texts: What is the difference between "probable cause to believe" and "probable cause to suspect"?

texts:
In Note, ‘The “Probable Cause” Requirement for Search Warrants’, Harvard Law Review, 46.8 (1933), 1307–1311 https://doi.org/10.2307/1331624, the following text appears:

The exact limits which the Fourth Amendment places on the power of Congress to provide for the issuance of search warrants have never been satisfactorily determined. Within recent years, however, there has been a noticeable tendency to regard the constitutional requirement of "probable cause" and the statutory test of "probable cause to believe", prescribed by the National Prohibition Act[1], as synonymous. At the same time, warrants for smuggled goods, issued merely upon "cause to suspect" in accordance with the present Tariff Act, have been sustained as an "exception", because the Collection Act of 1789, passed more than two years before the Fourth Amendment was ratified, contained a similar provision.

What is the distinction between "probable cause to believe" and (probable) "cause to suspect"? I can't understand the difference. The article goes on to imply that "probable cause to believe" is a stricter, harder-to-achieve standard than the previous conception of "probable cause."
By the way, I searched the Volstead Act for the phrase "probable cause to believe," and it doesn't seem to appear, so I don't know what the author's talking about there either.
[1]: 41 STAT. 308 (1919), 27 U. S. C. § 11 (1926).


texts: Do I need to track when a user declines to consent to analytics to meet GDPR?

texts:
Suppose a user visits a website. They are informed that the site is using cookies and analytics, and the user can either allow cookies or decline. If the user declines (and therefore is not tracked), does the website need to collect a record that the user declined?
If the user previously consented and then changed their line and deconsented, this makes sense to me to record. However, if the user has never consented and I've never tracked them, do I need to record this decline somehow?
Recording outright declines seems to be a feature of many commercial tracker management tools like OneTrue or CookiePro, but the language is confusing if this is something a website actually needs to do.


texts: Which countries grant extraterritoriality to US citizens?

texts:
Some countries have ceded, to the United States, some control in the application of their own laws within their own borders.

A historical example would be the Treaty of Wanghia, signed with China in 1844, that granted extraterritoriality to US citizens. Article XXI:

  ... citizens of the United States, who may commit any crime in China,
  shall be subject to be tried and punished only by the Consul, or other
  public functionary of the United States, thereto authorized according to the laws of the United States ...

A more limited present-day example would be when a US soldier stationed in Japan commits a crime against a US citizen in Japan. In that case, Japanese courts do not have jurisdiction for the crime committed in Japan because of the (controversial) U.S.–Japan Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) that grants extraterritoriality to specific US military members.

The question is: In which foreign countries does the United States currently have the right to exercise extraterritorial jurisdiction in cases where an American is accused of wrongdoing?

In particular, I am interested in treaties that are still in force, and signed between the United States and another country that grant extraterritorial rights for all US citizens (and not just military members as in the case of SOFA).

EDIT:

A preliminary search reveals that the Brunei Peace, Friendship, Commerce and Navigation Treaty still grants extraterritoriality to US citizens. The treaty was signed in 1850, and is still in force as of January 1, 2018 according to the Treaties in Force (TIF) publication of the US Department of State. Article IX:

  ... in all cases where a citizen of the United States shall be accused
  of any crime committed in any part of His Highness' dominions the
  person so accused shall be exclusively tried and adjudged by the
  American Consul, or other officer duly appointed for that purpose ...

Are there any more such examples?


texts:
Background:

I purchased my home in Maryland on October 2015 with a USDA mortgage loan. I would now like to rent my home out and move because I'm getting a new job somewhere else in Maryland. I read online in various places that you have to live in your home for three years before you can legally rent it out if your loan is USDA provided. I called my mortgage company today though and the customer service representative told me that I am allowed to rent my house out and that there are no rules regarding renting; So long as I change my insurance and continue to pay the mortgage they could care less.

Questions:

Am I legally safe to proceed with renting out my house?
Should I get anything in writing before doing this?
Can I trust the word of a customer service representative from my mortgage company?
Should I contact the USDA themselves and ask them?
Am I at risk for committing mortgage fraud?

References:

https://www.fedhomeloan.org/federal-home-loan-occupancy-rules/
https://www.trulia.com/voices/Home_Buying/I_have_owned_a_home_on_a_USDA_loan_for_years_Can-351412
http://www.landlordstation.com/blog/will-your-current-mortgage-allow-you-to-move-out-of-your-home-and-rent-it-out/


texts: EU Employer demands birth certificate - Why?

texts:
My brother is Irish, he starts a job as manager of a bar in France. He provided his Irish Passport for id, and the employer wants an original birth certificate.

My understanding is birth certificate, without being notarised, are not recognised outside there country of issue. In addition, they are not official documents for id (since they lack a photo). However, my understanding is passports are officially recognised internationally as id. Two other brothers live in Germany and Spain, both residents of those countries, both obtained their residency without any need for birth certificates (just passports).

Birth certificates can be used as part of identity theft so alarm bells ring for me.

Is there any reason why an employer might demand a birth certificate? Is there any reason why an Irish passport would not suffice?


texts: How to Handle Employer Breaching Employment Contract

texts:
I work as a W2 employee for a medium size company. The contract specifies my salary for each year of the term, along with many provisions to protect the company such as a 1 year non-compete, IP clauses, and a non-disparagement agreement. The contract also specifies I am to be paid for a number of months if I am terminated without cause.

My industry has been hit hard by the Covid-19 crisis, and HR recently sent an email that for 6 weeks everyone will be taking a temporary pay cut. For me it will amount to losing about $2000. On one hand I am thankful to still have a job, on the other handle I am deeply disturbed that the company seems to view honoring my contract as optional. There is no provision for reducing my pay (and I believe most of my coworkers have a similar contract).

Can doing nothing, for now, amount to implicitly agreeing to the pay cut? How can I put myself in a legal position to pursue damages if this becomes a bigger issue, while avoiding making a big stink with management and HR in the short run?


texts: Clarifying Escape Clause for Rental Agreement

texts:
I've recently moved into an apartment in LA, and I'm on the lease with two other co-tenants. For a variety of reasons, I'm planning on moving out (it's a long story), even though all three of us tenants are on the lease until June of next year.
Conveniently, though, there is an escape clause:
Escape Clause: If the Premises are not vacated by the current renter and all personal property removed therefrom by the Start Date, either the Renter or Owner may terminate this Agreement by written notice to the other, all deposits for, or payments of other charges, shall be refunded except for payment for verification of credit, and neither Renter nor Owner shall have any further liability to the other.
And it turns out, a previous roommate (whom I'm replacing on the new lease) left a whole bunch of her stuff, many of which I didn't expect. Could this be used to enforce this escape clause?
I am extremely tempted to do so now, but there are a few concerns:
1. Proving that those are "her" property left behind (and not "given" to others)
I believe I can do this with proper documentation, but it is a concern.
2. Must I prove that her leftover property causes any "habitability problems?" According to a lawyer I spoke to, it seems like it's a clause intended for the cases where the previous renter really hasn't moved out because then, the new renter can't move in.
3. "And" statement: the conditional is phrased as a "if not A and B" where
A=premises are vacated by the Start Date, and
B=all personal property removed from [the place].
A lawyer was adamant that not A and not B both must be satisfied instead of just not A or not B
(which is equivalent to not (A and B)). And since not A is not true (the roommate did move out),
the whole clause is not applicable. Is this true?
4. Is there a time limit for when I can apply this clause? I would like to wait until I find another suitable place to move into, but by then, what if this clause doesn't apply anymore?
5. Some suggested that this clause might only be applicable when a group of roommates moved into a new apartment (i.e. when the lease is "new") and not when a new person replaces old roommate. Is this true?
6. Are there any other loopholes you foresee in this clause?
Thanks


texts: Removing My Name -- Difference Between CC BY-SA 3.0 and 4.0

texts:
I've seen post(s) on removing a username from a Stack Exchange post, in accordance with CC BY-SA 3.0 -- see, for example, https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/96732/how-do-i-remove-my-name-from-a-post-in-accordance-with-cc-by-sa-3-0.

My question isn't about Stack Exchange, but about the difference between CC BY-SA 3.0 and 4.0; arXiv (preprint server) uses 4.0, and says that they will not remove material posted to their site. I couldn't find, without going into technical documents that I wouldn't understand, the difference in this respect between 4.0 and 3.0.

It seems to me that if one can remove a name from a Stack Exchange post on 3.0, if arXiv used 3.0, then one would be able to remove a name from an arXiv post; hence there must be a reasonably significant difference between 3.0 and 4.0?
Am I correct?

Details can be found on the Creative Commons website:

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


texts: Can bad UI design lead to legal actions? or is bad UI a good business model?

texts:
Last year our office of parking upgraded their system, they didn't notify the users, they didn't tell anyone about this change. So I bought a parking permit and they have this dropdown where you choose the state of your plates. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but my car is international, and also this year they added to the dropdown every single possible Mexican state. So I chose my Mexican state.

Eleven months later, I got a citation saying that I had to choose Mexico instead of choosing the actual Mexican state (which was provided in the dropdown). Their excuse? Hidden within their website there is a paragraph and in its last sentence it says that if you own an international car you must choose the country. (They added this the year they changed the system, without anyone being notified about it.) This seems very shady to me, providing options which their only purpose is to give citations, making changes to the system without any notification, and blaming the user for not reading the entire website before any purchase.(The system has not been changed in any of the previous 6 years that I have been here.)

Is this legal? providing options for users that serve no other purpose other than to give citations, and then protecting yourself saying that somewhere in your website there are instructions on how to do it.

Summary: a website provides options whose only purpose is to give citations, somewhere in their website they say not to choose those options.


texts: Who needs to take the California driver license renewal test?

texts:
A few weeks ago, I went to DMV office in California to renew my driver license. They asked me to take an 18-question renewal test. I took the test and passed it and received my renewed driver license, assuming it's a normal procedure for everyone.

Subsequently, I learned that not even one of my colleagues or friends were asked to take this test. In all my life, I've only had two parking tickets. Is that the reason that I was asked to take the test?


texts: How to proceed when there is no will/last testament?

texts:
The Situation:

My best friend's mother (Grace) passed away on Monday. Grace told her sister Hope and her son that she had a will. We cannot locate it (at home, not filed with lawyer or the city).

We found investment papers stating her brother to be the beneficiary (2016). We found retirement papers stating 50/50 to her brother and her as beneficiaries (2017).

If there is no will to be found, how does the family proceed?


texts: Creating and then selling artwork that was derived from a song.. copyright infingement?

texts:
There's a song that's been with me for the past 10-12 years (song was released in 1975 by record label Reprise), and its lyrics vividly describe various scenes of a historical event in human history. At the same time, I'm an amateur artist/musician in both piano and graphite/charcoal sketching, and over the past year or so I've created a series of artworks that were derived from/directly inspired by the lyrics of this song.
Well, I now have a friend who's interested in purchasing this art ($700 - $1000 USD), and so, I'm wondering if I'd be breaking any copyright law by selling it to him..
For the song, every two to three lines describes a "scene", and I've created a body of work for each scene in the song. Also, the artwork itself is quite consistent with the lyrics. Which is to say that, if you were to see this artwork in a certain order, it'd almost be like "watching the song".
So, ultimately, what I'm asking is..
is copyright law for songs confined to that medium of art? Or, does it also apply across medium types?
I know that if I were to create a movie that's based off a book, and then make profit from the movie, I'd probably be breaking some kind of copyright/IP law.. but, what about going from song to graphite/charcoal art, and for my situation?


texts: Nuisance-causing passwords or technology at US borders

texts:
My question pertains to the somewhat recent emergence/increase of technological searches present at US borders. The premise I am operating under is that, a), while there are limits to this, border agents can demand passwords to phones, laptops or similar devices, and b), you face annoying to potentially serious consequences (being detained, not allowed to enter the US, and/or having your device confiscated for a period of time or indefinitely). I don't have what I would consider sufficient sources for this information (i.e. for documenting what is actually legal*, certainly there are many sources documenting that such events have occurred).

*I am aware that the law in this case may change or become more clearly defined, as matters seem to have a degree of fuzziness now.

All of that out of the way, consider somebody (a US citizen) crossing the US border who, knowing they might be stopped and asked for their password by border agents, set an unusually long password. Specifically, one occupying several letter-sized pages. When asked for their password, they provide a pre-printed copy of this password (the rationale is that typing such a password would likely take many attempts and be highly irritating, since you cannot see mistakes on most computer login screens - the individual perhaps intends this to be a protest). What, if any, legal consequences could result from doing this? I am aware that there are significant risks of practical consequences resulting from this, such as being detained regardless of law, however, I am interested in the legal aspect.

In a different scenario, someone (again a US citizen) chooses to instead infect their computer with malware which is programmed to spread to any connected devices (say, if border agents connect USB devices with forensic tools to collect data). Perhaps this person too thinks of this as a protest. What are the potential legal consequences of doing this?

I should specify that while I am somewhat flexible with my language by saying "potential" consequences, an answer merely stating the relevant computer misuse laws for the latter, or failure-to-comply laws for the former isn't exactly what I am looking for - I am interested in an analysis that specifically accounts for the context of these border searches.

I have no intention of doing any of these things, nor would I endorse them being done.


texts: Is an individual's claim to self-defense impacted by whether or not they used a tool/weapon?

texts:
Consider the following hypothetical scenario:
A robber breaks into a person's apartment. They had initially expected the individual to be at work, and thus the apartment empty. But unfortunately, the person was home. In a subsequent exchange, the robber was killed by the home owner. The robber can be armed or unarmed (not sure if this will affect the answer to this question), but the home owner does not know this.
Q1) Would the home owner be able to claim self-defense if he killed the robber bare-handed?
Q2) What about if the home owner killed him using a non-lethal weapon? (e.g. pepper spray/taser)
Q3) What about if the home owner killed him using a lethal weapon? (e.g. hunting rifle/crossbow)
I am asking this question as it pertains to Canada/The United States.


texts: What does the witness oath mean in legal situations?

texts:
I'm in NSW, Australia but our witness oath is apparently fairly standard across English-based legal systems. It looks like this generic example from wikipedia:

  Oath: I swear that the evidence that I shall give, shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God. Affirmation: I solemnly affirm that the evidence that I shall give, shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

It seems to me that anyone willing to say that with a straight face is not a credible witness for a range of reasons. From the ontological and epistemological questions about the nature of truth to the simply mechanical objection that "the whole truth" cannot be told, I can't help feel that I'm missing a key element of the legal view of this.

Taking three basic problems:

define "truth" - is it just anything the witness believes to be true? Is there any standard? Or any penalty for not meeting the standard, if a standard exists?
human memory and perception are limited. Are those caveats implicit in the process? The oath doesn't say "to the best of my knowledge and as accurately as I can recall" it says "truth" unconditionally. Using the cliche "do you know what colour this pen is?" question, the only truthful answer must be "no", since colour perception is both limited and biased, as well as the actual colour being a matter of opinion (viz, reasonable people can disagree).
What does "whole truth" mean? It's obviously insane to require every witness to begin their testimony at the first instant of the big bang. But to permit otherwise means leaving something out. How and where does the law draw the line between "only tell us what you want to" and "tell the whole truth"?

How do legal systems resolve those questions? Are the terms just taken to be legal jargon and redefined in non-obvious ways? I can't find those re-definitions, so presumably it's all so obvious that only an idiot would need it made explicit. Count me as that idiot...

Edit: to make it explicit, I'd like links or references that lay these "obvious" things out. Examples would be handy. This is law, presumably this stuff has been litigated and there's scholarship as well as case law? Is there even obscure case law saying that a witness who, for example, refuses to speculate and answers only with facts is obstructing the court (or not)?


texts: Is it legal to record an episode of a TV series or a movie? Isn't it considered as making an illegal copy of the movie?


texts: Are pictures that don't have model releases protected under the DMCA?

texts:
Let's say a user of my website posted a picture. I know that as long as my website and the picture satisfies the conditions of the DMCA, I have a safe harbor against copyright claims by the individual who owns the rights to the image.

But if it's a picture of a person, and the person never signed a model release form, do they have a claim against me for infringing their Rights of Publicity?

Basically what I'm asking is: in the DMCA, are copyright and right-of-publicity issues essentially treated as the same thing?


texts: Is reverse engineering for research legal?

texts: I want to look at the code of a certain app, without modifying it. Is that fine accordingly to EU laws ? Btw, sorry if I posted this in the wrong place.


texts: What it takes to conceal facts of medical malpractice?

texts:
I would like to focus on cases which involve a complainant having suffered as a result of medical malpractice or neglect of their need for medical care exercised by their caregivers, such as parents. If the complainant can present medical records or similar evidence of malpractice or neglect taking place in the past, the defendants have to choose between being held accountable for their conduct and the following options:
a) destroying the evidence the complainant can present;
b) attempting to prove that the documents pesented by the complainant were forged;
c) forging documents which will make the complainant's evidence appear unconvincing or incomplete as a source of information about the events in question.
This is not necessarily a complete list. I suppose, several measures were designed for making these options less accessible or less appealing. I wonder, how easy is it to evade these preventive strategies? What resources at a minimum are required to this end? If a considerable number of such instances was documented, can anyone provide the common characteristics of exposed or alleged forgers in these cases? I think, if it was clear when the complainant should fear falsification of the evidence by the defendant, it would be easier to prevent forgery or prevent the forged material being accepted by the court as an authentic one. For instance, if there are several defendants, it would be wiser first to file a suit against those of them who are least likely to evade justice.
I considered formulating this question without references to specific charges, I think, it would be a more interesting question, but I'm afraid it may also become too vague.


texts:
Let's say X develops an app that tracks injuries of players who play in the NFL...
Questions

Can X legally name the app NFL Injury Tracker? (...without infringing on any trademarks, etc.?)

What restrictions would there be on X's use of the NFL logo in the app's marketing materials?

What if X uses a logo slightly resembling the NFL logo but is not the same as the NFL logo?


texts:
If somebody willingly invites people in during an open house, what happens when there are damages to the property?  Does the realtor showing the house have any responsibility?

A bit of background to elaborate...

I had an open house on my place yesterday.  I was away from the property during the whole time.  I then got a call from my realtor saying that there wasn't much interest.  When I came back home after the open house (nobody was there), I ran into the following:

Somebody had loosened one of the pipes under my sink, and water was leaking onto the floor
On my white carpeting, it looks like somebody had spilled a can of orange soda
The cabinet in my bathroom had been bent backwards in an odd angle, and now appears to be broken.
I found a broken picture frame of mine in the trash can.
And by far the most surprising, somebody took a dump on my bed.  I kid you not.

I called my realtor and complained, but he said he has no idea what I'm talking about and is positive that didn't happen when he was there.  My suspicion is that one of my neighbors (who is also trying to sell their place) came in during my open house to purposely sabotaged my home to make theirs look more desirable.  But I have no proof at all.  The police came out and took a look, but they said they had no definitive proof that any act of vandalism had been committed, and my realtor didn't take down everyone's name, so they couldn't and wouldn't go through the effort of tracking down more information.

So is this legally my fault because I let strangers into my house?  Or does my realtor hold any sort of legal responsibility.


texts: What happens if a person does not pay for the sentence in a small claims court?

texts:
The Small Claims Court in California say that they cannot collect the value awarded by any sentence that they deliver. What happens to the defendant if he/she is sentenced to pay the plaintiff but refuses to pay the claim? Is the defendant liable of further penalties? Should the case proceed to a higher court?

The Small Claims website does says about "more serious steps", but it is not clear what these are.


texts: Implications of including copyright notice from other work

texts:
I'm writing a book largely based on a OASIS open standard. I assume this would constitute derivative work. I wondering about the following phrasing in the copyright.

The document(s) and translations of it may be copied and furnished to others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are included on all such copies and derivative works...

If I do a derivative work it says the copy right notice and paragraph needs to be included. Does that mean that I just add this as a attribution att the end, or will this copyright then cover the entirety of the book and allow others to copy it freely?
Copyright notice in full
https://www.oasis-open.org/committees/ciq/copyright.shtml


texts: Oracle vs Google: Can Oracle sue any company who is using Java and making profit?

texts: Lot of companies in the world use Java including the company I work for. AFAIK there is no licensing deal and we use most of the Java packages for which Oracle sued Google. So can Oracle sue any company which is using Java and making profit? If not, then why only Google is being targeted?


texts: Is visiting the Hidden Wiki legal without visiting any illegal links presented on this site?

texts: Is visiting the Hidden Wiki legal if you do not visit any illegal links presented on this site? For example, for education purposes?


texts: Is it legal to invite applicants to interview on the basis of sex?

texts:
A company advertises positions and receives far more applications from members of one sex than from the other.  The company wants to interview the same number of people from each sex.  It chooses the following policy: applicants are ordered within each sex and interviewed in pairs.  If they run out of applicants from one sex the remaining applicants in the other sex will not be interviewed.

Is this legal in the UK?


texts: For amateur recordings, who owns the video? The camera man or performer?

texts:
I would like to make a video where I teach something. My friend has a video camera and is willing to record me. Who would own the video?

I ask because I plan on uploading it to some sort of streaming service (or personal website) and would like to choose the correct license on there. Maybe I'm over thinking this but if I'm not the owner then technically I wouldn't have the right to grant a license?


texts: Is it illegal to post a picture of you and your ex best friend on social media without her consent?

texts: We went through a fight and me and her are no longer best friends. I posted a TikTok about her and me no longer being friends. It says “dear ex best friend” there is nothing inappropriate or rude. The pictures are of me and her. She did not give consent. She is telling me I need to take it down. And that it is illegal. Can I get in trouble for not taking it down?


texts: Are Steam account IDs (and telemetry data associated with Steam IDs) deemed personal data?

texts:
A few friends and were having an argument on the following situation:

People can sign up for Steam accounts for free, letting them purchase games and play games over their network. Users are able to create public profiles for their accounts, a nickname, real name, location, etc - but this is not essential (sometimes people put fake information, but a considerable number of people put legitimate information). Via OpenID, users are able to authenticate and identify themselves to various other websites.

Some games, for example Dota 2 (published by Valve, who also run the Steam network) use publicly visible Steam IDs of players as unique identifiers within their games - in order to track information about their users, including reports, statistics, etc.

Provided that a user consents, part of their data from matches they play in is exposed via an API. This includes stuff like what character you played, your performance in game, etc. This allows 3rd party websites to show you interesting statistics about the games you play.

There is another API (also run by Valve) which allows users to download "replays" of the matches, so users can rewatch what happened. Within these replays are, regardless of what a user's consent status may be, users' uniquely identifiable Steam IDs. This allows 3rd parties to track users even if they've not opted into 3rd party sharing.

My questions are:

Is a Steam ID "personal data"?
Is the sharing of data to a 3rd party by Valve without consent against the GDPR?
If #2, How would I make a formal complaint about this.

Answer mostly important for an EU user, but would be interested if there were US comparisons.


texts: Is a renter of a room in France required by law to provide a proof of residence?

texts: In France every resident is required to possess a proof of residence, which must be a utility bill and a declaration by the landlord if the bill is not in the person's name. French landlords often don't want to provide this document, usually because they don't want their renters to declare their address to any government controlled database so that they are able to not declare the rent for tax purposes without being noticed. In the other hand this creates a huge burden on the renter since a proof of residence is required to obtain many mandatory services, like open a bank account (yes, this is mandatory in France). The rent agreement cannot be used as a proof of residence. If a renter find him/herself in this situation, could this person oblige the landlord to provide this document? Is this document actually mandatory to be provided by the landlord to the renter?


texts: If something is due on a certain day, does it mean before the day starts or the end of that day?

texts: If a contract is written such that a payment is due on day x does that mean it is due prior to that day or any time before 11:59pm on day x? For example I've heard of a property management company that stipulates "rent is due on the first of each month" but if the rent is not received by the time the office has opened on that day tenant gets a late rent charge and a nasty phone call at 9am.


texts: Can the owner of an open social media account be held accountable for attached comments made by others?

texts:
An "open" social media account can be viewed by anybody. I understand that the laws of the UK and other countries too extend to social media and users of such platforms can be prosecuted for posts which are defamatory or harmful in some way.

But what about comments made on posts by other users? If I were to post a perfectly acceptable photo on an open Instagram account, for example, and someone else using their own account added a comment to my original post which contained something defamatory or otherwise litigious against another party (not myself), can I, as the owner of the original post, be held accountable for that? If the police were to investigate the source of the comment, could they force me to delete a comment made by someone else from their own account but is attached to my original post?

I appreciate you might ask why would you not want to delete a defamatory comment from your post? Well, sometimes we may support the reason behind something but not the actual action taken. For example, thousands of people might be willing to sign a petition against something, but only a small subset of those might be willing to actively protest against it, and when a protest crosses the line between acceptable protest and illegal protest some might tacitly support what an individual or group did even though they would not do it themselves. Likewise, if somebody made a comment that I agree with in principle but would not have said myself, I would feel hypocritical deleting it, but I do not want to risk prosecution myself and so am interested to know where a person would stand in such a situation.


texts: Is it legal to write a program that does something illegal but make sure the code won't ever be executed?

texts: I was wondering the following: Suppose a programmer writes a program that has no license info but does something illegal, never runs the code but puts it to the Github. According to this: What are the "default rights" for the source code on the Internet without license shown? no one except the author can execute the code so the program has not done anything illegal. Has the programmer done anything illegal?


texts: How to calculate Alimony and Child Support in Massachusetts?

texts:
For a couple residing in Massachusetts, the Man makes $100,000 /yr before taxes. The wife in last 13 years had mostly stayed at home, or brought in a very small fraction of the family income from non-continuous employment. However, she is well educated (with some of the training was done during the time of marriage) and potentially can make some $40,000 /yr. Moreover, over the years of marriage, the Man urged the Wife to seek a job and develop a career, but she was reluctant to do so.

Their total saving amounts to $150,000 (both cash and Man's IRA). The couple has 2 minor kids.

Now, the Wife wants to divorce (the Man does not).

The MA law regarding Child-Support is formulated in a formula that's seemingly simple - but some caveats hide there. Even more so is the formula for Alimony.

What is the Man expected to pay and for how long, assuming 50% custody over the kids?

Specifically:

Does the court consider the Wife's potential income?
What does the "Income used to calculate Child Support" entry in the Alimony formula means? Is it the whole Man's gross income (in this case, no Alimony is expected)?
Is there a way not to equally divide the couple's assets, mainly based on the fact that all savings are from the Man's income?


texts: What does "forensic practicability" mean?

texts:
Herring. Criminal Law: Text, Cases, and Materials (8 edn, 2018). p. 728 last para.

      By contrast with the House of Lords, the view taken here is that a conviction for a stigmatic
offence is a sanction in its own right and that sanctions should be confined to the blameworthy.
The non- conviction of the blameless should be a pervasive principle of substantive
criminal law limited only by the need to theorize and practise criminal law as a system of rules
and by the exigencies of forensic practicability. Those limitations entail that many ‘normal’ life
narratives cannot afford grounds of excuse, however exculpatory the force of the narrative
may be. But other accounts, not currently represented in standard defences, can be brought
within the framework of substantive criminal law. If it can be done it should be done in order
to diminish the incidence of unnecessary criminal convictions.

I can't even infer which of the two meanings of "forensic"!


texts: I am planning to petition citizenship for my brother in the US but have no birth certificate...?

texts:
One of the requirements on the USCS.gov was to fill out the I-30 for petitioning of siblings. The instructions said to obtain a birth certificate but neither him nor me have birth certificates(I just became naturalized).

What can I do in this case? Get DNA testing...? Not sure how this works.


texts: Which Supreme Court justices have been the most anti-intellectual property?

texts: Which Supreme Court justices, present or historical, have ruled the most against intellectual property rights?


texts:
My question is pretty simple: if I somehow retrieved the Tesla sent into orbit by SpaceX earlier this week, could I keep it? Why or why not?

I'm specifically wondering if there are any laws pertaining to ownership/theft of items left unmanned out in space, either in the form of international treaties the US recognizes, or laws the US would enforce against its own citizens, as I do live there.


texts: Finland: Criteria to judge a drawn picture child pornography (and legality of virtual child pornography in general)

texts:
According to this article on Wikipedia (and this for the source):

[...] and realistic, if it resembles in a misleading manner a picture or a visual recording produced through photography or in another corresponding manner of a situation in which a child is the object of sexually offensive conduct.

I have trouble interpreting that sentence, especially the part in bold. If I understand correctly, the only criteria to make the drawing illegal is that the drawing looks very similar to (and can be mistaken for) a real photo, and it can be paraphrased like this?

[...] if it resembles, in a misleading manner (or in another corresponding manner), a picture or a visual recording produced through photography of a situation [...]

And in general, what is the official stance on the legality of drawn child pornography (the type that can be encountered in some Japanese material like hentai and visual novels) in Finland, and is there any other criteria like obscenity in the US?


texts: Why is there a 'statute of limitation' for sex crimes?

texts:
As I understand it, there is no statute of limitations for murder: in contrast sex crimes (rape) have time limits to prosecute.

Is there a line of reasoning to decide which classes of crime have a limited window for prosecution?


texts:
It's against gender equality to draft men. But it is part of the constitution.

Is there any possibility to "attack" the constitution by going to a judge? Isn't gender equality part of the EU law set, so actually the constitution is actually breaking laws?

The military conscription is in my eyes very discriminating, useless, costs a lot, brakes males development (they could have worked, traveled or studied instead) and against equality. Furthermore you have to be checked by a random doctor (no self-determination about your own body), you have to go to an IQ-test (because there actually are people to stupid for the military conscription?) and then you have to sign a document, that you lose some of your rights, like you may not demonstrate or talk bad about the military and so on. If you don't want to, you have to do some social work.

Is there any possibility to attack this law? And how to (where should I go to with this)?

Thank you very much in advance!


texts: Am I legally allowed to use logos that I create using online logo making software for clients?

texts: I often do freelance app and web development and design. Sometimes I have clients ask if I do logos as well, I don't personally know a lot about graphic design but am familiar with some online software for logo making (particularly canva). So am I allowed to use these logos I make through canva and other software in the apps or sites that I make for clients?


texts: Which state can charge you if you commit a crime while standing in more than one of them?

texts:
The Four Corners Monument is a place where you can stand in four states at the same time (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah).

If someone committed a crime while standing there, which of the states can or cannot charge that person with that crime?


texts: I've noticed large corporations use language in their legal documents that sounds very different than how a normal person would speak. Is there a point to using legalese or is old fashioned plain English sufficient? For example "Thou shall not kill" vs "Killing is illegal".


texts:
In most countries it is illegal to destroy money, more precisely, their own currency. But what about foreign currency? Can I tear a dollar in the UK? Would it be against American or English law?

I should mention that I know that it is not illegal to destroy money in every country, my question is about countries where it is, like US and UK.


texts: In the United States, is there a Governmental Entity that oversees the auditing of various other non-governmental entities?

texts:
Certain businesses, non-profits, organizations, etc (referred to here after as "non-governmental entities") have certain government requirements they have to meet to stay a float; these non-governmental entities are frequently audited to make sure that they are in compliance with the laws of the government.

I know little about this other than every so often, these people called "auditors" show up at the non-governmental entity and perform "audits" looking for places where a non-governmental entity might have broken a law.  Very little is known to me about what governmental organizations these people come from; or for that matter, what governmental organization oversees the sub-governmental organizations which perform the audits.  What would the organization that oversees the sub-governmental organizations that perform the audits be called?  I noticed that on Wikipedia it is mentioned that Australia has an entity called the Australian National Audit Office, and that sounds kind of like what I am looking for.

P.S. You may want to re-tag my question with "auditors", "audits", or something more appropriate than I have been able to find in the tags.


texts:
Recently, two teen record-holding climbers (one was 12 and the other 13) were killed in a small avalanche. This led to heated debate in (social) media if it is legal to allow children to practice high altitude mountain climbing since their ability to understand the actual risk is arguable.

Doing a quick search I found that it is not that uncommon for children to aim for the highest peaks, as this boy or this girl.

This article dives into legal details, but there seems to be two main legal opposite forces and no clear answer:

  Courts have repeatedly recognized parents' Fourteenth Amendment
  rights to make decisions regarding their children's care without undue
  interference from the state.

  Parents have the right to consent or object to their children's
  medical treatments. Parents have a right to decide whether their kids
  attend public or private school. Parents have a right to discipline
  their children

while

  Parents' right to make child rearing decisions are limited by a
  states' child abuse and child endangerment laws. While the laws may
  vary, most states criminalize child endangerment.

Question: Is there an "high altitude mountain climbing age" within the United States? Or at least, was there any political intention to clearly define a legal frame for this particular case?

I mean a minimum age a child is allowed to practice high altitude mountain climbing. This would be similar to smoking age, legal drinking age or age of consent.


texts: What kind of legal trouble would have a law firm that called its defeated opponents assholes?

texts:
Say a new law firm wants to come up with a fresh and juicy marketing strategy to win a share of local law market.

They adopt a moral code which, although could be seen arguable, is nevertheless coherent and is consistently adhered to. In a nut shell, they only take clients that they think are good people and refuse to represent cheats, crooks and similar people that they call "assholes".

When they win yet another case, they put the defeated party (proved in court to be in breach or even convicted) on a page on their website called "The Assholes" where they summarise cases for each of them. They avoid labelling opponents not yet defeated in order to minimise claims of slander.

What kind of legal trouble would such a law firm face? Would it still be slander/defamation? Would they rather quickly lose their bar accreditation, or would they only become controversial but otherwise stand well?

(Any English-centric common law jurisdiction)


texts: Power Of Attorney Over Mom: Step Children versus Biological Son

texts:
Backdrop: A Florida woman informally separates from her second husband. They have not lived together for years. The woman a mother had one sole biological son from a prior marriage. She was a step-mother to her second husband's 7 children but never adopted any of them. After the separation, she maintains contact with her adult stepchildren.
The woman has been diagnosed with several health-related issues: high blood pressure, diabetes, and neuropathy. In addition to that, the woman has a family history of dementia. The biological son and mother have decided to be proactive and pursue a power of attorney and a living ( -?) will. The second husband and his stepchildren have been omitted from all of those items.
Question: Given that the woman is not legally separated or divorced from her second husband, might he or her stepchildren have strong legal reasoning to protest any power of attorney or will set by the women and her biological son?


texts: Is there an official glossary of intellectual property terms in the UK?

texts: I am writing a research paper on how intellectual property rights terminology in Russia compares to that in the UK. I am looking for an official glossary or a standard approved by the UK government that includes all major terms used in the UK legislation. Is there such a thing? I have not found anything like that on legislation.gov.uk


texts: Is client-side encrypted data really personal data

texts:
Scenario: My service that is storing customer files is hosted on my own personal physical server, “on-prem”. It is then using one of the popular cloud storage services (Azure blob storage, AWS S3) to store these customer files. They may or may not contain personal data.
Before the data is sent from my server to the cloud service the data is encrypted with my secret keys that are only ever stored on the on-prem-server.
Since I am using an encryption algorithm that is considered secure and the keys never goes to the cloud, would the data I send to Azure/AWS be considered personal data under GDPR? Would I for example have to include the storage service as a sub-processor in my published list of sub-processors?


texts:
A company is "an artificial entity recognized by the law as a legal person that exists independently with rights and liability"*. So the law recognises them as a person. Are they therefore allowed to do person things? For instance, can a company earn a certification, like a degree?

In UK/US/Canada, there are laws restricting what people can do based on their credentials - mostly relating to financial services. I'm wondering if it's possible for a company to become credentialed, or if there is provision in the law to disallow them?

As an example, to offer financial advice in the UK, a person needs to have a recognised qualification. Could a company earn such a qualification, allowing the company to make recommendations?

I suspect this would be practically impossible - a company can't physically hold a pen, and therefore is unlikely to be able to take an exam. But I'm wondering if this is addressed in law, or if it is technically permitted and just never done due to practical constraints.

As a tangential, sub-question, some expert systems (e.g. IBM Watson) are becoming very adept at offering advise. They can't legally do so, due to not being a person, but I wonder if an AI could be considered part of a company, and therefore able to certify and act independently of the companies human constituents. Would this allow a company to circumvent the practical constraints, and earn a legally-recognized qualification?


texts: Are ThomasNet.com's terms and conditions contradictory?

texts:
ThomasNet.com is a directory for businesses to advertise themselves.
It requires that business owners themselves " agree that you will not use this website or our services or applications for ... commercial solicitations ."
This is contradictory. Is this even legally enforceable?
Source:https://www.thomasnet.com/terms.html


texts: Does the copyright on a song's lyrics apply if the song is translated into another language?

texts: You've all heard about the happy birthday ruling. This spun off a discussion in our office (none of us are lawyers). If I copyright the lyrics to a song in English, does the copyright apply if the lyrics are translated into another language?


texts: Can you request Deferred Disposition in Austin TX after pleading Not Guilty?

texts:
Is it possible to request Deferred Disposition in Austin, Texas, on a moving violation (pdf) (2013), after having plead Not Guilty (and possibly having moved for Discovery)?

Could this be done at any time before the trial?

Would there be any extra reasons for such a request and a change of plea (from Not Guilty to Guilty) to be denied, other than the non-eligibility bullets as per the web-site?

P.S. It would appear that the Driving Safety option does expire at the original date of appearance.


texts: Does a boilerplate legal disclaimer protect authors of content on a website?

texts: Specifically, if the website itself has legal disclaimers to protect itself from litigation arising from legal advice provided on it, would a similar disclaimer claiming to disclaim authors of content on the website protect those authors?


texts: In Ontario, does it matter which municipality issues the marriage license?

texts:
The Ontario government web page tells you how to go to City Hall or a Municipal Office and get a marriage license. However, it doesn't say you can go to whatever municipality you feel like, nor does it tell you how to choose.

If a couple are both living in City A, and the ceremony will be in City B, must they get their license from A or B? Does it matter? If they both work in C and it's easier to stop by the C offices at lunchtime, is that OK? Or could there be a problem if the certificate was issued by the "wrong" municipality?


texts: Is there a way to resolve a tort discovered after a divorce is finalized?

texts: Say divorce procedings have been finalized and there is shared custody of the child. If it is found that one of the partners has been unfaithful, can the other then sue for full custody of the child or any financial penalties?


texts:
I am in the 17th month of a 24 month contract with a company (ISP A) to provide internet services. They got bought out by (ISP B) this month.

I have not paid any money to this new company as of yet. (Invoice is due on the 1st of each month).

The new company added an extra "Universal Service Fund" fee that I never had to pay for before. The fee is ridiculous and I did not agree to it in any form.

First of all, am I obligated to finish out my contract? And secondly, do I have to pay this extra fee? how can I control this? they could charge me $1000/month in some "extra random fee"?

thanks for your time!

and PS: There is no provision in the contract talking about the company being acquired.


texts: What laws should I be aware of if I were to start a business scraping profile content from a website and using this content to build another website?

texts:
The idea is to build websites for people (in the UK (at least to start with)) using content that they have uploaded to another website. I will cold-call them, ask them if they would like a website and if they do, I build them one using content that they have uploaded to another website, to save them having to dig out the content again for me.
I understand that cold-calling in the UK is legal, providing that you have vetted the number against the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) and I think they have to be a limited company too.
Although I'm not overly clear on the legalities, my rough understanding is that scraping information from a website is legal, even if against their ToS. Is that correct? I assume there wouldn't be any copyright infringement issues, as the content belongs to the owner of the profile rather than the website that they uploaded it (presumably?)
If I were to scrape contact information from that website in order to build a list of people to contact, would I be breaching any data protection laws by holding onto said contact information that I have collected?
Any advice or pointers on related laws etc that I should be aware of or things I should avoid would be much appreciated.


texts: Shoud a company send to customers of its clients notice when getting data about them under GDPR Article 14?

texts:
A SaaS company (A) provides services, (e.g. web hosting) for its clients, (e.g. web agency B).
The clients can create websites for their customers (C) and host them using the web hosting.
Web agencies can also create child accounts for their clients in the hosting dashboard (user management). Child user accounts or hosted websites may contain personal data.
According to GDPR Article 14, should A send notice about private data to C when B creates child account for C or hosts site of C?


texts: Intellectual Properties of my software applications

texts:
I had an idea and developed a software. It includes IOS, Android and web applications. All of them was written by myself. I had my own company before. But after that, me and my 2 friends built a limited company 1.5 years ago. And started to sell my softwares from this company.

Now we have a conflict with one of my partners who has a 1/3 share of our company.

He wants too much money to leave the company, and we couldn't deal.

Now here is my question: Can we shut down that company, and open a new one with my other partner and continue to sell my softwares from that new company?


texts: Is it legal for a school to ask students to scan their signature and send it?

texts:
We are about 40 students at the end of college in Quebec, Canada and we are about to have an internship for our last semester. During our meeting today, the teachers talked about lots of things including a document that must be signed by the company, the teachers and the student.

Since they don't want to spend time asking every of 40 students signing that document, they are asking us to sign and scan our signature to send it to them via a private google drive folder. Its been confirmed that we will have access to that document before our signature gets appended on it.

Is it legal for the school do to that?


texts: Is a copyright notice with a non-existent name invalid?

texts:
If a person changes their name, do any copyrights registered to them still apply?

Or at least, as this is the subject in mind, does any software licensed to them still hold the same copyright?


texts: Can a man have invasive medical procedures forced on him during a paternity dispute?

texts: If a woman has a man's child and does not acknowledge him as the father, can she later force the man to give blood as to prove him the father (If she for instance decides his money is good enough again). What if the man has Trypanophobia, will that change anything?


texts: Are any British or English Acts of Parliament still in force in the United States?

texts:
In Australia, which has a very close legal history with the United Kingdom (diverging completely only as late as 1986), some Acts (or part thereof) of the UK Parliament (and its antecedents, the British and English Parliaments) remain in force in Australian jursidictions. Two examples are sections of the Magna Carta (1297) and the Bill of Rights (1688), which the Australian Capital Territory1 Parliament has republished to confirm their currency.

Are there any Acts of the British (or English Parliament) in force before American independence that remain in force either at a federal, state (or other) level in the United States?

1 - This jurisdiction is interesting in itself - laws in force in the  State of New South Wales formed the basis for its laws until legislative authority was transferred to the federal (Commonwealth) Parliament in 1911, which was later delegated / devolved back to its own local government in stages throughout the late 20th century.


texts: Yacht Rock and the Intellectual Property Rights of Work Trademarked by a Second Party

texts:
So I'm curious about the legal standing of an IP trademark owned by a party that did not originate the concept, but which is using it, potentially to the detriment of the original work, to suppress others from doing the same thing, essentially.

Also, most of this is going to sound very silly.

In 2005, a group of entertainers created an Internet comedy series called "Yacht Rock," which told the imaginary histories of the careers of a number of AM Gold/West Coast musicians (Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald, The Doobie Bros., Steely Dan, Toto, etc.). They coined the phrase "yacht rock" to describe the (artificial, arbitrary) smooth-music genre in which these acts circulated. The series was produced as a parody, drawing inspiration from real-life figures and events, and inventing a fictional narrative around them.
The success of the Yacht Rock web series has materially benefited the real-life musicians whose stories it purports to tell. Its success renewed popular interest in their catalogues sufficient for them to tour again. Some of these artists have acknowledged this publicly, even seeking to promote their tours as "yacht rock." Satellite radio entity SIRIUS/XM created a "yacht rock" genre channel, while Rock Band video game developers Harmonix recently released a "yacht rock" song pack, capitalizing on this renewed interest.
In 2008, a cover act from Atlanta formed, calling itself "Yacht Rock Revue," and playing a number of songs both consistent and inconsistent with the genre, as defined by the comedy group that coined the term "yacht rock." However, what Yacht Rock Revue did that the comedy series writers did not is trademark the term "yacht rock." (A USPTO search reveals that Yacht Rock Revue claims ownership of U.S. Registration Number 3834195, and in June 2018 filed an additional TEAS Plus application for its merchandise.) The band has since used its trademark to cease-and-desist "yacht rock" marketing used by other musicians, including the recording artists whose work they perform.
In 2016, the creators of the Yacht Rock comedy series began a podcast called "Beyond Yacht Rock," which creates and defines artificial/arbitrary genres of music. In the process, they honed their definition of "yacht rock" as a musical style, created a "Yachtski Scale" to score the "yachtiness" of a given song along a series of (principally arbitrary) metrics, and wrote vigorous critical defenses of these definitions in a "Captain's Blog." They even interviewed Yacht Rock Revue on the show, and discussed the merits of the band's "yacht rock" material vis-a-vis their definitions.
Yacht Rock Revue has openly acknowledged that it nicked the term "yacht rock" from the web comedy series. Yacht Rock's creators have been acknowledged as founders of the genre in interviews with with Rolling Stone magazine and the NPR music show World Cafe. Yet various parties (recently, sports writer Bill Simmons among them) continue to claim ownership of the "yacht rock" concept under some personal definition, Yacht Rock Revue included.

Are there any legal remedies for the writers of the web comedy series to:

keep the "yacht rock" term from being leveraged by parties like
Yacht Rock Revue
profit from their original coinage
trademark their evolving definition/terminology
protect their future endeavors from similar behavior, which to me seems at least partly analogous to patent trolling


texts: How could Edgar Ray Killen be tried a second time for the same crime?

texts:
Edgar Ray Killen, who recently died, was first found innocent and then re-tried for the killing of three activists.

My understanding is that one cannot be tried more than once for the same crime. So, how could Edgar Ray Killen be tried for the same crime twice?


texts: How can Subway's and my local pizzeria legally use imperial-only units to sell their goods?

texts: UK and EU law state that products sold in the UK must be advertised in metric units (Wikipedia).  However, Subway's sells sandwiches that are "footlong" or "six inches", and at least two pizzeras I have been also advertise their pizzas by diameter in inches (online example).  Considering that traders have been prosecuted for not using the metric system, how can Subway's and pizzerias legally do so?


texts: Can usage of Google Analytics (without consent) be considered a legitimate interest?

texts:
According to another answer here explicit consent is not required for Google Analytics, however I'd like to know why, as I am not a lawyer and my own interpretation is that GA use cannot be a "legitimate interest" in the context of a simple website that's just publishing articles in the open.

So first of all it is true that Google Analytics can use anonymized IPs, however GA also drops a tracking cookie used to distinguish users, with an expiration time of 2 years. And AFAIK tracking cookies are considered "personal data" under the GDPR, even if they are pseudo-anonymous.

Recital 47 says this:

  The processing of personal data for direct marketing purposes may be regarded as carried out for a legitimate interest

So it seems possible, however due to the use of "may" all this says is that "analytics" can be regarded as a legitimate interest, however the publisher still needs to establish the legitimate interest.

And that same recital 47 says this:

  ... the existence of a legitimate interest would need careful assessment including whether a data subject can reasonably expect at the time and in the context of the collection of the personal data that processing for that purpose may take place

I don't see how visitors of a website can expect being tracked upon opening a website and the website can definitely work without tracking, so I don't see how this can be a legitimate interest.

So what am I missing, anybody with legal expertise that can help out?


texts: Legal issues of a website such as [businessname]sucks.com

texts:
What kinds of legal issues do websites such as [businessname]sucks.com have in terms of copyright infringement, libel and defamation, and/or other issues?

Let's say there is a website called [businessname]sucks.com. (See my example of walmartsucks.org below)

The domain [businessname]sucks.com is registered to a US citizen (private registration), and the website hosted in the US. The site allows users from the general public from the US and internationally. The [businessname] company is US-based, with a trademark on the name.

The site posts are written critiques and complaints and allegations about [businessname] by the website and domain owner; the general public can also contribute complaints and allegations.

The [businessname]sucks.com site will not use the [businessname]'s logo, and will have a clear disclaimer stating the [businessname]sucks.com is not owned or authorized by [businessname].

The TOS will state that the purpose of the site is to provide feedback and an outlet for complaints about [businessname] that are not allowed on the Is a site such as on the [businessname]'s own site.

1: Does such a site [businessname]sucks.com fall under Protected Speech?

2: Can the [businessname] force the owner of the domain [businessname]sucks.com to relinquish the domain and in effect, take down the site? And/or does the [businessname] have recourse against the web-hosting company, a third party that simply hosts the website?

3: If there are clear instances of libel or defamation by a public user, who is liable? The website owner who allowed the instances to be posted? Or the member of the public who posted the instance?

Example:

WalmartSucks

or at

Walmart Purposefully Ripping Off Customers

That site clearly shows the site owner and complaints and allegations by the general public (using their real names). The site is hosted by Google. The domain registration information (not private) is at Whois.

One possible point of difference is that the owner of the domain resides in Canada; Walmart does business in Canada, as well as Google, the web host.

Edit 11/08/16

Just came across this (though it is 6 years old at this point):

Gripe site prevails in domain cybersquatting case

  A gripe site that incorporates a company's entire trademark into its
  domain is still protected under the First Amendment, a US District
  Judge has ruled. In the case of Career Agents Network v.
  careeragentsnetwork.biz, the judge said that the gripe site made no
  effort to bolster its own business and was noncommercial, therefore
  protecting it from Career Agents Network's trademark claims and
  cybersquatting accusations.

And, another site mentioned in the article Goldmansachs666 is still up and running.


texts: Was any (public) Internet archive's snapshot ever accepted as an evidence in a legal procedure, except patents?

texts:
This question is bugging my mind already for a while, and all of my attempts to find such a case failed horribly so far. I am simply unable to dig up any traces of a court decision - whether in US, Europe, whatever - that would feature an Internet archive (archive.org, Wayback Machine, and so on) snapshot of a web page - or an element on a web page - being decisive in any legal proceeding, except for patents.

Are you aware of such a case?


texts: Can a judge/justice file a lawsuit and bring a case to their own court? What happens then?

texts:
Can a judge or justice (I'm interested in both) file a lawsuit that would normally fall under their own court's jurisdiction?

What happens in such a scenario? I'm especially interested in the answer in the Supreme Court's case, but I'm curious about other courts' cases as well.


texts: What happens to someone who’s committed a murder in the UK? Assume that the person will be caught.


texts: Traveling abroad with high end cryptography devices and software

texts:
In the next months I’m going to travel abroad with my laptop and my Ledger Nano S. I’ll visit most of the EU countries, Russia, China, Brazil, U.S. and Canada. I’m an EU citizen.

I was wondering if I could get in trouble for bringing abroad my laptop where I have some sensitive informations encrypted with 4096 bits keys, thus File level encryption. I also have disk level encryption with bitlocker on Windows 10 and sha256 with luks on the Linux /home partition.

I would like to know which is my right to refuse to unlock my laptop or my Ledger whether I’m intimated to do so by a customs officer.

As far as I know as an EU citizen in the EU I can refuse to unlock my devices without violating any law, BTW I also posted on travel.se as suggested, and according to comments and answers I'm probably wrong on this.


texts: Can my employer take money from my wages?

texts:
I live and work in Ireland. The hotel I work for recently had to pay for an item a guest left in the room because the cleaner deemed it rubbish and threw it in the bin.
Now my employer is asking everybody to sign the document attached.
Under Irish law,

Is this legal?

Do I have to sign it?

Can I be dismissed for not signing it?

If it is illegal, can my co-workers who have already signed it ask to have it deleted/shredded?

Memo
TO: All Employee's (sic)
FROM: Accommodation Manager/General Manager
CC: Human Resources Department
RE: Removal of Items and rubbish
DATE: 23rd December 2015

Dear Employee,
This memo is being circulated to all staff as a reminder and is a firm notice to clarify any outstanding ambiguity when servicing a departure bedroom.
When removing used items and rubbish from bedrooms, you must ensure that all rubbish bins are emptied and that bin liners are replaced.
Ensure that all items left behind by a guest which are not in the rubbish bins are checked thoroughly to ensure that they are not items of lost property. If you are unclear whether the item should belong in rubbish or not, please check with your supervisor or Manager, before disposal, to ensure that it doesn’t contain any guest belonging or lost property.
Please ensure as per the recycling policy that all recylcables such as clean paper products, clean plastic wrapping, glass, plastic bottles & containers are removed to the Kitchen yard or back of the linen room and place (sic) in one of the large green skips.
Please ensure that any lost property found is reported and logged correctly with lost property.
Please be advised that any breaches of this Procedure will result in disciplinary action resulting in sanctions up to and including dismissal.
Where the company suffers a financial loss resulting from an employee’s negligence i.e (sic) throwing property into bin, (sic) these monies will be deducted from the employees’ (sic) wage.
Also, please be advised that you are now in receipt of a reasonable management instruction to comply with the procedures above during the course of your working duties.
If you have any queries regarding this please contact me
Kind regards,
[REDACTED]
I confirm my receipt of the above
(Employee) ______________________
Date: ___________________________


texts: How to act in name of company rather than natural person by e-mail etc?

texts:
It makes a difference for tax and liability reasons if an action is done by a natural person vs a legal entity.

How to make sure that actions are ascribed to the legal entity rather than one's natural person?

What are the requirements by law and best practices?

For e-mail, I guess a e-mail domain name with the name of the company would be advisable? Or an e-mail signature that is attached to every e-mail?


texts: In the 1810 French penal code, were "stocks" a more heavy punishment than imprisonment?

texts:
In the 1810 French penal code, the prescribed sentence for some crimes is "carcan" (stocks), which is described as being put in stocks at a public place with information about one's name, profession and crime for one hour.
But carcan is prescribed as the sole punishment for some crimes; and the code also seems to consider it more severe than imprisonment, since it prescribes that children up to the age of sixteen who would be sentenced to carcan are instead to be kept for one to five years in a maison du correction. This is in the same article that lessens other sentences for children (such as the death penalty to ten to twenty years of imprisonment).
I am confused because to me, the one hour of public display seems much lesser sentence than years of imprisonment. Did I understand the carcan punishment correctly, or did it maybe involve imprisonment as well automatically (but if yes, where is that written)?


texts:
Suppose I have an android app on Google Play. They encourage publishers to have EULAs and Privacy Policies for each app. Suppose I put my EULA and Policies on some simple site (web page). For example, I used Google Sites for that purposes. My question is (it may be a bit silly):

  Do I need separate Terms of Use and Privacy Policies also for that site? That's quite recursively ...


texts: "The 2 for 1 regulations EO": how much is the executive branch allowed to legislate?

texts:
This is a very broad question (and one that will change over the next few weeks and months when the administration and congress weigh in), and could be overly subject to opinion.

But: is this new Executive Order really legislation from the Executive branch that is not allowed to legislate? And/or is this "meta-legislation"? And does that matter?

  President Trump signed an order Monday aimed at cutting regulations on
  businesses, saying that agencies should eliminate at least two
  regulations for each new one.

  The White House later released the text of the order, which added that
  the cost of any new regulation should be offset by eliminating
  regulations with the same costs to businesses. It excluded regulations
  regarding the military. Trump wants to scrap two regulations for each new one adopted - The Washington Post

Could Congress reverse it with their own legislation?


texts: Are recorded conversations regarded as legally binding contracts?

texts:
Situation: there is a cell phone account in my sister's name. However, she does not use any of the lines, and she does not pay for it (payment comes out of my personal credit card automatically). I was added as an authorized user on the phone account.
I called the phone company to change the address, this is the conversation:

Rep: I need to speak to the account holder to change the address. You are the authorized representative and not authorized to make changes to this account.
Me: fine, how do I change account ownership to me?
Rep: You can go to the store with the account holder, each of you need 2 pieces of ID, then, it will be changed.
Me: I heard from store employees that the change will result in the phone plan price to increase, is that true?
Rep (after a long hold): No, the rates will remain the same after the name change.

Now, I have an app on my phone that automatically records all conversations. Canada is a 1-party-consent state. I, therefore, can legally record a call I am involved in. The representative stating "the price will not change after the account ownership changes" on a phone call I record--does that constitute a verbal contract. That if I were to go to the store and the prices increased after a name change/account transfer, they are in breach of?


texts: Signed a contract with employer stating they own all my IP; they sent an email saying its only for competing products. Should I be worried?

texts:
I recently joined a large IT company, before joining I had concerns with my contract, it states that they own all rights over what I create (from ideas, software, you name it).

I love making my own games, and I have a game I've worked on for over 2 years (long before I joined their company), so I did not like this part of the contract and said I could not sign unless they confirm that they won't try to take my game from me.

I sent an email to the recruiter (who works for that company) and asked her to confirm that point X.x of the contract is only concerning products competing with the company.
I got the response:

  As previously highlighted you do not need to be stressed at all in
  regards to below situation with your company. As I have explained to
  you what we protect us against in the contract is competing business,
  if that was the case with yours. So I hereby can confirm below is the
  case – and that it would only be an issue if you develop a competing
  product or use our inside know how to create your business products.
  Hope that makes sense. So ALL is good.

I felt like this was enough, but now I'm about to release my game and I really don't like the wording in the contract. Will this email I have protect me from them trying to steal my game?

I am located in Scandinavia.


texts: Can the POTUS be impeached for endangering the security of the state?

texts: Can the President of the United States be impeached for endangering the security of the state? "Endangering the security of the state" defined as leaking or telling sensitive information to other countries or third parties, abuse of power in a way harmful or destructive to the Judicial or Legislative branches of the government and/or beneficial to other countries, or degradation of the defensive military in a way directly or indirectly harmful to the security of the United States.


texts: Are benefits available only to people with certain mental health conditions legal in the UK?

texts:
I work in the UK. Recently, my employer introduced benefits for people with certain medical conditions (including mental health problems)—i.e., only people suffering from the condition would receive the additional benefit.
Is this form of positive discrimination legal in the UK?


texts: Is it legal to create a copy of a book for personal use and then gift the original to others, so they could repeat this process indefinitely?

texts: There's this comment thread under a post about student textbooks and a few other threads in the same post about the same legal loophole: Commenters are saying that while it is illegal to distribute copies of an original book, it's okay to make a copy for personal use, keep it, and then give away or sell the original book as used, and then others can repeat this until everybody has a personal copy, and there's only one original in the wild. Is this right?


texts: Coronavirus - is it enough to claim on wedding insurance?

texts:
In the UK, the Prime Minister has stated

  Restaurants, pubs and clubs must close

Although our wedding venue has a bar, serves food and has a dance floor in the marquee, they have not closed and therefore our insurance is not paying out as the wedding can technically still go ahead.

Is the Prime minister’s closure statement enough to claim on our wedding insurance?


texts: Can one make a right turn at the intersection if there is a right turn slip lane?

texts:
If someone didn't see the right turn slip lane in time, could they make a right turn at the intersection?

I'd like to know whether this is legal in California.


texts: Whether to disclose substantive evidence vs. using it for impeachment at trial?

texts:
What are the factors in weighting whether to disclose substantive evidence vs. using it for impeachment at trial?

On one hand, the jury gets to see substantive evidence but the other side is alerted to it before trial and can prepare. On the other hand, with impeachment evidence, the other side can be surprised, but the jury does not get to see it.

Which tends to be more effective?


texts: Trying to find definitions for "bodily harm" and "Great bodily harm" in Florida law

texts:
I'm researching Chapter 784 in the Florida State laws. The problem I'm having is there's no general "terms and definitions" at the top like there are in other chapters.   I searched to see if there was a "terms and definitions" from another chapter that was written to cover multiple chapters, no dice.
Specifically, I'm trying to find the Florida state definitions for "bodily harm" and "great bodily harm".  Using google, I found plenty of law firms giving examples of "great bodily harm",  but I still don't know what "bodily harm is".   The context is 784.03 1(a) which states :

(1)(a) The offense of battery occurs when a person:

1. Actually and intentionally touches or strikes another person against the will of the other; or

2. Intentionally causes bodily harm to another person.

Since there's that dreaded "or" there,  I'm trying to figure out what is technically still a crime even with consent.


texts:
When someone gets themselves into a situation where legal action is likely imminent, common legal advice is to document as much as possible. For example, to get copies of letters, to save backups of important emails, and to document conversations.

If I am in this situation, and I've just had a conversation that would likely come up in future legal action, and this conversation was not recorded in any way, how would I go about 'documenting' this conversation?

Is it simply a matter of sitting down and writing out as much about this conversation as I can remember? What good would this do if it ultimately came down to he-said-she-said?


texts: What is the purpose of including the statement "All trademarks are property of their respective owners"?

texts: I see this phrase everywhere. Isn't it a pointless statement? Is it not equivalent to "Trademarks are owned by their owners"?


texts: Can I break a trademark word into two terms and use it for my products?

texts:
I was recently approached by a company to stop using the name "Brain Dots" because they have trademarked the word "BrainDots".

"BrainDots" is a single word where as "Brain Dots" are two separate words

I would like to point out that the both apps are unrelated and that my app was published first on google play.

Thank you.


texts: Revoking my right to defend my Intellectual Property by using Let's Encrypt

texts:
Agreement: https://letsencrypt.org/documents/LE-SA-v1.1.1-August-1-2016.pdf

Section of interest:

  BY WAY OF FURTHER EXPLANATION REGARDING THE SCOPE OF THE DISCLAIMER,
  AND WITHOUT WAIVING OR LIMITING THE FOREGOING IN ANY WAY, ISRG DOES
  NOT MAKE, AND ISRG EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS, ANY WARRANTY REGARDING ITS
  RIGHT TO USE ANY TECHNOLOGY, INVENTION, TECHNICAL DESIGN, PROCESS, OR
  BUSINESS METHOD USED IN EITHER ISSUING LET’S ENCRYPT CERTIFICATES OR
  PROVIDING ANY OF ISRG’S SERVICES. YOU AFFIRMATIVELY AND EXPRESSLY
  WAIVE THE RIGHT TO HOLD ISRG RESPONSIBLE IN ANY WAY, OR SEEK
  INDEMNIFICATION AGAINST ISRG, FOR ANY INFRINGEMENT OF INTELLECTUAL
  PROPERTY RIGHTS, INCLUDING PATENT, TRADEMARK, TRADE SECRET, OR
  COPYRIGHT.

It sounds like if I use a Let's Encrypt certificate, then they can steal my Intellectual Property on the site and I have no recourse. Certainly that cannot be true.

Can you help me understand how to properly read this section?


texts: If a law abolishes a crime, can the law pardon people previously convicted of that crime?

texts: For example, could a law that legalizes a drug retroactively free people previously convicted on charges for that drug so long as they didn't break any other laws? I know laws can't retroactively punish someone, but can they do the reverse?


texts: Voter registration for UK citizens living abroad

texts:
The Electoral Commission website says regarding UK citizens living abroad:

  Who can register as an overseas voter?

  If you are a UK citizen living abroad, you can apply to be an overseas voter.

  You must have been registered to vote in the UK in the last 15 years and be  eligible to vote in UK Parliamentary general elections and European Parliamentary elections.

  If you were too young to register when you left the UK, you can still register as an overseas voter. You can do this if your parent or guardian was registered to vote in the UK, as long as you left the UK no more than 15 years ago.

Does this mean that one could live in the UK for a short while, then register, then be indefinitely registered after moving back abroad (EU) (Ie. one just needed to have registered within 15 years of leaving UK)?

Or does it mean that one could live here for a short while, register, then be registered to vote for the next 15 years (Ie. one can only vote in the UK within 15 years of leaving the UK)?

Thank you.


texts: I'm trying to find what the 197 penal code was in the 1930's

texts:
For a project on the book ''Of Mice and Of Men'', I have to prove that George is innocent of the murder of Lennie. My goal is to say that George didn't commit murder, but that it was a justified homicide. I'm planning to use the 4 point underneath a justified homicide : ''When necessarily committed in attempting, by lawful ways and means, to apprehend any person for any felony committed, or in lawfully suppressing any riot, or in lawfully keeping and preserving the peace''. So, I'll say how George is technically protecting future victims of George.
So I need to find what the Californian 197 Penal Code which is on justified homicide was in 1930's around. Does someone know where I could find it?


texts: Is it legal to promise to pay out money to uninformed third parties?

texts:
I'd like to set up a system that will allow me to accept a payment from a customer, say $10, and distribute a portion of that $10 evenly to a variable number of third parties. The problem is I'd like to start accepting customer payments before the third parties know that I'll be paying them.

The process (fully explained to the customer):

Customer pays my business $10
I inform the third parties via email that they have $X waiting for them.
If the third party sends me bank information, I send the payment.
If the third party does not sign up within X months, I give the money to charity.

Is this legal according to the law of Minnesota, US? Any advice is greatly appreciated!


texts: Can one lose their identity if their appearance changes drastically?

texts:
If a person altered their appearance suddenly and drastically, their sex, apparent ethnicity, eye color, height, all of these changed, would that person be in peril of having their identity (citizenship and credentials) contested?

If so, is there any evidence they could prepare in advance that would secure their identity?  The person invented and would perform the procedure themselves, and their family may decide they're unrecognizable, so medical history and family testimony would not be helpful.


texts: Can a wall fully on one's land be part-party?

texts:
I own a semi-detached house 10m tall. A large garage on the detached side shares the bottom 2m of the wall. It belongs to the neighbours, who will build a house to replace the garage. In contrast to the previous question, the side wall is fully on my land, not astride the boundary. Is the whole side wall considered a party wall, or only the bottom 2m?
Additional information:

There is no covenant or agreement between the two owners, the structures have been there for at least 40 years, and ownership has changed several times.
Owner 2 would build on their side of the boundary, although it is unclear if they would build against the house wall (on the other side of the boundary line), or have the right to.

___
   \
H   \
o    |
u    |
s    |_______
e    |Garage |
_____|_______|
-----><-------

House is owner 1's, garage is owner 2's, house wall fully on owner 1's land


texts: Are documents generated by the patient part of psychotherapy notes under HIPAA?

texts:
HIPAA defines psychotherapy notes as follows (emphasis added):

  Psychotherapy notes means notes recorded (in any medium) by a health care provider who is a mental health professional documenting or analyzing the contents of conversation during a private counseling session or a group, joint, or family counseling session and that are separated from the rest of the individual’s medical record. Psychotherapy notes excludes medication prescription and monitoring, counseling session start and stop times, the modalities and frequencies of treatment furnished, results of clinical tests, and any summary of the following items: diagnosis, functional status, the treatment plan, symptoms, prognosis, and progress to date.

If a health care provider asks a patient to provide personal documents relevant for therapy (for example, "bring your diary to the next session" or something like that), is the content of these documents considered as protected under HIPAA as well? After all, one might argue that such documents are:

Not medical by nature at the time they are generated
Not recorded by the provider, but by the patient
Not generated during a counseling session


texts: I have someone that just Doxxed me online, by obtaining information from their own community using paypal donate service.

texts:
I have someone that just Doxxed me online, by obtaining information from their own community using PayPal donate service.

He used personal information to harass me in the real world, by calling personal house phone and giving the number out publicly to friends in his community. Can he use information that he obtained from PayPal to harass someone outside his gaming community by giving out a personal name and phone number?


texts: What is the difference between state and federal habeas corpus proceedings for convicted prisoners on death row?

texts:
I am told that, in the US, people sentenced to death by a state can apply to that state's court for habeas corpus and then, if that fails, apply to a federal court for habeas corpus again.

I thought habeas corpus is habeas corpus. You are either lawfully imprisoned or you aren't. Even if the writ is being considered by a federal court, they are still judging your imprisonment against state law (or so I presume, since there wouldn't be any federal law relevant to your imprisonment for a state offence).

What is the difference between state and federal habeas corpus?


texts: How hard is it to change a condo association name in Washington DC?

texts:
My wife and I just bought a condo in Washington DC.  In DC, it is very common for a developer to buy a row home, gut it, and turn it into a 2 or 3 unit condo, and that's what we bought.  Our building has just 2 units.

As we are just getting started, we were advised that our next steps are to

Create a non-profit organization
Get a tax ID for that non-profit
Open a bank account for the non-profit using the tax ID

Now, for whatever reason, my wife has decided she doesn't really like the official name of the condo association that's listed on our condo declaration and by-laws.  She agrees that if it's too difficult to change, she'll live with it, but if it's easy, why not change it?  So I'm trying to find out how hard it is, exactly, to change the name.

Most of the things I've found online about changing the name or changing the by-laws (since that's essentially what we'd have to do) say "it's hard", but seem to imply that the reason it's hard is that you'd have to convince numerous other unit owners to agree to the change, then get them to a condo association meeting to vote on it, which is like herding cats.  I can understand that for developments with many units, that would be hard, but we have only two units, so it seems trivial.  We've met our neighbors, they're very nice, I doubt they'd even care about the condo association name, and convening a condo association meeting is as simple as me texting them "what nights are you free next week?"

What I can't find any information on is what else would we have to do?

Obviously we'd have to change the declaration and by-laws.  How hard is that process? Do we need a notary? Do we need some type of lawyer?
Once the declaration and by-laws are changed, my understanding is that we would have to re-file them with the city. What's that process like? Is there a fee? Do we need a lawyer involved in that step also?
Do we really need to change the declaration and by-laws?  What if we just created the non-profit organization (and bank account) with the name that we want?  Do we have to create it using the name in the declaration? What are the legal implications of creating a non-profit that is supposed to be a condo association using a different name than what's in the declaration?

Any insight into this process in general would be welcome. DC specifics highly desired.


texts: Is it legal for a Canadian airline to alter the price of a multi-flight booking after the initial payment and confirmation?

texts:
Suppose a customer in the UK books multiple flights with a Canadian airline via telephone.

Say the flights include:
 - Flights from the UK to Canada
 - Flights from the USA to Canada
 - Flights from Canada to the UK

On the telephone, the customer gives the details of the flights and receives a single quote (in CAD) for all the flights combined. The customer then pays using a debit card over the telephone. Later that day the customer receives an email confirming all the flight bookings. The booking information includes seat numbers.

6 weeks later, an auditor at the Canadian airline calls the customer and says that the price paid was incorrect. The auditor says that there was a mistake and one leg was not included in the quoted price. The auditor says that despite the confirmation email the customer will not be able to travel on that leg unless the additional amount is paid.

Are the actions of the Canadian airline legal? What action should the customer take?


texts: Do I have to legally change my address, car registration, license info, etc. if I am renting in MA but working in RI?

texts:
I have been unable to find a definitive answer online and was hoping someone on here could help.

I currently live in RI with my parents and fiance. All of my documentation and hers have our RI addresses, hers with her parents, mine with mine. We are moving to MA, renting an apartment on a year lease. We both work in RI. We are planning to buy a house in the future in MA, just renting for now. Do we have to change our legal address to MA? And all the other paperwork?

I read a lot of this, but it is more so talking about temporarily moving and working in MA. Unless I missed something.

So to sum up, working in RI, moving to MA, not sure what paperwork I may need to fill out.

Thanks in advance.


texts: How do you pronounce and hand-write the symbol §?

texts:
How do you pronounce and write by hand the symbol §, which is used extensively in legal writing?

And what do you call the symbol?  For example, "#" is called the number symbol or hash.  "&" is called "ampersand."  Should I call it "the section symbol"?


texts: Does California allow prescription window tints?

texts:
Prescription window tints = window tints that are darker than typically allowed due to a medical reason.

I read in the California Assembly Bill no. 1303 (September 2017) – amended medical exemptions:

(10) Sun screening devices meeting the requirements of Section 26708.2 installed on the side windows on either side of the vehicle’s front seat, if the driver or a passenger in the front seat has in his or her possession a letter or other document signed by a licensed physician and surgeon certifying that the person must be shaded from the sun due to a medical condition, or has in his or her possession a letter or other document signed by a licensed optometrist certifying that the person must be shaded from the sun due to a visual condition. The devices authorized by this paragraph shall not be used during darkness.

Does that mean that in practice California doesn't allow prescription window tints, since (to my knowledge) there is no way to remove window tint every night?
That's my understanding from the quoted text, however I see on Google many websites claiming that California allows prescription tint windows, and as a result I wonder whether I am looking at the correct text of law.
For example https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/california/new-california-law-allows-for-additional-window-tinting/470732486 (mirror) says:

If you've got a doctor's note, you will able to get additional window tints on your car.
Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 1303 into law Friday, which allows window tinting on the windshield, side or rear windows of a car if a licensed dermatologist certifies that a person should not be exposed to UV rays because of a medical condition.
With a signed dermatologist note, a person can now install window tinting with a lower light transmittance rating than currently allowed on a vehicle, according to state Assembly floor analysis of the law.
Medical conditions such as Lupus can make UV light sensitive. Exposure can cause an immune system attack.
Copyright 2017 KXTV


texts: Indictment of solicitation of child pornography

texts:
Let's say Bobby asked Sally if she wanted to trade lewd pictures when they were minors via an instant messenger. Sally flatly says no at the time, and no pictures are sent or received, with Bobby being 16 and Sally being 17 at the time. Let's say they both lived in New York when this took place.

Let's now say, 4 years later, Sally is flipping through her phone and sees the messages he sent asking her for explicit pictures of herself. If Sally decides she wants to charge Bob, in the state of New York, what can happen to Bob?


texts: How to determine what classification a department is in a business?

texts:
In Wisconsin, the state enacted a "Safer at Home" order (link here) which restricts certain essential and non-essential businesses from operating, as well as restricting people's activities that don't fall into an exemption category. Another term that is commonly used for states is "Shelter in Place".

The business I work for would classify as a Home Improvement business if I had to use a single umbrella term for the company as a whole. There are physical stores, distribution centers, software development teams, payroll teams, etc. It's worth noting that the business has the capabilities to have people remote work, but they don't allow it. The order seems to suggest that remote working would be acceptable for any business.

The part of the order that I'm curious about is that it has this as one of the exemptions:

  Hardware and supplies stores. Hardware stores and
  businesses that sell electrical, plumbing, heating, and
  construction material.

Questions:
Do all employees of the company fall into the exemption since the business is in the field of home improvement or are the physical retail stores the only exemptions?

The order also allows for the "Minimum Basic Operations" to support the business. For example, it notes that teams that process payroll would be exempt since they are essential to keep the business running. However, would a software development team as a whole be exempt as well or should that be reduced to just support staff?


texts: Copyright question about using a wiki to supplement a book

texts:
I've written a book of fiction and I'd like to supplement the worldbuilding / background details with an online wiki, detailing characters, locations, cultural highlights, etc.

I like DokuWiki the most, but I've looked at over a dozen. During my research into wiki software I kept seeing a disclaimer to the effect of "content published under this wiki is released under a Creative Commons license."

My question is really simple (I think): Do I waive my intellectual property rights with regard to whatever I publish on a wiki? Or am I misunderstanding that disclaimer?

I'm sympathetic to the idea behind Creative Commons, but I've worked really hard on my book, I'm new to the publishing world, and I don't want to inadvertently lose the rights to my own work.

I've tried looking this up online, but the search results keep pointing to wikis that discuss intellectual property issues.


texts: Is it possible to create a trust without any beneficiaries or one in which the beneficiaries could not 1) change the terms of the trust, and 2) retrieve anything from the trust?