texts: Is opening a blog, publishing technological/educational content on it and earning money via blogger earning methods like AdSense legal?

texts:
I am planning to open a blog website and publish technology-based educational content as articles in Turkish language on it. Topics I'll cover are Microsoft and Linux system administration, cyber security, software, hardware, web, mobile, desktop applications with their usage and much more things like this.

More clearly, for example, I'll post:

What is Active Directory and How to Install it on Windows version x.x.x?
How to Configure DNS Server on Ubuntu?
What should be considered for cyber security?
What are social engineering methods and how to implement them?
How to run JavaScript code in C# App? (or it can be complete JavaScript tutorial)
What are the differences between USB 2.0 and 3.0?
How to change desktop wallpaper on Windows 10?
How to change screen brightness on IOS version x.x.x?
How to use TeamViewer?

As you guess, for all of these, I need tons of programs, software, tools like VMware, virtual machines like Kali Linux, Ubuntu, Windows Server 2012 or 2016, Windows 8 or 10 and screenshots.

I am planning to use trial, free or non-commercial version of these for preparing my content. My future plan is adding English articles and video contents to my blog. However, I don't know using the tools, software and programs the way I mentioned with making money purpose is legal.

Any advice would be great.


texts: Are nootropics illegal in the UK from April 2016?

texts:
According to new Psychoactive Substances Act 2016, the UK's government announced that new legalisation bans all substances deemed as “psychoactive” drugs excluding controlled drugs such as caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, etc.

According to definition of psychoactive substance, this is any substance which can produce a psychoactive effect in a person who consumes it.

Some shops already withdrawing supplies of nootropics from sale.

Does it means after the Act comes into force, then nootropics (smart drugs or cognitive enhancers) become illegal in the UK? For example racetams such as Aniracetam, Oxiracetam, Noopept, etc., since they're psychostimulants?


texts: Legality of using album artwork from freecovers.net

texts: I am building an online store for a vinyl company and I want to create an application to help them add cover artwork to their store. Am I legally allowed to use the artwork from freecovers.net on their online store? Will I get sued?


texts: What do they mean and what are the implications when they say that a case was posted for "orders"

texts:
The Lokayukta Court on Monday posted for orders to October 4 a
  case filed against former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and four
  former chief ministers, for helping alleged land grabbing by Nandi
  Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE

Hearings by the court are held regularly and the case moves through various stages - orders are passed at every hearing and entered into the Order Sheet - so why do they have a special day for "Orders"? What happens on this auspicious occasion and what are the implications?


texts:
I live in Missouri.
I met with a landscaper last spring, he gave me a price of $3700 to do some work about 9 months ago.  The company didn't have time to do this work or couldn't fit it in or whatever but now, 9 months later.. I'm asking for my (partial payment $2000) back and he's saying they will mail it but I get this funny feeling that they wont. The reason is that I see a lot of online reviews where others are saying they got ripped off by this company.  So my question is, how long do I have?  Like is there some sort of time-span where a 'limitation' kicks in? (I don't know the legal terms).  What can I do if this company doesn't pay me back and keeps making excuses?


texts: Is it legal to sell game items for real money?

texts:
Me and my friends play WoW, LoL etc(online games)..

Is it legal to sell in-game items for real money? I know it's a small case and probably won't be chased after but in terms of law, is it perfectly legal?

In the games terms and conditions it states that it will result in a ban of the account. Can game developers sue me for providing the service or is the ban of the account their limit?


texts:
I rent an office in a small office building in Connecticut. I've leased this office for many years and currently don't have a lease. The owner of the building has decided to sell, and the new buyer has contacted me and asked me to sign a lease.

There is absolutely no benefit to me to signing a lease. Office space is plentiful locally, so the new owner needs me more than I need them. However, the buyer informed me today that if I don't sign a lease, the mortgage won't be approved. I don't want to be the guy who killed a real estate deal and end up with both the current owner and future owner mad at me. So the buyer proposed writing a contract "on the side" between us that releases me from the lease if I provide 90 days notice. The mortgage lender would be unaware of this contract. I'm amenable to that, but it raises some questions:

Concealing the contract from the mortgage company is probably credit fraud of sorts, but my view is that's the buyer's problem, not mine. Am I correct on that?
Would it be a legal, enforceable contract? If I give 90 days' notice and the landlord refuses to release me from the lease, would a court find in my favor?
Am I missing other legal pitfalls?


texts: What kind of document to keep an independent contractor waiting?

texts:
We're a small software consulting shop. We're close to signing a deal with a client. We also have an independent subcontractor looking to join us.

The independent contractor is getting anxious about waiting, so we're planning to give them a payment to keep them on hold for 2 weeks. If our contract from client works out, independent contract will have to join us. Else, they can walk with the money we already paid them.

What would such a document be called?


texts: What is the standard or most frequently used citation style used in law journals?

texts:
For example, most major science journals tend to use APA citation style, whereas most major humanities journals utilize MLA (8th edition I believe is the most recent).

What citation style do most law/legal journals utilize?

On the side, are footnotes permissible in most law journals, or does it depend on the journal?

And I do not believe I could find a hashtag to aptly describe my question, so brainstorming to create a new one would be appreciated!

Thank you!


texts: How inherited Property Assets Split in a Divorce in Ontario, Canada

texts:
I cannot find any detains on how Ontario law Deals with the splitting of assets in a divorce. I am specifically interested in if their are any exemptions to inherited family property (a farm owned by grandmother and father), which passed to the divorcee (I will call him Joe) through the death of the grandmother (directly) and gifted by the father.

These transferal of the property was prior to the marriage.

The couple lived on the property for about a decade. I am not aware of the exact numbers but I think Joe provided what would be considered well below the poverty line, perhaps around the poverty line in income near the end.

At present, the wife (I will call her Jane) has a job that I think outstrips his past or present income. And Joe has some farm machinery, but 99% of his assets are in the property. Some half-done renovations were done to the house, but none of the value of the property is in the house.

I cannot find any details on Ontario law on if Jane would be eligible to 50% of the farm; Eligible to 50% of the increase in the value of the farm over the term of their marriage due to the rising market; If she can force him to sell the farm; etc?


texts: Has the selective draft been tested constitutionally and how has it been defended as being fair gender discrimination?

texts:
This question is related to this one.

What is the history of the selective draft and how has it's constitutionality been tested and defended? It is not as if women cannot be drafted, it is the case in the Israeli military, women serve in that military just as long as the men.

In a country which enshrines equal rights for all how can such a thing be laden on just half the population? This seems like unfair gender discrimination to me.


texts: Is editing a comment in SO copyright infringement?

texts:
As stated at the bottom of this page :

  site design / logo © 2017 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions
  licensed under cc by-sa 3.0 with attribution required

I would assume this also applies to comments.
The attribution part is what I think gets infinged upon when a comment is edited.

  Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the
  license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any
  reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor
  endorses you or your use.

When a comment is edited by an user different than the original poster there is an small icon for it. And a tooltip pops up with the number of editions.

But no mention that this is not the text by the original author is made.

Is this usage of the user posted comment in agreement with CC BY-SA 3.0? Are there other stipulations besides CC BY-SA 3.0 that apply?


texts:
On the 12th of December I made a GDPR request to a major online retailer in the UK.

While there was a minor email exchange with a chatbot to confirm the request, I neither received the requested data nor a notice that it will take longer than 30 days to process the request. I only received an email on January 11 saying that the request is now being processed.

From my understanding, the company has 30 days to comply with the request or, with good reason, inform me that it will take longer (reference).

Did the company violate the GDPR, and if yes, is there anything I can do about it?


texts: Can a two-word trademark with no claim to one of them be used as a threat to cybersquatting claim?

texts:
Assume that there is a trademark made of two words (i.e. Somename TECHNOLOGIES). In the trademark's application as well as the approved registration, there is a comment:

  THE MARK CONSISTS OF STANDARD CHARACTERS WITHOUT CLAIM TO ANY
  PARTICULAR FONT STYLE, SIZE OR COLOR

  No claim is made to the exclusive right to use the following apart
  from the mark as shown:"TECHNOLOGIES"

Now, if a person owns domain name somename.com can the trademark holder put claims to it as cybersquatting?


texts: Why don’t video game consoles have seizure warnings anymore?

texts:
On the Wii, every time you’d start it up there would be a big screen with white text on black saying that it can cause seizures in a small group of people. I’ve heard that the PlayStation 3 also has this.

However, the 3DS, Wii U, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch never require you to see this—it is in a manual or hidden somewhere in some software built-in but not ever opened by normal users.

Why did this change? Was there some legal decision or law that changed that caused this disclaimer to not be legally necessary?


texts: Can a user request the deletion of their IP address that is stored for moderation purposes?

texts:
An Internet forum logs their users' IP addresses for moderation purposes (fighting abusive sockpuppetry, temporary banning a dynamic IP address range in case of a spam attack, permanently banning static IP addresses in case of persistent toxic behaviors, etc)
An abusive user request the deletion of their IP address from the logs under GDPR
This seems to be in an effort to prevent the moderators from exercising the aforementioned tools, so that the user can abuse the forum undisturbed
Do I need to comply?


texts: US: Is it legal to record metadata from another person's walkie-talkie?

texts:
Looks like according to USC 18, internet / phone communications affect interstate or foreign commerce and are therefore are "electronic communications". That makes listening to them fall under the definition of using a "pen register", which is prohibited.

However, walkie-talkies do not affect interstate or foreign commerce. In that case, is it legal to record their meta data?

  18 U.S. Code § 3127 (1) the terms “wire communication”, “electronic communication”, “electronic communication service”, and “contents”
  have the meanings set forth for such terms in section 2510 of this
  title;

  18 U.S. Code § 3127 (3) the term “pen register” means a device or process which records or decodes dialing, routing, addressing, or
  signaling information transmitted by an instrument or facility from
  which a wire or electronic communication is transmitted, provided,
  however, that such information shall not include the contents of any
  communication, but such term does not include any device or process
  used by a provider or customer of a wire or electronic communication
  service for billing, or recording as an incident to billing, for
  communications services provided by such provider or any device or
  process used by a provider or customer of a wire communication service
  for cost accounting or other like purposes in the ordinary course of
  its business;

  18 U.S. Code § 2510 (12) “electronic communication” means any transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data, or
  intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire,
  radio, electromagnetic, photoelectronic or photooptical system that
  affects interstate or foreign commerce, but does not include—


texts: What are the implications of an obvious mistake in a signed employment contract?

texts:
My brother was recently employed full time in a very specialized (and sensitive) job in South Africa for a company based in the US. There are less than 300 people in the world suited for his job.

His employer was so anxious to get him to sign the contract that things were rushed a little it seems. My brother signed the contract he had been given (already signed by the employer) and noticed that the salary they had agreed on per year, was stated in the contract as the salary per month.

My brother, informed the employer and an amendment to the contract was signed.

Due to the nature of the job, very advanced notice (minimum 6 months) is required by both parties for terminating the contract.

What would the implications be if an employee were to refuse signing an amendment and insist on what was stated in the original signed contract, even if he/she knows it's a mistake?


texts: How would you know if the court should apply foreign or local law?

texts:
I have a question about laws in general. If someone were to get arrested in the United States for charges on misappropriation of trade secrets committed in Canada, would the court apply international (Canadian Law) or local (American Law)? The company headquarters is based in Delaware, and the person works in the Canadian portion of the company, and the alleged crimes were committed in Canada. The person was detained in the US, as he/she was travelling there for personal reasons and was spontaneously arrested. The defendant would be a Canadian Citizen.

I've done some research, and one of the reasons I'm asking this is that there are quite big differences between the 2 laws. In Canada, trade secret crimes are judged under common law, whilst in the US, it is judged under Federal Criminal Law. This is a big difference for the defendant and their families, especially with regards to detention in prisons.

I've also searched the wikipedia page of "Doctrine of International Comity", and "Conflict of Laws", however I couldn't really understand any of it, so that's why I'm asking here hoping y'all can explain it in simpler terms.

This is what I think is an important section under the wiki page, and hopefully you can help me decode it into language suitable for a grade 9 student.

  "Comity," in the legal sense, is neither a matter of absolute obligation, on the one hand, nor of mere courtesy and good will, upon the other. But it is the recognition which one nation allows within its territory to the legislative, executive or judicial acts of another nation, having due regard both to international duty and convenience, and to the rights of its own citizens or of other persons who are under the protection of its laws.

I really appreciate anyone helping me out. I don't want to come out as lazy and making you guys do the research, but I would really appreciate it if you put it in simpler terms.

Thanks again,
Jess <3


texts:
I am homeless and I live in Berkeley CA, on the median of I-80 off a bike trail.
A friend of mine was just told by a BPD officer that act SB-876 right to rest does not apply to us because we are on state property.
But state property is public property right?


texts: Under which law the person who commits a crime on the moon gets prosecuted?

texts: I can understand that if an astronaut attack an other astronaut inside a spaceship he/she will have to answer to the law of the country which owns the ship but what if the attack happened on the moon?


texts: Does CC-SA (Share-Alike) force me to provide a free version of the derivative?

texts:
I'm currently working on a project that uses work covered by the CC-BY-SA license:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

In the license, it states that I can:

  Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material
  for any purpose, even commercially.

And must:

  ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.

My project itself can definitely be considered a derivative of the licensed work, or at least builds on it in a way that I'm happy to accept it needs to be shared under the same license as above.

What I'm unsure of is:
If I sell my derivative work, am I also required to share it for free? Or can I sell it how I like?

I'm aware that no matter how I distribute my work; I would have no right to prevent anybody else redistributing it for free (or even make money from it themselves). But it's quite a different situation if I'm also required to provide it for free.


texts: What does USPTO status 604 "Abandoned after inter partes decision" mean for a trademark?

texts:
What does the United States Patent and Trademark Office status  604 Abandoned after inter partes decision mean for the trademark?  Is the trademark in the public domain or so clouded that it could be used as such? Does the original claimant involved have more rights or explicitly zero rights to the mark than a third party?

The concrete reason I ask is the monthly transit pass I happened to buy today uses the old Pennsylvania Railroad PRR trademark as the authenticity hologram.  (The transit agency, SEPTA, was a customer of the PRR and its successor, Conrail, 1962-1982, and currently leases track from another PRR successor, Amtrak, but is not itself a successor to the PRR bankruptcy)  A little googling found the Justia link above, showing this status change very recently, in October 2015.  I naturally wonder what this means.

Is SEPTA in the clear? Given decades of operating agreements, they may have explicit unexpired contract rights to use logos in printed schedules or fare media without owning them?

How about historical rail collectors who  paint the PRR livery and logo on rail equipment?

If I, wholly unrelated, wanted to make PRR memorabilia (or hypothetically paint a PRR logo on a van then employ it as an Uber or similar to trade on the 150 year transportation history of the mark) does the abandoned trademark status permit this?


texts: I'm being discriminated against by my roommate, can I legally do anything about it?

texts:
A few weeks ago, one of my roommates chose to disclose to the other roommate (someone I don't trust, and tell no personal information to) that I am a carrier of Herpes (HSV-2), to which she freaked out.

I was called into a "roommate meeting" which was mostly to steamroll me with a rehearsed lecture on the dangers of Herpes (something I've had for 9 years, and only get my information on directly from doctors and doctor approved websites), and threaten to sue me twice for not disclosing I had it before we signed on the lease together, because we share food. Clearly seeing she has little to no basic understand of how common and non-life affecting Herpes is (besides the obvious stigma) I tried to explain that's not how it works, and her level of anger escalated, so I left.

Since then, I just haven't spoken to her, choosing to let her cool off on her own time, but instead she has taken to harassing me, moving my things into my room whenever I'm not home, using things then piling them in front of my bedroom door, etc. Came home a couple of nights ago to everything of mine she doesn't use outside of my room piled up against the door barricading me out. She had slipped a packet on HSV-2 under the door (which I am certain she didn't read, because I think it would have made her feel a lot better about it, and realize she, too, carries at least one strain). It is beyond clear by now that she is trying to push me to feeling so uncomfortable at home that I'll move out, and I'm feeling so at a loss of what to do about it.

Is there anything I can even legally do against a roommate who is super clearly discriminating against me for having HSV-2? Several friends have suggested a restraining order, and I AM starting to look for somewhere else, but in the mean time, I don't know how I'll get out of my lease, or feel safe at home.


texts: if im arrested and in the back seat how far can the police break traffic laws?

texts: I was arrested and placed in the back of the cop car.  They didn't put on my seat belt.  They ran 7 red lights and went in speeds of 97 miles an hour on the freeway.  When is it crossing the line?  Is there anything I can do?


texts: What can I do about angry drivers as a bicyclist?

texts:
I live in Berkeley, CA, and I often bike to the nearest grocery store along a designated "bicycle boulevard". The street is mostly residential. I try to keep as near to the sidewalk as is safe without risking getting hit by an unexpected car door opening, and I try to bike as quickly as I can. Furthermore, the road is not very busy.
Still, I have had all manner of threats and obscenities shouted at me by drivers and front-seat passengers of cars, including:

You piece of s***! I should knock you off your f***ing bike!
Hey, a*****e, why don't you do us all a favor and go kill yourself?

Sometimes it's racial slurs (that don't match my race):

You fata** n*****! The road is for cars!

Other drivers have seen fit to drive as close to me as possible, revving their engines or exaggeratedly going around me at ~10mph above the speed limit (in a school zone no less!). One chose to follow me most of the way home, screaming obscenities out the window the whole way.
Are any of these people breaking any laws? Could it be that I am in the wrong? The frequency of these behaviors have made the simple 5-minute bike ride to the grocery store highly stressful. Can I work with the local police / government somehow to make this street safer?


texts: Can I name a real company after a fictional company found in a book?

texts: Can I name my company after a fictional company (of the same type) found in a book?


texts: Can I use photos from my current job to promote my own business?

texts: I am self employed but work for a company that does seawalls.  I am the foreman and do all the work with the help of one or more of my boss' employees.  Can I take a picture of the work I do for him and use it for advertising to start my own business doing the same thing.  I build seawalls, stone walls, shoreline landscaping and erosion control.  It's basically landscape construction.  I also tried to find some stock photos to avoid conflict but there are none of the kind of work I do.


texts: Are there non-marriage legal arraignments with similar protections in Montana?

texts:
My brother-in-law lives in Montana with his son and the sons mother. For personal reasons he doesn't want to get married, and in part that has to do with divorce.

On the other hand, if something happened to one or the other of them, currently they would want to be able to make decisions/be able to access insurance/other benefits.

I was looking at it and it doesn't look like a common law marriage would be appropriate, as it still requires a divorce if I understand correctly.

Are there any arrangements in Montana that they could enter into where they would be able to get those same benefits as long as they are together, but are also able to dissolve with less fuss if they decide they no longer want to be together?


texts: Police misconduct: Who could be charged?

texts:
Suppose a police officer commits a misdemeanor in the line of duty: Let's say that as an act of retaliation he seized something as "evidence," in such a way that he satisfies the criteria for committing theft and will be found guilty of that crime for that incident.

My general question is, with respect to criminal charges against law-enforcement officers, how far down "the thin blue line" can a misdemeanor reach?  Assuming the worst case for the police:

In the given example, suppose the thief's partner was present and on-duty during the commission of that crime, but he said and did nothing on the scene, and his name is on none of the paperwork.  Is he potentially guilty as an accessory or abettor?
Now suppose the victim called the station the next day and spoke to the evidence custodian to ask for the return of the improperly seized item.  The custodian, of course, has possession of the stolen item and refuses to return it.  Can he be charged with a crime – e.g., for possession of stolen property?
Now suppose the victim also called the thief's supervisor to ask for relief and is rebuffed.  Is the supervisor guilty of any crime?  Even without the call can the supervisor incur any criminal liability due to his failure to prevent or address the crime?
Can the police department as an entity be charged with any crime, since (as I assume the previous items suggest) the fact that the crime was carried out and not corrected (e.g., by immediate return of the property) implicates a number of its officers for criminally acting, failing to act, and – presumably – failing to properly train and supervise the original actor?

I suspect at some point down the line the offense (if any) changes color from criminal to civil.  I'm interested in the theory and law on that transition.


texts: Do warranty disclaimers in software licenses carry any legal weight?

texts:
Most open source software licenses contain, in capital letters, the following disclaimer:

  THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS OR ANYONE DISTRIBUTING THE SOFTWARE BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Does such a disclaimer carry any legal weight? That is, if my license doesn't contain such a clause, can I as a distributor of the software be held liable for damages, and if it does contain such a clause, does it effectively prevent me for being held liable?


texts: Is it legal for officers of one sex to strip-search detainees of a different sex?

texts:
I believe there is a law that states strip searches are performed by officers of the same sex as the detainee, and not by officers of a different sex. However this did not occur in the following cases.

Woman Says Strip Search After DUI Arrest Went Too Far
Fully Nude Strip Search by Cops: Male Police Stripping Woman Completely Naked

Is there any law broken in these cases?
Under what circumstances would male or female officers strip female or male detainees, respectively, forcibly?


texts: Is it legal for India to deny entry to Indian Citizens?

texts:
The Indian Government has imposed complete lockdown of ALL inbound passengers including Indian Citizens.

It has plenty of confusing wording but it says specifically

  iii)    As such, no incoming scheduled international commercial
  passenger aircraft shall be allowed to disembark its passengers on
  Indian soil (Foreigner or Indian) after 2001 hrs GMT of March 22, 2020
  (0131 hrs IST of March 23, 2020).

The Indian Passport has the following on it

  These are to request and require in the Name of the President of the
  Republic of India all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to
  pass freely without let or hindrance, and to afford him or her, every
  assistance and protection of which he or she may stand in need.

Is there any protection in the Indian Constitution that prohibits an entry ban like this?


texts: Hosting One time pad of copyrighted material

texts:
Hosting copyrighted material without permission is illegal in most countries. However, what happens if two independent websites host seemingly random data, which combined (by XOR-ing) form a stream of copyrighted material?

The idea is rather simple, someone has digital copyrighted material, the digital form might be 011001 (CR). He then creates a random string of binary digits, for example 010111 (XOR1) and XORs the copyrighted material with the original, resulting in 001110 (XOR2). Both XOR1 and XOR2 seem random and unrelated to CR, but when XOR-ed, they form CR.

Now this person anonymously uploads XOR1 and XOR2 to independent hosts, and publishes links to both on a third independent forum.

I would assume the anonymous person violates the copyright, but do any of the three hosts do so as well? Can the copyright holder force the removal of XOR1 or XOR2, since for neither XOR1 nor XOR2 it is provable that it is derived from CR and independently both look random.

Moreover, is the post on the forum illegal, as it describes how to get the copyrighted material, but doesn't host it itself?

I am curious about this w.r.t. either Dutch or US law.


texts: GDPR/right of erasure and online marketplaces/payment platforms

texts:
I am in the early stages of designing an online marketplace platform for professional services. In the context of specifying what happens when a user hits the "delete account" button, I am considering the following scenario:

User receives services from a provider
User receives services from a provider
User deletes their account and initiates a request for erasure under GDPR
Provider now has no way of contacting the client either on- or off-platform to pursue their money.

Is the situation as I see it possible? Would I have the right of passing along the info to the provider under these circumstances?


texts: Are there any laws preventing Space Junk?

texts: Are there any laws limiting the production of Space Junk, like there would be laws preventing a company from putting their waste in the ocean?


texts: Are anti-employee-poaching clauses in contracts enforceable?

texts:
Many companies have so-called "anti-poaching" clauses in job contracts to prevent employees that leave from referring their old colleagues.
I heard some large tech companies have got in trouble with anti-trust agencies for backroom anti-solicitation agreements.
Are these clauses legal and enforceable within the European Union?


texts:
If I am making a video about a particular business, is it fair use to, within that video, quote a review or rating from Google or Yelp?  i.e. Such and Such business has a 5 star rating from Jackie Joe Jim Bob on Yelp!  They said, "This business is totally radtastic!  We Love it!"

And while the presenter says that, the quote would be printed on the screen.  Is this ok?


texts: “Stealing” merchandise from somebody’s shopping cart before checkout

texts:
Somewhat inspired by current events:
Suppose in a supermarket, Alice puts the last thirty packages of toilet paper into her shopping cart.
Bob then takes one of those packages from her cart without her consent.
All of this happens before either of them has checked out.
What law, if any, did Bob break?

It is my understanding that the merchandise is the market’s property until paid, and thus does not change its owner and thus, this is not a straightforward theft.

I am not specifying a jurisdiction, since I expect that the answer does not strongly depend on it.


texts: A borrower signed a promissory note in which he put up an annuity plan and his 401k plan as collateral.

texts: Borrower defaulted and there is strong evidence of promissory fraud. How can the annuity plan account and 401k account best be reached?


texts: Can I ask request a walk through from apartment legally before I leave property to make sure I am charged fairly? I normally take pics when moving in/out.


texts: Could the UK "sue the EU" in a way which affects the Brexit settlement?

texts:
It has been reported (for example here) that Donald Trump suggested the UK sue the EU as an alternative to negotiating Brexit. Many interpretations of these comments are possible and as the discussion below shows, I am not having much success making sense of them, but here goes.
I want to ask if the UK government could, through some legal process force the EU to offer a deal more to their liking. In other words could some court or similar body constrain the form of any final agreement or alter the way in which the EU negotiates, possibly imposing some compensation if the EU doesn't comply?
As a layperson the only venue I can think of for such a legal process would be the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). According to the link just given, the functions of the CJEU include

ensuring the EU takes action (actions for failure to act) – the Parliament, Council and Commission must make certain decisions under certain circumstances. If they don't, EU governments, other EU institutions or (under certain conditions) individuals or companies can complain to the Court.

sanctioning EU institutions (actions for damages) – any person or company who has had their interests harmed as a result of the action or inaction of the EU or its staff can take action against them through the Court.

On the face of it either of these could be an answer, but it is not so clear if they really apply here. Note the link does not give a compete list of things the CJEU can do, but only the most common ones.


texts: Is using a photo reference for pose fair use?

texts:
If I draw an imaginary character and use a photograph as reference for human body/pose, is that legal, copyright-wise? Let's say I change the hair and the face? I know it needs to be 80% different, but not sure how much % a figure pose is worth. Basically, the pose is the only thing that would be the same.

Country I'm in (for laws): USA

(posted this on arts and crafts originally, but they said it's better posted here)


texts: Is writing a guidebook to a work of fiction a copyright violation?

texts:
Is it a copyright violation to write a guidebook to a work of fiction? For example, there are guidebooks to Tolkien's Middle Earth and to Star Wars, etc.

I would have thought that it is fair use because a guidebook is "commentary". Is that right?


texts:
I am having an Android App which is going to use some services such as Google Analytics, Firebase etc.

I have a thought of having two different consent screens for different region user such as EU Users will have a screen in which the checkbox will be unchecked by default whereas users from other region will have the checkbox prechecked.

I would be using the GPS location before taking the consent to find out the users region(Location may not be exact location).

Now my question I will use the GPS location to only check the location and WILL NOT STORE IT OR COLLECT IT AT ANY COST.

Does the GDPR or any other privacy law stop or disallow me to do that?

Any help will be really useful.


texts: Cannot afford speeding ticket Netherlands

texts:
My friend lives in the Netherlands and was doing 62 km/h in a 30 km/h zone.
He did this on a scooter that he illegally removed the 25 km/h cap on.
From these two facts the fine will likely be around 400 euros, which he cannot afford.

Is there any way for him to pay it off with community service or in monthly payments?

Are there any ways he can pay for his mistake without crippling him financially and putting him in debt?


texts: What can a spouse do in regards to controlling the beneficiaries of a life insurance policy in a community property state

texts:
Lets say a husband and wife both live together in a community property state, say Texas, and the husband is paying for a life insurance policy on the wife. The policy payout is 500 thousand dollars.

The couple have a home with a mortgage for nearly half that amount.

They have 4 children, some minors and some over 18.

The couple had the primary beneficiary to be payable to the husband at 100 percent. Secondary beneficiaries were to the 4 children at 25 percent each.

Is it allowable, legal, etc. for the wife (who's life is being insured) to call the insurance company without knowledge of the husband (who is paying the premiums) and change the primary beneficiaries to be the husband at 20 percent and each of the 4 children at 20 percent each?

Wouldn't the insurance company have to have the husband's permission to just change it?

This is in Texas. There is no divorce pending, nor is one even contemplated.

If there is a loss of life under the policy could the husband say that he intended for the life insurance to pay off the mortgage but the wife had changed the policy without permission or knowledge to him prior to the death, and he planned the insurance to pay off joint debts of the couple?

What would be the answer to this if the husband were named as the policy holder? Or the wife were listed as the policy holder? Or both?


texts: Landlord signs an agreement with a service to provide laundry equipment.  Later, landlord sells building.  The agreement has a clause that reads "this lease agreement will survive any sale, assignment, or other transfer of the apartment complex". The agreement is not disclosed to buyer. Is it enforceable by the laundry equipment provider?


texts:
The case:

X is Y’s next door neighbor. Y regularly drops off Y’s child, C, for X to babysit for the afternoon. In return, Y typically (although not always) buys X groceries and other items. Y brings C over to X’s house. X tells Y that “I am much too busy to pay close attention to C. C will have to look out for him/herself.”  Y leaves and during the  course of the afternoon X occasionally checks on C and gives C some food for lunch. C while left alone wanders into X’s  unattended swimming pool and drowns to death. Y returns with groceries for X to find that C is dead. Is X liable for C’s death or is Y?

Interpretation:

I know that there is no statute that addressed the obligation of parents or babysitters. Thus, even though X agrees to babysit, there is nothing backing Y's situation legally. In addition, X even said that X is busy that day. So I see Y as being liable for C's death. Does the law of omissions (duty) apply here?


texts: If you are the sole owner of an LLC and you sign a non-compete on behalf of the LLC are you bound to the non-compete or is the LLC bound?

texts: I want to set up a business entity where I (CEO &/or sole owner) can sign non-competes on behalf of my business and not be personally bound to the non-compete. What's the right legal business entity for this requirement?


texts: Could a person be the Dean of a University and the head of a company?

texts: per Andrew W. Moore's self introduction, he is the "Dean of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University" and the "head of Google Cloud AI" at the same time. Is this legal?


texts:
Do employers look at health insurance usage, and use that data to possibly lay people off for incurring too much usage?

1) Would such a practice be legal
2) Even if it were illegal, could employers be using such data regardless?

Thanks


texts: Which law of state of California requires sellers to have a smog certificate?

texts:
The DMV website says that "a seller must provide evidence of a current smog certification", but they don't cite which law obligates a seller in doing so. Which law states that?

What if the seller sells a car without a smog certificate, which penalties is the seller subject to?


texts: How can a company sponsor an employment visa without first seeking qualified US-citizen applicants?

texts:
My company is a Delaware C-Corp, though our office is in Florida.

I have been working with 3 talented freelance developers over the past 18 months, during which time they've been in a work-for-hire arrangement. At some point in the near future, I want bring them to the US to work as FT employees for our company.

One is in Egypt, one is in Scotland, another is in India.

This article seems to provide information on the procedure for sponsoring an employment visa: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/sponsor-employment-visa-10445.html

Excerpt:

  Launch a recruiting campaign for U.S. workers to fill the position, as directed by the SWA. You must advertise for the employee's position in a local newspaper and interview any interested U.S. applicants. If you find a qualified U.S. applicant, you must abandon the employment visa application process. The purpose of seeking U.S. workers is to ensure that foreign nationals do not take jobs that U.S. workers could perform.

I could undoubtedly find qualified US applicants to fill the positions we would be offering. But applicants:

don't have the working relationship I've established with these foreign freelancers over the past 18 months
may not actually possess the same competence and dedication that my current team has demonstrated over the course of our working relationship
cannot reasonably be expected to work efficiently with what is now 50,000+ lines of code they didn't write

Is there any way to bypass this particular requirement, in light of my longstanding working relationships with these developers?


texts: Is a statement libel if it is in response to a false statement

texts:
If someone were to make a statement that was known to be false, and someone else makes a defamatory remark in response to that comment, is it considered libel?

Say you review a restaurant negatively and they reply by saying we have no record of you ever eating here. You know this to be untrue. If you replied back with a negative statement like "seems strange that a cash payment wasn't recorded in the books". Since this is not an out of the blue comment suggesting a business acts illegally but rather responding to a comment that is clearly trying to damage the credibility of your review, do defamation rules still apply?


texts:
Someone attacks me. I punch them in self defense. During the punch I dislocate my shoulder.
Are there civil damages incurred when I injured myself in self defense and got a medical bill?


texts: Jurors not allowed to talk to each other during the trial?

texts:
Apparently many judges instruct jurors not to discuss the case in progress. What is the rationale for this, other than just yet another tactic to marginalize juries and prevent them from trying cases?

A related issue is asking questions. Obviously if the jury wants to ask witnesses questions, they may need to talk among themselves to decide what question to put to the witness, so the instruction would seem to directly conflict with basic juror rights, such as the right to question witnesses.


texts: Is it legal to go take my license plates off a car I sold, without realizing I should keep my plates?

texts:
I sold a car a year ago in TX and didn't realize that I should take the plates off.  The buyer has taken full advantage of this and is racking up lots of tolls in my name.  Fortunately I'm able to get the tolls dismissed by showing the bill of sale and vehicle transfer form I filed, but they say they won't stop sending me bills until the guy registers the car in his name, so I have the repeated hassle of going to contest these bills.
It's annoying enough I'm tempted to try to find the car somewhere I believe he frequents and just take the plates.  I don't know if that would be considered stealing, since I was supposed to remove them anyway, but something tells me this would be a bad idea.  I've had all kinds of ideas, for instance, I found that I still have a non-sentry key, so I could theroetically remove the plates but hide them inside the vehicle, which couldn't possibly be considered stealing but would motivate him to register it.
The main thing I wonder is if he could sue me for some kind of monetary damages arising from missing something important because he sees that he suddenly has no plates and doesn't want to risk getting pulled over.  Or gets pulled over on his way to something important, etc.


texts: I bought a puppy and signed a contract with the store. I realized I never got a copy of the contract because I was so excited to just take it home. I called once already and asked if I could get a copy of the contract but they said they gave me one already which is a lie. My brother was there with me as a witness that I never received a copy of the contract. Is there a law that says they must provide a copy of the contract if I need one? This is in Nevada if that helps.


texts: Fair Use of Photo as a Derivative Work - copyright photograph with substantial new elements

texts:
This is a real instance, but I'm going to avoid names.
I downloaded a photograph found via Google - a still from a famous show. This is an image of a television character in a known location that was part of the show. The credit for the photo is [photographer/[famous TV company].
To that I superimposed two additional characters - my own photography & green-screen process - to make it look as though they were part of the same scene. To be clear, the original character and location are still recognisable and unadulterated. The only change is it now appears that there are two other 'matching' characters in the scene. There is no hint of any defamation or ridicule of the characters, it is a simple set of 'hero poses' in a known film set location.
This derivation was used for a family calendar in a print run of maybe 6.
I'd call that 'fair use'.
However, I'd now like to be able to post that up online.
There is no hint of any profit being made, merely a 'Hey, look what I can do in Photoshop'; but let's assume I wanted to post it to Stack Exchange, which would assign a CC BY-SA 4.0 license. [As far as my limited knowledge goes] I can't do that because I don't have the right to reassign the original work. If I wanted to post to social media, Facebook etc I really don't know what license they would use… if any. It all seems a bit cavalier.
I contacted the original photographer to see if he would allow this usage - however, he got back to me quickly & nicely, only to explain he doesn't own the rights himself, they were assigned to [famous TV company]. My attemps to contact [fTVc] have drawn a blank.
Am I just plain out of luck?
Is there still any case for it being legally considered 'mine because it is derivative or fair use' or am I still hard up against the rights of the original owner whom I cannot contact? I don't want to just 'post & be damned', I'd rather do this properly [or not at all].
I'm in the UK, additional images & manipulation done UK, original photograph taken in Northern Ireland [again UK], [famous TV company] is American.


texts: How does equal pay for substantially similar work (as per the California Equal Pay Act) apply to commissions?

texts:
I'm curious about the following scenario. If a business hires people and pays them a commission, is the employer obligated to be neutral in how it directs sales to each employee, in cases where the employees have substantially similar skill, experience, and quality of work, or is equal commission rates enough?

For instance, if two car salespeople were paid the same amount per sale, but the dealership sent the majority of the potential customers to one of the two, even though they had substantially similar skill, experience, and quality of work, would that alone violate the California Equal Pay Act?

To create a scenario, consider a garden center that pays a small wage, but for the most part, employees get their revenue from commissions. The owner hires on their daughter, and even though other employees do a lot of work in handling customers and making sure the shop runs smoothly, the owner directs customers to her daughter for the final sale, making it difficult for anyone to get commission. Technically the wage is the same, and the commission rate is the same. But the owner is ensuring a disproportionate opportunity to obtain revenue, for substantially similar work.


texts:
My wife and I are separated. We both hold title to a house with a mortgage (in both our names) on it. The house is in Michigan. She left in 2015 and lives out of state. My son(23) and I live in the house and I have been paying the mortgage, taxes, property insurance. I would like to know if I can quit claim my half of the house to my son. I understand that my wife and I are still the ones liable to pay the mortgage. My son and I will still be living here and I will continue to pay the mortgage. I am just looking to get my half out of my name. There will be no money changing hands between my son and I.
I would also like to know if it will reset my property taxable value.


texts: How do people publicly admit to criminal activity and not typically get arrested?

texts:
I've noticed that people on YouTube and even on TV would sometimes say things like "I used to take lots of coke a few years ago" or "I used to smoke weed daily until this and that" or "Yea, I smoke weed every once in a while," or "I used to pirate games a lot when I was a bit younger" or "I used pirated Windows and Photoshop until I got a job," etc., etc..

Basically they are confessing to a crime, on public record, couldn't anyone come after them? They've already confessed - technically all that would have to be done is a trial.

In these cases: possession of coke, weed, pirating games and software. In some cases - admittance that they will do it again soon - smoke weed ("I smoke it once in a while").

I just keep wondering every time I hear or read it... I thought finally it's time to ask people who know what they're talking about and who may be able to satisfy my curiosity and help me understand.

Hope the tags are right.


texts:
'A' (in an EU member state) contracts with 'B' (in another member state) who then breaches the contract.

Can 'A' sue 'B' under some harmonised community-wide procedure?
If not, in which state does 'A' bring his action (if not stated in the contract)?


texts: Improper use of work references by landlord

texts:
My would-be landlord asked me for a work reference before I moved in and I gave him my line manager's contact details. My references were checked and I moved in. A month or so later my landlord emailed my line manager to ask a question that had nothing to do with the referencing process. The question had nothing to do with me either, it was a general question about the company. My landlord made no comment about having any connection with me when asking the question.

I told my landlord that this was an improper use of my line manager's contact details and asked him to not contact him again for private matters. My landlord argues that I should have specified that he couldn't contact my manager. This feels wrong to me as it was implied that the contact details were shared as part of and only for the referencing process.

What does the law say? This is taking place in the UK.


texts: Can a German employer force employees to submit personal data to a contractor?

texts:
A German higher-education institution recently introduced a new measure to facilitate Covid-19 contact tracing: next to each door (i.e. entrances to the building, the lecture rooms, the labs and some other places), there is a QR code that must be scanned using an app by a company. The goal is to track who was in a specific room at a specific time. The rule applies to employees, students and visitors.
People who don't have a smartphone, should visit a specific URL on the contractor's website and enter their data manually. People who do not wish to provide these data should not enter the building at all.
The higher-education institution claims that this is all perfectly legal because it conforms to the local Corona Law (i.e. Baden-Wüttemberg's Corona law, in force since 30 September 2020, which is also available in English) and because the contractor's treatment of the data conforms to the GDPR. However, I am not totally convinced that the reference to these two pieces of legislation is sufficient:

§6 of Baden-Wüttemberg's Corona law allows organisations to collect certain data about attendees, participants etc. but does not state that these persons can be forced to submit their data to a third party (i.e. a contractor to the organisation they are visiting).
The GDPR is relevant when people willingly submit their data but does not seem to be a legal basis for forcing people to submit data to a third party.

Note that this contractor is not mentioned in employee contracts as a company with which the higher-education institution might share data.
So my question is whether an employer can force employees and students to submit data to a contractor without violating the principle of informational self-determination.


texts: Why does a mandatory lunch break not count as "waiting time?"

texts:
Spurred by this question and my own experience.

A previous employer of mine required non-exempt workers (like me) to take a 30 minute unpaid lunch break each day. Because the office location wasn't near much of anything, most people ended up either eating at their desks and twiddling thumbs, or just working through lunch while snacking away.

As someone who keeps a busy schedule outside of work, I found this pretty annoying. I'd much rather take my 30 minutes at the end of the day to leave early so I can actually do something, rather than have 30 unpaid minutes of sitting around an office.

This seems to fit at least two of the four "hallmarks" of waiting time from this answer.:

is not engaged in the work for which they were hired
is not able to effectively use the time for themselves

However, this FLSA fact sheet says:

  Bona fide meal periods (typically 30 minutes or more) generally need not be compensated as work time. The employee must be completely relieved from duty for the purpose of eating regular meals. The employee is not relieved if he/she is required to perform any duties, whether active or inactive, while eating.

Obviously, those who work through lunch are required to be compensated. Is there any insight into the intent of the FLSA, and why it exempts meal breaks from waiting hours?

Or are there exceptions to the meal break rule for when the 30 minutes cannot be reasonably construed to relieve the employee of their duty?


texts: Do existing contracts get automatically transferred to the acquiring company?

texts:
Company A and Company B have a business relationship lasting for years. All kinds of agreements are in place between them. License Agreements, Supply Agreements, Development Agreements and so on.

Company A gets acquired by Company C. After closing, former Company A now operates as Company AC.
What happens to all the existing contracts where Company A was a Party?
Do they get automatically transferred?

Having to assign all the existing contracts seems to be an "impossible" task, but i do not know the leagl basis for the transfer. Can anyone shed some light both in US and European jurisdictions?


texts: UK Copyright and IPR in the course of employment: Employee vs Worker

texts:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/section/11:

2)Where a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or a
film, is made by an employee in the course of his employment, his
employer is the first owner of any copyright in the work subject to
any agreement to the contrary.

UK employment law distinguishes (possibly with difficulty?) between employee and worker. I have signed a contract to work as an agency worker. The contract has clauses (eg no obligation to offer or accept work) to ensure it is not a contract of employment.
Can I confidently assume that, as a worker, IPR in the all work I produce is mine, unless I sign something that explicitly gives it away?
Part of my uncertainty is that I am unclear whether 'employee' in this Act necessarily means exactly the same as 'employee' as used in employment law.


texts: Is it legal to electronically sign a rental lease in South Australia?

texts:
is it legal to 'electronically sign' a lease / bond arrangement?

https://www.docusign.com/how-it-works/legality/global/australia states that it's not legal for "some property transactions in South Australia (Law of Property Act 1936 (SA) s26)"

http://www7.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/sa/consol_act/lopa1936198/s26.html

disposition: http://www7.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/sa/consol_act/lopa1936198/s7.html#disposition

conveyance: http://www7.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/sa/consol_act/lopa1936198/s7.html#conveyance

which says lease?


texts: Can police trick you into a confession by pretending to be a lawyer?

texts:
I have always been fascinated by the statement that in the United States, police are allowed to lie to you about whatever they want in order to get a confession.

This statement is usually made to strongly recommend you invoke your right to silence and only talk to a lawyer.

Now, suppose a person being interrogated by police invokes his right to silence and counsel, requests a lawyer, and after a while somebody appears saying he is a lawyer, but in fact he is another police interrogator who will use the suspect's statements as evidence against them.

This seems obviously illegal, but that would mean that police can't really lie about anything they want. Does this mean that there are limits to what police can lie about?


texts: The order of operations for getting a trade secret document signed

texts:
I was thinking about how to properly create a valid trade secret confidentiality contract, and am wondering about some possible loopholes that are present.

The order of operations I started by imagining was this:

Sign an NDA, without revealing any trade secrets.
Tell them the trade secrets.

But this is not valid, because if you don't tell them in enough detail about your trade secret, then they can use it to develop competing projects without the NDA having any effect (See Space Data vs. X).

So to fix this, I thought of this process instead:

Sign NDA, without revealing anything.
Document the trade secrets, and have them sign the document that they have seen it.

This way, you have documentation that you have shown them the trade secrets, and you know the level of detail they were shown in.

But there is a loophole here. The person could read the trade secret document, and then not sign it. Then you are in the same position as the first scenario, but this time they have a better understanding of your trade secrets. So they could use them and the NDA wouldn't have any effect.

So that is loophole. What you want to do is somehow get them to sign the trade secret listing document before they have seen it. But they can't sign something that says they have seen it until after they have seen it. So catch 22.

So what I am now thinking is this:

Sign the NDA, without revealing any trade secrets.
Have them sign an "About to see the trade secrets document", which says they agree to look at the trade secrets document.
Have them sign a third document, "I have seen the trade secrets document". This way we capture that they have actually seen the trade secrets.

But this might not even work, and can have the same problems as the second scenario. They could sign the "About to see the trade secrets document", then read the trade secrets, then decide not to sign the "I have seen the trade secrets document". So what you actually want is for the "About to see the trade secrets document" to be binding, that it somehow is legally valid, verifying that they will have in fact seen the documents immediately afterward.

I'm wondering how to get around this sort of Catch 22 situation, so that the NDA is legally binding/valid, and also you don't reveal the trade secrets too much before making sure the NDA is legally valid (that is, for it to be valid, you need to document the trade secrets and give them the document). Wondering how to do that without having them walk away having read the document but having not signed that they have read the document.

Perhaps you need an unbiased 3rd party present that will observe the entire process and sign off on it, sort of like a notary. I don't know.


texts: Could a celebrity theoretically claim copyright on the arrangement of makeup/jewelry/clothing on their persons to sue paparazzi?

texts:
Just something I've wondered about for a while. Ownership of our likenesses seems to be fairly weak in the US, but photography of public art such as graffiti can be a copyright violation.
Could a celebrity argue that his or her body is a canvas, and that the application of makeup, jewelry, and clothing changes their image from a likeness to an actual copyright-protected work of art?
The fact that paparazzi still exist makes me strongly suspect the answer is "no", but I'm interested to know why that may be the case.
Edit 1 (at the suggestion of Studoku)
Tattoo artists have sued game publishers for accurately depicting athletes with their work at least twice, and these two cases seem to have contradictory outcomes (links below). So, there seems to be an open question about whether images of a tattooed body can be reproduced in a video game without the artist's consent, even if the subject himself or herself consents.
Could this have legal implications for paparazzi?
Ruled in favor of tattoo artist against Take Two Interactive:
https://casetext.com/case/alexander-v-take-two-interactive-software-inc-4
Ruled against tattoo artist in favor of 2K Games:
https://casetext.com/case/solid-oak-sketches-llc-v-2k-games-inc
Edit 2 (comment from David Siegel)

[T]he case against take two was on a preliminary motion and did not
finally settle the case on the merits, although it looks positive for
the tattoo artist. The 2nd case (against 2K) merely dismisses
statutory damages because the holder did not register the copyright
before infringement started, but left the issue of actual damages for
later determination. Neither is a final decision on the issues.


texts: Is it legal to sell eyeglasses without a current prescription?

texts:
I lost a pair of eyeglasses and contacted the store from which I bought them asking if they could sell me an identical replacement.  A clerk there said that they can't because my "prescription expired," and it would be illegal for them to sell me a replacement unless I either presented an "unexpired" prescription or else had the optometrist who wrote the original prescription extend its expiration date.
The clerk claimed that the sale of prescription eyeglasses is regulated in the same way as the sale of prescription drugs.  I can't find any law or regulation supporting this claim.
What, if any, legal or regulatory restrictions apply to the sale of eyeglasses to individuals without a "current prescription," or any third-party "prescription" at all?
E.g., if I want to buy a pair of eyeglasses with lenses ground to +1.25 | -1.00x180, does the seller face any adverse consequences for selling me those based only on my specification, and no evidence that any optometrist has "prescribed" that specification for my purchase?


texts: What happens to assets intended for incorporation that never forms?

texts:
I purchased two domain names with intention to use in a company with a partner.  We both signed a Letter of Agreement that these domains were to be used in the not-yet-formed company, and otherwise not to be used or released.  They never compensated me for this purchase.
Later, the other party declined to form the company (notification via email and text).
I've tried to get them to agree to split them (they take one, I keep one), but they show no interest and only respond with delaying tactics.
It's been 5 months.
At what point do these domains legally belong to me?


texts: Civil redress for having acquired a disease

texts:
Are there any tested (i.e., upheld by previous court decisions) avenues for a person (or class of persons) to seek compensation or redress in the United States for having acquired a disease when they have behaved in a way that is recommended by health officials and others have not? The kind of examples I have in mind include the following.

I have a regular viral test for COVID-19. I only mix with other people if I tested negative on my last test. I wear a mask when I go out. I go to my regular church where a large number of other people are not wearing masks and apparently do not get themselves tested. I acquire coronavirus and suffer long term morbidity as a consequence.

My child has an weak immune response and despite being vaccinated against measles, does not produce a useful antibody response. She acquires measles from an unvaccinnated child at school during that child's asymptomatic infectious period.

I lose money because I cannot work as a waitress at my regular diner because I have a common rhinovirus and I'm sneezing and coughing a lot. I almost certainly got the virus from another worker who didn't stay home when she was coughing and sneezing.


texts: Posting copyrighted images on a government complaint

texts:
Imagine that I want to file a complaint against a candidate for public office in Washington State who I believe has violated campaign laws. If I file a complaint with the Public Disclosure Commission, can I legally download images from the candidate's copyrighted website and add them to my complaint?
Essentially, I want to create a PDF that combines my complaint with the images that I want to use as evidence. I will then upload the PDF to the Public Disclosure Commission's website, where it will be on public display.
I know that it has been done, but I want to make sure it's legal before I do it.


texts: Is D&D homebrew necessarily a derivative work of the SRD?

texts:
Wizards of the Coast, makers of Dungeons & Dragons, fifth edition, has made a subset of the game's core rules (known as the System Reference Document or SRD) freely available under the copyleft-ish Open Gaming License Version 1.0a.  The intention is to allow third parties to develop additional content for the game by "open sourcing" the base rules and allowing people to use those rules in works that must also be licensed under the OGL.

However, what if one wanted to compose a supplementary work for the game ("homebrew", such as a new player race, new class or subclass, or new spell) and wanted to license it under something else (say, a Creative Commons license)?  If the supplementary work didn't copy any elements of the SRD but did make numerous references to its concepts, would that be allowed under fair use, or would the work count as a derivative work of the SRD and thus have to be licensed under the OGL?

Examples of typical statements that could be found in such a supplementary work include:

  Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2, and your Strength score increases by 1.

  You can cast the mage armor spell once and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest.

  You have advantage on Strength and Dexterity checks made to escape a grapple.

  Whenever you cast a spell that deals acid, fire, cold, lightning, or thunder damage, you may replace all instances of that damage type in the spell's description with one other type from that list.

  You can speak, read, and write Common and one extra language of your choice.

  Whenever another creature casts a cantrip within 30 feet of you, you may use your reaction to make an Intelligence (Arcana) check with a DC of 10.  If you succeed, you learn that cantrip and can cast it as a warlock spell until you next finish a long rest.

Note that none of these tell you what things mean or how to do them, leaving that up to the SRD.

In short, does referring to a work's concepts in a new work in this way cause that new work to be considered a derivative of the first?


texts: Hetzner is trying to charge me for Bandwidth overuse and will not respond when I use the contact form

texts:
A few months ago, I was using Hetzner Cloud for my VPS, and they blocked a server because someone seems to have DDoSed it. I requested it to be unblocked, and they ignored me. I also noticed they are trying to charge me about €50 for bandwidth overuse, which my bank is blocking. I am now banned from the Console, and cannot delete my account because I have "unpaid products".

I have contacted Hetzner's support email, and they proceed to tell me that they require me to use the Contact Form on the Hetzner Robot Dashboard (and that I should be able to delete my account), and then they ignore me. I contacted them numerous times 3 months ago, and now I try every few weeks. Nothing changes.

I'm not a lawyer. Is this illegal? Can I report them to the GDPR authorities for not allowing me to delete my account. I will not pay a €50 fee because some random guy decided to DDoS me.


texts: Twitter and account deactivation - Do you have to explicitly ask for account to be deleted if company nowhere says that it will do so?

texts:
I am trying to delete my Twitter account.
Twitter only has a "deactivate" account button, and no "delete" account button, as I posted here.
It looks like in the guides posted by Twitter, nowhere is stated that the data will be deleted after 30 days of deactivation.
For instance, this official Twitter guide states that:

You deactivated your account more than 30 days ago
Users have 30 days to log in to reactivate a previously deactivated
account. If it has been more than 30 days since you deactivated, you
will not be able to reactivate your account. Sign up for a new
account.

There is no mention to user data deletion.
In the Twitter Privacy Policy point 4.2 states:

Deletion
We keep Log Data for a maximum of 18 months. If you follow the
instructions here (or for Periscope here), your account will be
deactivated. When deactivated, your Twitter account, including your
display name, username, and public profile, will no longer be viewable
on Twitter.com, Twitter for iOS, and Twitter for Android. For up to 30
days after deactivation it is still possible to restore your Twitter
account if it was accidentally or wrongfully deactivated.
Keep in mind that search engines and other third parties may still
retain copies of your public information, like your profile
information and public Tweets, even after you have deleted the
information from our services or deactivated your account. Learn more
here.

Again, no mention about user data deletion.
Asked by email, at the third email Twitter has replied to me that:

Permanent deletion occurs 30 days from the date of account
deactivation.

The GDPR doesn't compel companies to have a website. But if the company do have a website, are they compelled to advertise that data will be deleted after 30 days of account deactivation?

Let's say my friend click on "Deactivate account". He never asked to delete his account. Twitter nowhere says in his website that after 30 days from the date of account deactivation data will be deleted. My friend never asked for his data to be deleted (he only asked for his account to be deactivated). Will Twitter delete his data after 30 days, or is it compelled to do so?

Of course I am referring to EU legislation and in particular the GDPR.


texts:
The “hostility/claim of right” element of adverse possession requires only that the claimant treat the land as his own as against the world throughout the statutory period. 183The nature of his possession will be determined solely on the basis of the manner in which he treats the property. His subjective belief regarding his true interest in the land and his intent to dispossess or not dispossess another is irrelevant to this determination. Under this analysis, permission to occupy the land, given by the true title owner to the claimant or his predecessors in interest, will still operate to negate the element of hostility. The traditional presumptions still apply to the extent that they are not inconsistent with this ruling.

Chaplin v. Sanders, 676 P.2d at 436.

My question is regarding the bolded portion of the case. Here, when it says negate does it mean that the hostility element no longer applies? Or does it mean that there is a failure to meet this element?


texts: USA - Grounds for Treason / Arrests to Prevent a Coup

texts:
The base question is what grounds must a president have to initiate arrests on the basis of treason. What evidence must be had, if any.  In the event of a suspected Coup, what acts may the president undertake.

Elaboration

Secretary X refuses to perform his duty, he can be fired.  But does that count as treason? When would his refusal count as treason, if ever.
General A is suspected of plotting treason either by conspiring with a foreign power or plotting a coup.  What acts can the President take, and when.
I believe he can just fire the general outright, but can the President place the general under arrest even temporarily, without firm evidence.
Is the belief that a coup is underway enough evidence to suspend Posse Comitatus or Habeas Corpus.


texts: If I do a program in C # with the SharpDevelop........?

texts: If I do a program in C # with the SharpDevelop 5.1 IDE under what license would the program be submitted? can I sell it or use it in a private company?


texts: Software licensing: how to handle a client with outsourced IT supplier?

texts:
I work for a software supplier that licenses commercial software to clients. The license has various conditions - don't copy it, only use it for licensed purposes, etc.

A lawyer has reviewed the agreement and identified a risk where a client has an outsourced IT provider. In this case, the software would be running on computers owned by the IT provider. Potentially the IT provider could copy the software. However, they are not signatories of the license agreement, so it would be more difficult to enforce against them.

The lawyer has suggested making it a tripartite agreement (software supplier, customer, IT provider). This would fix the issue, but introduces other complexity.

This must be an extremely common issue for commercial software. What other approaches can be used to deal with outsourced IT providers?

Jurisdiction is England & Wales, but interested in general approaches.


texts: Temporary French residency and foreign driving licenses

texts:
Residents of France who hold a non-EU, non-EEA license to drive may continue to use that license for up to one year after establishing residency, subject to certain conditions.

The relevant law may be found at www.legifrance.gouv.fr.  A more user-friendly account of the rules is available at www.service-public.fr.

The definition of "residency" seems to cover any stay longer than 90 days, which is the time by which a non-EU, non-EEA spouse of an EU citizen must apply for a residence permit.

Consider now the case of a non-EU spouse of an EU (not French) citizen.  They reside in the non-EU country for 8 months each year.  When they arrive in France for a 4-month stay, they apply for a residence permit for the non-EU spouse.  They leave, and six months later, the residence permit becomes invalid.

Does the invalidity of the residence permit cause the 12-month driver's license clock to reset, making it legal to continue to drive using the foreign license during subsequent periods of temporary residence in France?

Citations to specific provisions of French law will be helpful.


texts: Exploiting online video games illegal, a tort, or allowable under the law?

texts:
Recently a news story came out about "Manfred", a hacker who makes a living exploiting bugs in online video games to make in-game currency (or items) which he then sells to other gamers. Here is a description:

  A hacker says he turned finding and exploiting flaws in popular MMO
  video games into a lucrative, full-time job. Manfred's character is
  standing still in the virtual world of the 2014 sci-fi online
  multiplayer game WildStar Online. Manfred, the real life person behind
  the character, is typing commands into a debugger. In a few seconds of
  what seems to be an extremely easy hack, Manfred's virtual currency
  skyrockets up to more than 18,000,000,000,000,000,000, or 18
  quintillion. I'm watching this hack in a demo video recorded by
  Manfred as I stand next to him in a Las Vegas bar on Thursday.
  Manfred, who asked me not to reveal his real name, says he has been
  hacking several video games for 20 years, making a real-life living by
  using hacks like the one I just witnessed. His modus operandi has
  changed slightly from game to game, but, in essence, it consisted of
  tricking games into giving him items or currency he doesn't have a
  right to have. He would then sell those items and currency to other
  players (for real money) or wholesales them to online gray markets,
  such as the Internet Game Exchange, that then would sell those goods
  to individual players. At the current exchange rate, Manfred estimates
  he has $397 trillion worth of WildStar gold. This is obviously an
  outlandish number, but, essentially, his income was only limited by
  the real-life market for the in-game currency. When I spoke to Manfred
  ahead of his talk at the Def Con hacking conference, he said he wanted
  to go in, give his demo, and go out "as a ghost," never to be seen or
  heard from again. He said he wanted to be "invisible," just like he's
  been for the past two decades. He said he's found more than 100
  publicly unknown vulnerabilities in more than 20 online video games,
  making hacking and trading virtual goods into his full time job.

Note that the article describes him as a "hacker", but this is not really accurate terminology because he is not writing code. He is finding what security specialists call "exploits" in other people's code.

What is the legal status of doing this? Is it tort or is it criminal?

I know that people who have exploited, for example, slot machines have been found innocent or had charges dropped. For example, in the notorious case of John Kane, who exploited a buggy video poker system, he was punitively arrested, perp walked, and then indicted by the FBI on Computer Fraud charges. Eventually he refused to plea bargain with them, and they dropped their bogus case, allowing him to finally walk free after a couple of years of persecution by the full force of the US government. Nobody ever apologized for destroying his house with their "search warrant".

Is the situation of Manfred more or less the same legally, or is there a difference?


texts: Why can't a public body exercise its powers for any purpose allowed by the empowering statute?

texts: In this online multiple choice question, I picked the last choice. I agree that the first choice is true, but why's the last one wrong?


texts: What is the meaning of "election of remedies"?

texts:
I am having great difficulties understanding this excerpt from a contract I've been presented. Could anyone explain what is the intent here?

  No Election of Remedies

  Except as expressly set forth in this Agreement, the exercise by
  Company of any of its remedies under this Agreement shall be without
  prejudice to its other remedies under this Agreement or available at
  law or in equity. The election by the Company to terminate this
  Agreement in accordance with its terms shall not be deemed an election
  of remedies, and all other remedies provided by this Agreement or
  available at law or in equity shall survive any termination.


texts:
I would like to read civil litigants constitutional challenges.  Where would such filings be filed?

I have read several appeal court and supreme court opinions on constitutional challenges on google scholar BUT where are the actual litigants filings filed?

I have done a PACER search for the cases found on google and the docket for those cases do not show anything that can be construed as a constitutional challenge in that case docket.  I have looked at 3 appeal court dockets which had an opinion on a party's constitutional challenge BUT there is no entry of anything that resembles a constitutional challenge filed in that appeal docket either.


texts: I purchase a 2021 Chevy Suburban from a Dealership, my contract was with one bank, when it was time to pay my first payment another bank had the loan.   I didn't notice that ARP was change until my 3rd payment.  I reach out to that bank, they sent me the contract. It was a totally different contract than what I sign. The ARP had change from .41 to .49 and someone else had sign that contract. It was not my signature, I sign everything electronically and the contract the bank has is handwritten. The bank said I need to talk to the dealership. Can I sue?


texts: Can a schedule be a separate attachment in an email?

texts:
I have a contract which refers to schedule 1 which is another document. However in order to be able to add the document referred to in schedule 1 to the same document as my contract, I would need to convert the schedule 1 document to be the same filetype as my contract which I can't do.

So presuming that I sent the contract to the client in an email, could I then attach schedule 1 as a separate attachment to the contract in the email or does the schedule have to be in the same document as the contract?


texts:
Someone who was with George Floyd the day he was killed pleaded the Fifth (source).

The Hennepin County Public Defender's Office filed the notice on behalf of Morries Hall, who was sitting in the front passenger seat of a vehicle with Floyd, who was in the driver's seat, when police approached Floyd for allegedly using a fake $20 bill at Cup Foods in south Minneapolis.

I understand that people, when accused, get public defenders, but Hall was only a witness in this trial.
If I was called to testify and had concerns about self-incrimination and couldn't afford a lawyer, would I have to reach out to the county? Or is one provided when you're called to testify?
Or perhaps the prosecution or defense was obliged to refer Hall to a public defender after speaking to him?


texts: Does spousal privilege apply in the case of criminal conspiracy?

texts:
My understanding is that attorney-client privilege does not apply if the attorney and client are conspiring to commit a crime. My understanding is the basis for nullification is the theory that the relationship between the parties is no longer one between an attorney and their client — which is privileged. But rather, between two criminals. Which is not.

Does the same legal theory apply to spousal privilege? I researched it and found this article but there is no mention I could find that answers this question.


texts: Is there a cause of action if a contest sponsor leaked my personal information?

texts:
I entered into a free contest in Canada but I did not win. But when I searched for my own email address, I found a public Google docs that contains the address, date of birth, email, name, and phone number of around 79,000 entrants. Clearly this is wrong and unreasonable - no organization should be negligent like this.

Thus what can I do? How do I tell all these other people of this breach of privacy?
 I have taken a screenshot of this Google doc.


texts: DMCA disclaimer's impact on hosted material

texts:
I've found a website that hosts a large number of data that is supposed to be publicly available. They've put this in their DMCA information page:

"The Eye (https://the-eye.eu/) respects the intellectual property rights of others. It is, therefore, site policy to expeditiously process, investigate and address notices of alleged infringement, and to take appropriate action under the DMCA and other relevant intellectual property laws.
If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement by any content or material on the site, please provide the following information in writing to the-eye.eu's Copyright Agent at dmca (at) the-eye (dot) eu"

Is this just some sort of a safe exit in the case of them hosting an illegal file? Or can I be sure that if I download some data I won't end up in jail?
Because browsing through their catalog of books, I could find famous ones such as the "For dummies" series (old versions, > 2018) or ones from the HumbleBundle website (there are which can be considered relatively recent too, 2016).
Do copyrights end after 2 or 3 years?


texts: Does The US Census Count Mobile Homes In The Population?

texts:
I've noticed in a few cities I've lived in Minnesota have a city municipal which operates as a monopoly with the only liquor license in the immediate area.  Apparently, a law exists where a population of greater than 10,000 is required for competition to exist unless the city allows it.  This potentially generates a need to keep a city from growing so it doesn't see competition in the money making municipal.

These cities usually boast a large mobile home population.  I've heard a rumor that mobile home residents don't count in the city's population count for the census.  Is that true?  I can't find any documentation to support that.


texts: Impossible-to-satisfy requirements for opting out of arbitration

texts:
I recently started using an online service whose Terms of Use include a mandatory arbitration provision. The terms include the statement

  You can opt out of the arbitration and class action waiver provisions set forth above by sending an email from your registered email address on [the service] by contacting us here with the subject line, "ARBITRATION AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER OPT-OUT."

The word “here” is a hyperlink, but it leads to a contact form, not an email address. It is possible to go through the form and eventually submit a message that has the indicated subject line. However, this is not the same thing as “sending an email from [my] registered email address,” so even though the Terms of Use seem to offer a way to opt out of the arbitration agreement, in practice they place requirements on the user that are impossible to satisfy.

This leads me to two questions:

Is there a legally accepted way to opt out of an arbitration agreement without following the exact requirements stated in the Terms of Use? For example, if one were to send a paper letter to the company’s legal department and clearly identify themselves and what they want, is the company obligated to honor this?
What are the appropriate state or federal agencies to notify of Terms of Use that seem hostile to the consumer?

In my particular case, both I and the company in question are located in California.


texts: Is it legal to sell access to recordings of public TV broadcasts?

texts:
Increasingly TV channels supplement their on-air broadcasts with publicly-accessible IPTV-service "broadcasting" the same content via Internet. For example, the impoverished (and war-torn) Ukraine has about 120 such channels with IPTV streams accessible to the anonymous public.

The viewing experience, however, is often subpar -- because of the Internet latency and other connectivity problems. So one could offer a useful service by continuously recording such broadcasts (keeping, say 1-2 weeks worth) and allowing people to access the (unaltered) recordings from his servers, which could be located closer to the particular viewer and have better bandwidth.

Would such a thing be legal, or will one need to obtain and maintain tedious prior approvals from each channel?

Note, I'm not talking about "premium" channels -- which wish to be paid for content and aren't available as IPTV (without encryption) anyway. Only the ones, that are already available for free to anyone, who lives close enough for their signal to arrive on his antenna, or has a decent Internet link to their server.

Note also, that I'd be perfectly willing to stop recording and "rebroadcasting" a channel, that decides to ask me to stop going forward. But I'm worried about suddenly becoming liable for retroactive damages...


texts:
In the US there exists a freedom of speech. (There is a similar concept in other countries). This is guaranteed by the first amendment.

John Stuart Mill argued for a limitation to free speech, known as the harm principle. This limitation has been refined into obscenity, defamation, breach of peace, and "fighting words". (George & Kline, 2006, p. 410).

We know that hate speech was distinguished from harassment by the 'clear and present danger' test in 1919, but this was overturned. In Brandenburg vs Ohio (1969) the test applied was whether the speech was  "directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action."

Hate speech was tested in the 1992 case of RAV vs City of St Paul. This extended the test in favour of freedom of expression.

I'm aware that the common law test for assault includes a test similar to 'an assault necessarily involves the apprehension of injury or the instillation of fear or fright.' That is the perception of harm is a factor in deciding the criminality of the situation.

In Ake Green, the court held that a Swedish pastor who preached against homosexuality was not protected by the free speech laws of Sweden, but was protected by the free speech laws of the European Union.

I apologise in advance to all those who are hurting or who know someone who is hurting for the next paragraph.

The challenge is the middle ground of psychological damage and perceptions of hate-signalling. If a country chooses to debate gay marriage, are people entitled to blame their trauma on the discussion? If a church chooses to say that homosexual practice won't get you into heaven, can people complain that this is a signal to gay-bashers to be violent?

Assumption: Both US and non-US concept of free-speech apply to answers in this question. (The US is a good starting point and then you can jump off from there).

This question applies to both US and European Law.

My question is: What are the limits on categorising someone's statements as 'hatred' in regard to freedom of speech?


texts: Is it very difficult to collect a debt if the defendant cannot be served?

texts: Small claims generally do not allow service by publication. If the defendant cannot be found you have to pursue a real lawsuit. This will not be worthwhile unless there is tens of thousands of dollars involved.


texts:
There are fake Rolexs being sold on the internet  for around £250.  This is illegal, and those engaged in selling such items have been charged with unauthorised use of a trademark.  It appears that the crime here is

the right is not in the claimant's unregistered trade mark but in the business conducted under that sign or mark.  There is a requirement in some criminal law covering Intellectual Property, as detailed in the above sections of this guidance, to demonstrate that an illegal activity is carried out in the course of a business".

If the buyer wanted the watch for purely personal reasons, would they be committing any crime by purchasing it?


texts: can a doctor write me a receipt for services rendered using a prescription slip?

texts: I had a friend visit a doctor and he issued him a receipt for payment, written on his official little "post-it style" prescription slips.  We were laughing about it, but is it possible for doctors to use presc slips this way?


texts:
Some time back the city of Denton Texas passed a law outright banning all fracking. I believe this law was passed by a referendum of voters who voted for it.

Some investors holding property and mineral rights held property inside the city limits of that city with the specific intent of eventually drilling or fracking in order to recoup their investment.

Since the new law prevents those investors from doing so, and since the new law makes the sale of those assets to others who might also want to do the same, effectively lowering the worth of those assets, does this law results in a 'taking' of the property?


texts:
Is a profit à prendre identical to "mineral rights", or is there some difference? My impression is that "mineral rights" is just a slang term for what is called profit à prendre in formal law, but I would like to know if there is some difference.

jurisdiction: Massachusetts USA


texts: Canadian witness/suspect in an American crime

texts: If Montana police want to question a Canadian citizen about a crime committed in the US, could the Canadian be compelled to cooperate?


texts: How to prevent/protect my rights to content I write (US)

texts:
I live in the US and do writing of my own in various forms ranging from blog posts to content for handouts and trainings I might want to resell at some point in the future.

What steps I should take to legally protect the content I write so that it isn't taken and sold elsewhere later on? Are there additional things I should be thinking about before, during and after writing this content?


texts: Could a person of one race legally identify as another?

texts:
In the United States, could a Caucasian identify as an African American without any legal repercussions? It seems that it is currently legal to identify as genders other than your genetic one. Is it legal to do this with race?
For example, if there was a scholarship for a particular race could someone not of that race identify as that race, apply for the scholarship, win the scholarship, and be able to collect with protection of the law?

Can't think of a better example at the moment, but just curious how race works according to the law. If we don't know because it has never hit the courts, that's fine.

P.S. This is just curiosity. I am not planning anything.


texts: Getting away with murder in Yellowstone National Park?

texts:
http://www.vice.com/read/theres-a-50-square-mile-section-of-yellowstone-where-you-can-get-away-with-murder

Is there something to the idea explained on the page linked above?

It says portions of Yellowstone National Park are in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, but Congress placed the entire park in Wyoming's federal judicial district.  And then it says:

  Article III of the Constitution requires federal criminal trials to be held in the state in which the crime was committed. And the Sixth Amendment entitles a federal criminal defendant to a trial by jurors living in the state and district where the crime was committed. But if someone committed a crime in the uninhabited Idaho portion of Yellowstone, Kalt surmised, it would be impossible to form a jury. And being federal land, the state would have no jurisdiction.

The part about the state having no jurisdiction is something I wouldn't have guessed.  It is, after all, within a state, and murder trials are usually not held in federal courts.


texts: Is it legal for IEEE to sell Creative Commons content?

texts:
Aaron Swartz was working on a book before he committed suicide in 2013. The draft was later published under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA) license. It can be downloaded for free from tons of sites on the Internet.

IEEE is charging $30 for a copy of it.

Check it out: http://goo.gl/1EwdLn (click that big yellow Full Text button to see the price).

Aaron was vehemently against sites like IEEE, Elsevier, and JSTOR. Putting aside for a moment the audacity of IEEE's choice to make money off his work, can a company choose to sell something that's licensed under CC or some other permissive license?

And if so, where does that money go?

And IEEE, at least for IEEE membership, is a nonprofit. Is this legal?

I checked it out and there are other examples where they are charging for content that the authors released for free:

Engineering a Safer World:Systems Thinking Applied to Safety written by Nancy Leveson

They split that book into 25 individual chapters, each one costing $15, for a grand total of $375. And it's an extra $15 if you want the book cover/table of contents! http://goo.gl/QVmRvU)
Open Access by Peter Suber. See Suber's blog post from May 2014, "Don't buy the IEEE edition of my book." https://goo.gl/kO3lkB

That's the same as the other book, split into chapters and sold for $15 each.

There is no way an individual would fall for this. But libraries and universities may not be checking. I have seen tons of posts about publishers taking advantage of institutions. Is this another example to slip one past the librarian?


texts: Is it legal to let people search for professionals by gender?

texts:
Prompted by the list of injunction demands from a recent lawsuit against Uber, I'm curious whether or not it's legal in California, Texas and elsewhere to discriminate on a profession such as a barber by sex.  What about a doctor?  A nurse?  A masseuse?  An Uber driver?  A real-estate agent?  A cook?  A general contractor?

If it's legal, we start up with personal discrimination — letting and abetting a natural person customer to specify and select a doctor/barber/driver/etc by gender.
But, then, wouldn't supply and demand laws dictate the necessity for corporate discrimination at a certain point?  Would that be legal?  Where is the line drawn?

Specifically, would it be legal to have listings where in search of a professional in a given occupation, the end customer could explicitly specify their search preference by gender?


texts: Is it legal for a parent who is against vaccines to prevent their child from receiving the preventative vaccine against rabies?

texts:
So this is a modified version of a question I asked on Biology.SE.
I know that the vast majority of US states allow parents to opt out of giving their child a vaccine for religious reasons, and roughly half allow parents to opt out for philosophical reasons. Does this include rabies? The only laws that I can find on the matter require pets to be vaccinated; there is no mention of children in any law I can find.
The last question I asked was closed because it was considered irrelevant and too open ended (I'm guessing because I focused too much on the ethics of forcing pets to be vaccinated, but not children), but this time I'm just asking what the legality is for parents to vaccinate their children against rabies if they were bitten by an animal. Also, would legal implications change if the animal that bit the child later tested positive for rabies or if the child insists on getting a rabies vaccine but the parent refuses? Can the parent be charged for a crime if the child develops symptomatic rabies and dies?