicitation agreement with company A, that limits them from soliciting coworkers to another company for one year after the end of their employment. Is that specific to the hiring of a previous co-worker? Such that the departing person is a manager or forms their own company after leaving company A, and has an actual capacity to hire. Or would that include the person who is hired by company B, as an individual contributor with no hiring capacities, and refers a former coworker from company A. In this case the person did not hire the former coworker, but did refer them, would they also be violating a contract that limits solicitation?

In looking this up I mostly only see the former, where the person soliciting is actually doing the hiring. I couldn't find any case where it was just a referral and they were brought to court on it.

This would be in the US that I am looking for examples of it. In particular of a company filing suit against a former employee for recommending one of their former coworkers to their new workplace. In this case neither former employee or former coworker have any company A specific knowledge, but are trained, nurses. So they will not bring any customer lists, or any special knowledge, from company A, to the new company. Is it sufficient for company A to bring suit claiming the effort of finding/hiring a new nurse as damages? If so, are there any examples of this?


texts: Laboratory Test Reports: Disclaimer in test reports prohibiting use as evidence in legal proceedings

texts:
I work in the chemical industry and very often industries send chemical samples to third party test laboratories for analysis and producing test reports.
In some cases I find labs add a disclaimer of the following sort to their test reports:

"The content of this report is meant for information only and should
not be used for advertisement, evidence or litigation."

What's the legal implication of this sort of disclaimer. Does it really make the output invalid for use in litigation? Is there any precedent on this sort of disclaimer.
Can a party unilaterally prohibit any of its output from use as evidence in litigation? Will the courts respect such disclaimers?


texts: Does US criminal law recognize objective elements that don't require mens rea?

texts:
In German law, there is a legal construct called "Tatbestandsannex" or "objektive Bedingung der Strafbarkeit". These are necessary conditions for criminal liability for which no corresponding mens rea is necessary. An example would be § 231 I StGB ("participation in a brawl"), which requires that the brawl resulted in grievous bodily harm or a death for it to be punishable. However, the participants need not have mens rea with regard to the grievous bodily harm/death.

Are there crimes in US law (federal or any state) where the objective element contains conditions which don't have to be covered by mens rea? Is there a technical term for this?


texts: Is requesting waiving the right to deletion of contributions against GDPR?

texts:
I just got one of those GDPR mails from gitlab.com, which pointed me to a Web page where I had to accept some terms and conditions. The same as everywhere, except this passage:

  (For GitLab Contributors Only) As part of my voluntary contribution to any GitLab project, I acknowledge and agree that my name and email address will become embedded and part of the code, which may be publicly available. I understand the removal of this information would be impermissibly destructive to the project and the interests of all those who contribute, utilize, and benefit from it. Therefore, in consideration of my participation in any project, I hereby waive any right to request any erasure, removal, or rectification of this information under any applicable privacy or other law and acknowledge and understand that providing this information is a requirement under the agreement to contribute to the GitLab project.

As far as I understood GDPR, this passage is just plain bullocks and they're trying to get away with arguably the most difficult bit of GDPR, especially if you consider their argument. I can feel their pain, but it also just doesn't feel like this is made possible by GDPR and if GitLab would deny or not completely fulfil such a deletion request, it would be liable to litigation. Am I correct in this?

Note: I'm not trying to put GitLab in a bad spot here, they're just the first (only?) ones that included this kind of passage in their agreement.


texts: Retrieving and Filling UCC documents (US)

texts:
I know that based on the type of UCC form you are filling you may need to file it with either the state or the local county. Does this mean that when trying to retrieve UCC documents pertaining to a certain company I would need to put in an order request with both the local county and state? Or would the local county pass those docs up to the state level also. (I'm assuming the answer here will probably be "well it depends on what state and county...")

Thank You!


texts: Copyrights of material that would be used for both commercial and non-commercially

texts:
I want to include some audio materials in a mobile app that I am developing.

Those audio materials are "free to use or redistribute for non-commercial use". My app is free but I will put Ads. Furthermore, the mobile users can upgrade their account to premium (and pay fees) so they can listen and download more Audio materials monthly.

Am I allowed to include those materials in my app?
Does the fact that I gain money from Ads or from premium users (which they have access to exactly the same materials but with bigger traffic) makes my case commercial-use?

Some clarifications:

I am not selling this content directly and will never claim the ownership of them. I will just put the content on a server (owned by me) and give access to my both free & premium users.
Those materials are already freely available on the owner website and on may other websites for free also.
If anyone is wondering why I did not just contact the owner, I did so many times without any luck of getting any answer.


texts: Is it rape if someone goes by a pseudonym and gave fake facts about themselves?

texts:
Let’s say Person A, an adult male, meets Person B, an adult female online. They develop a close relationship and talk on the phone on numerous occasions, but never meet in person. Finally Person B blocks Person A and ceases all communications with him.

Some months later, Person A befriends Person B on the same online service, but with a different persona. Person B does not know that the new account is really Person A, but rather, believes they are someone completely different.

Over time the new relationship grows in a similar way that the original one did. Eventually the two arrange to meet in person, and they have consensual sex.

Person A secretly records the sexual encounter in order to capture the fact that the sex was consensual but does not reveal that recording to Person B.

Several weeks to a month later Person A reveals to Person B that he is in fact the original person. Person B gets extremely angry and accuses Person A of rape.

Is that a crime?


texts: What does proportionate exactly mean here?

texts:
In an offer letter offered to me by an organization it states that:

  If the trainee leaves the service of the corporation before expiry of
  the bond period, he shall pay damages to the corporation proportionate
  to the period of service yet to be rendered out of the total bond
  period(4 Years) in terms of Remuneration OR rupee 4,00,000 ,whichever
  is higher.

Say I leave after 2 years. Does that mean I have to pay salary of remaining 2 years to the corporation? if it exceeds 4,00,000

.


texts: Why is murder considered a more serious crime than attempted murder?

texts:
By its sentencing guidelines (the world over?), murder is considered a more serious crime than attempted murder.
If intent to kill has indeed been proven, does the latter crime reward incompetence with leniency? i.e. shouldn't the incarceration of such a criminal be intended to either rehabilitate them, or to protect the public from them? So if the intent for an attempted vs. successful crime is the same, wouldn't it take the same effort to rehabilitate them, or require the same precautions to contain them?


texts: Could watching a YouTube video constitute violation of copyright?

texts:
Some movies (but not all) on YouTube have licenses incompatible with them being on YouTube.  Could the viewer of such a video be technically guilty of any crime?

I am wondering for both U.S. and abroad.


texts: Charges from wireless company after cancelling account

texts:
As I explain in detail here, I am being charged by a former wireless company after cancelling my account.  I have attempted to contact them but they refuse to discuss my account with me.  They are threatening me with collections over charges when services have not been rendered.

What law(s) are relevant here?  They must be in violation of some federal and/or state statutes.  I'm in NY, they are based in GA.

I found this reference to a $47 million class action lawsuit for this kind of behavior from 2004.


texts: Taken to personal collections over your LLC's debt

texts:
I have a Florida LLC that I am the sole owner of. I had an agreement with a company to do some work, and they guaranteed me a certain quality level. I assesed the quality when it was done and found that most of it was extremely subpar, and didn't meet the guarantee. I met with them and said this would kill my business, and I couldnt pay for the work unless it was fixed. They decided that fixing it would be too expensive, and just shrugged and walked away. Then at the end of the year they took me to collections. But in my personal name. So now this has been reported to my personal credit report.

Is that legal?


texts: Vienna Contract on Road Traffic - can I take my E-Bike (Moped) abroad?

texts:
I did some research on that topic, but it did not really become clear to me.

Situation: I live in Switzerland. Switzerland did not declare to treat Mopeds as Motor Cycles - Article 54 (2). My fast electric bike is registered here as Moped, it complies with the swiss regulations, the rules of article 44(2) and has a swiss number plate and documents. It has a power of 1000W. However, in many other countries fast electric bikes must not have more than 500W to be registered as mopeds.

Questions:

1) Can I drive it in a country which did not declare to treat Mopeds as Motor Cycles (e.g. Austria)? In other words: is compliance to the rules of the vienna contract and the swiss decision, that my E-Bike with 1000W is a Moped allow its use in those countries?

2) Can I drive it in a country which declared to treat Mopeds as Motor Cycles (e.g. Germany), if it complies to the rules of the contract, especially the technical rules of appendix 5?


texts: If a woman finishes before a man during sex and he continues is he raping her?

texts: If I orgasm multiple times during sex and I am to exhausted to continue but my man partner continues to thrust in me then is he raping me or is it ok because it started out willing on both of our parts? I asked him to stop but he didn't and I cried and begged.


texts: Can I use a model trained off of CC BY-NC 4.0 datasets, amongst others, in a commercial setting

texts:
The original data cannot be reproduced or tied to the model.

The data is simply used for training purposes.
The model is trained off of other data sets also.

Is it fair to use the model for other commercial purposes post - training?

license
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

(example: I train a model to recognize handwritten characters, but the dataset used to train it is CC BY-NC 4.0). Can I sell the use of the model?


texts: Stateless in Australia — how to obtain legal residency, education and citizenship without being detained?

texts:
Let us say that we have a person who is undocumented, born to parents who were also undocumented, and whose ancestors were all also undocumented.  For all intents and purposes they were all born in Australia, yet they are not members of a group who are recognized as indigenous Australians.
The person in question is about 16 years old as of now, and cannot produce any evidence of their birth or former place of residence, nor can this person produce relatives or other witnesses to their presence in Australia prior to the last month.
Effectively, this person's family may be considered to have been living in an isolated area of Australian bushland with no visible evidence of human occupation, remaining unnoticed by the wider population, since around the time of Australia's discovery by Europeans.
Finally, this group has an unique genetic profile that includes a common inheritable X-linked genetic mutation that has not previously been documented by science or medicine, and was previously thought to be completely mythical, though they are also provably human.  This mutation does not constitute a disability, though it does provide certain minor difficulties in using certain aspects of modern housing and transport, as they are significantly taller than normal humans.  This mutation cannot readily be concealed save by surgery that would leave the person in a wheelchair for the remainder of their life, and would leave visible scars, without also wearing a garment such as a burka... so it can be demonstrated that they could not have been recent arrivals to Australia, as no mention has ever been made of people with such a remarkable mutation ever entering the country before the appearance of this individual.
My question is: How would it be possible for this individual to obtain legal residency, further education and Australian citizenship, in that order of priority.  Obviously, this individual would not want to be placed in detention, so avoiding that is also a priority.  What obstacles would have to be overcome, and how long might this process be expected to take?
Citizenship is a secondary goal, and may potentially be obtained through marriage to an Australian citizen.
This question is purely theoretical, and should not be considered to apply to any real person, being research for a work of fiction.


texts: I bought an apartment on plan and it doesn't seems to respect the acoustic standards. What can I do?

texts:
I bought in 2015 an apartment on plan (Belgium).
In the specifications it was mentioned that the belgian acoustic standard of 2008 "NBN S 01-400-1" would be respected.
I received the keys in November 2017.
Since then, I hear a lot of neighbors from below, whatever the room, to varying degrees.
The noises that I hear can be of all kinds: words, music, shocks, sound of a powered switch, noise of a roller blind operated, sound of flowing water, sound of a washing machine, ...
In particular the noises of the roller blind and switches are as if they came from the same room.
I woke up several times startled, thinking there was someone in the room.

I am forced to sleep with ear plugs.
Neighbors are co-location students, who can sometimes return on weekdays at 2,3,4h in the morning ...
I do not think the apartment meets the standard in force.
I interviewed several other residents of the building, none complained of acoustics problems, including the neighbor below who claims to never hear me, and the neighbor upstairs.
I is strange because i'm a DJ and ususally mix techno music at high level 2 hours per week.

I contacted the developer, who came to see, and who tried to minimize the problem.
After several exchanges, I managed to convince him to organize an acoustic audit, which he would pay if he were to prove positive, otherwise I would pay if it turned out to be negative.
The promoter chose the expert (who had already worked for them)
The report turned out negative, at the limit of the norm.
In hindsight I admit to having made a mistake, I should've hired an independent expert at my expense.
I posted a 1 star review on Google Maps, and the developer then contacted me, by phone, to remove it in exchange of half the price of the audit (500€).
I refused by email, saying that I wanted a solution to the acoustic problem.

In the meantime, I still have sound problems, and I do not know what to do.
I'm asking for your help.

I hesitate to ask a counter expertise because the first has already cost me more than 1000 €.
Even if it would be positive, what are my options?
The developer may not find the source of the problem?
And if so, maybe the work will be too important or will depend on the goodwill of the neighbor?
And if the developer pays me an amount in compensation, wouldn't recognizing this acoustic problem make the good unsalable?
If I do not do anything and decide to sell, should I give a copy of the first acoustic audit to the buyer, as it is negative ?
If this buyer asks me questions about sound insulation, what should be my answers?


texts: Selling source code to a company i work for

texts:
Over the past month i have been working on a program for my company to use.
Some ground rules:

They did not hire me to do so.
I did it at home on my own computer and not during my work hours.

This i remember from copyright class i took in college, as long as i didn't do anything on company ground or property and they can't (exactly) claim ownership of my code unless they know about it. (correctly me if i'm wrong, that what i'm here for anyway).

So i already told one of the managers of what I've been up to and he wants me to continue development of the program. However, if i do so, since the company wants to use it. I think its proper to sell my source code to the company and THEN continue development but under my hours.

My question is; Can i sell my code without copyrighting it first? Even if i put a copyright logo on the program and code, does it still count as "my property"?


texts:
As a general matter, unwanted touching of one person by another is not lawful.

But is there ever an exception?

For example, when limited available space requires it. Like, for example:

In a crowded elevator?
In the bleachers at a crowded football game?
On the sidelines of a crowded parade?
Other crowded or enclosed spaces?

To the letter-of-the-law, is that still illegal? Or is there an exception made in the law?

For clarity, I am not referring to inappropriate touching. I'm just talking about the normal kind (brushing and bumping elbows, shoulders, hips, etc.).


texts: Costa charging different prices for same item

texts:
Last week I stopped at services and ordered in Costa two coffees. One Caramel Cappuccino (£3.89) and one Speciality Vanilla (£3.99). When I got to pay and bill was £8.18 I figured something must have gone wrong since it should not exceed £8. It turns out they have charged me Cappuccino (£3.59) + Caramel (£0.50) and another Cappuccino (£3.59) + Vanilla (£0.50) that totalled up to £8.18.

I then asked is there a difference in preparation of drinks (Caramel Cappuccino vs Cappuccino + Caramel and Speciality Vanilla vs Cappuccino + Vanilla), and there was no difference, they are exactly same drink that are being charged differently depending on how cashier feels like.

Are they allowed by law to charge different prices for same things?