texts: Is it legal for reverse lights to turn on when a car is in park?

texts:
This question is about the reverse lights, or backup lights, or the white lights on the back of a car:

When I am in a parking lot, some cars have the reverse lights on even though the car is in park, and has not been shifted into the reverse gear, and is not actively backing up. I have found this irritating for some time, but after reading a reddit post, recently, began to wonder if it is legal or not.


texts: Is there a legal obligation for a webhost to attain the identity of a DMCA takedown's issuer?

texts:
There has been a rash of false DMCA take-downs affecting artists on Twitter, in conjunction with emails from the attacker offering to stop issuing the take-downs if given a ransom payment in bitcoin.
Twitter takes every case in isolation, and without questioning the order's legitimacy, so these attacks are very successful.  The attacker cannot be traced by the DMCA order itself as it contains no true information and isn't verified by the webhost.
This essentially leaves the artist with no recourse against the malicious party directly, while they use the webhost as a conduit for harassment and, if a counter-claim is filed, a way to forcibly obtain the artist's home address.
Under DMCA law, is there a legal obligation for Twitter to positively attain the identity of the order's issuer before acting upon it?  Can they be liable for enforcing false DMCA orders as if they themselves issued it, in this scenario where it's used as an instrument of harrassment?
(I guess the theory here is, since a DMCA take-down filed in bad faith is a tort on behalf of the filer, if the filer cannot be found through the negligence of the webhost who executes it, they would inherit the tort?  I'm no lawyard)


texts: What does it mean for an appeal to be "contested"?

texts: Does the terminology "contested" when applied to a case under appeal, mean simply that the defendant is appealing the the appeal, or does it mean something different?


texts:
The Minecraft EULA forbids you from doing certain things. To run a Minecraft server, the well known server software force you to accept the EULA. But what if this bit of code was removed where you no longer had to accept the EULA when you started your server? Would this mean you still have to obey the Minecraft EULA? After all it's just sending data from one computer to another.

I'm just wondering whether it's worth the effort to create it without the EULA check and whether it is legal to do so. This doesn't have to be Minecraft EULA specific.


texts: Are peers of landlord-appointed agents also landlord-appointed agents?

texts:
This is related to two of my previous questions: Can a landlord appoint agents at will? and Can a landlord appoint agents at will?
The owner of my apartment has hired a realtor to sell it.  According to the answers in the above linked questions the realtor can access the apartment at will.  This realtor is wanting other realtors that he's somehow affiliated with to show the apartment as well.  Are these realtors also considered agents of the landlord (and thus have legal access to the apartment)?  It sounds like there will be several people coming and going at will to show the apartment.
Edit to include more information that I've just been provided: The realtor appointed by the owner is part of the city Board of Realtors, and the realtors all cooperate in showing properties.  The realtor tells me that the "listing agreement" with the owner of the property "includes the allowance of showing to the other professional realtors".  It sounds like there will be a lot of realtors coming in and out.


texts: What can I do about a landlord who falsely claims uncleanliness after I move out?

texts:
Two weeks after moving out, my landlord said that I was going to be charged $40 for cleaning fees. After several emails of me trying to ask him what I was being charged for, he claimed that there were some hairs on the vinyl mattress which had to be cleaned. However I had wiped the vinyl mattress down with sanitizing wipes before I left; there was no way it would even be remotely dirty.

When I demanded photo or video proof of uncleanliness, my landlord could not provide them. But at the same time, I don't have photos or videos to prove that it was clean when I left. I also didn't arrange a move out inspection. What should I do? Am I obligated to pay the amount?


texts:
S-signature is a signature in this form: (assuming the person is named Alice):
/s/Alice of /Alice/

Since anyone can reproduce it, why is it valid?


texts: What questions can be asked in interview? Can questions that can be used to illegally discriminate be asked?

texts:
I'm part of a group that gets job openings for short term contract gigs, often done in retail environments. During the interviews or online application process, a lot of companies ask for rather off subject and very personal information. For example one company asked for my bank account's direct deposit information in the initial stages of the application and I couldn't submit the online form until it was completed. Is this illegal?

Another asks me to fill in profile information including my gender, age, height, hair colour, eye colour etc. Is this legal? The job was for being a secret shopper at grocery stores and this was well before any job offer was even made.

I think what the companies claim in their defense is they want this information in case they latter get work that would be a match for someone already on their roster.


texts:
I am an Indian citizen based in the UK. I intend to make a series of trips to France in the next few months, but firstly, I intend to visit the Netherlands in April. In keeping with the rules in the Schengen handbook, I had applied for a multiple entry visa at the French consulate through TLS.
However my visa was refused, with the reason that my main destination was the Netherlands. This goes against the rule in the Schengen handbook, and the TLS authorities were also saying stuff that went against the guidelines in the handbook.
The exact example relevant to my case in the visa handbook:

Example: A Senegalese national regularly visits her family in France but also travels to other Member States for business purposes once or twice per year. The destination of her first journey is Switzerland.
In this case the French consulate should deal with the application because it will be the most frequent destination.

Due to this unfair refusal, I am losing out on a lot of money - the travel costs to the Netherlands, the trips to London for the visa process, and the accommodation charges. We are depressed that in spite of following the Schengen rulebook to the letter and spirit, due to the ignorance of the consulate officials, we have had to lose out on so much money.
We have an appeal process, but is it possible for us to get compensated for these losses too? We are not keen on a situation where we simply get the visa again without any monetary compensation.
Also is there any UK-based legal recourse for us? Or can we only appeal in France, through the CRRV, as mentioned in this site?


texts: Legality of the right to refuse admission by a privately owned restobar

texts:
A friend of mine recently tried to go into a restobar in India, and to his surprise, was informed that he couldn't because he was a male who was not accompanied by a female. Admittedly shocked, he spoke to the manager of that restobar to find out why, and was informed that due to other peace-disturbing, presumably single males (who caused fights and such), they had to implement such a rule.

This restobar is privately owned, but is open to the public without restriction (i.e. doesn't require membership like a club, and such).

I understand that almost every place of entertainment across the globe displays this "Rights to admission reserved" disclaimer. However, the second clause of Article 15 of the Constitution of India says:

  No citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place
  of birth or any of them, be subject to any disability, liability,
  restriction or condition with regard to -

  access to shops, public restaurants, hotels and places of public entertainment; or
  the use of wells, tanks, bathing ghats, roads and places of public resort maintained wholly or partly out of State funds or
  dedicated to the use of general public.

And then clause three of the same article goes on to say:

  Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any
  special provision for women and children.

Thus, by my understanding, the above-mentioned restobar's rule of not allowing single males in is illegal according to the Constitution of India.

Am I correct to arrive at this conclusion? Or are there any additional relevant laws that I may have overlooked?


texts: Crawling a web forum and presenting the posts in a search

texts:
Is what this site is doing with steam community legal? https://www.steamtrades.com/

I assume that is a grey area, no? So what are the factors that would make it legal or not? I assume one should not show too much content from a user's post in the preview, not sure about the avatar and user name/reputation (GDPR). About the search itself - I am not sure whether it is allowed to aggregate one user's posts; might also fall into GDPR, no?

And what consequences can you expect? With GDPR violations (worst case) I assume a 5 digit fine would be possible? Then what about the rights of the original website? I assume the common practice is to send a cease and desist, but not to sue for damages in the first step?


texts: How much money can minors receive as gifts?

texts: What tax restrictions apply to minors receiving large monetary gifts from non-relatives? How much can they receive?


texts: Could an American slave own intellectual property over things they created?

texts:
Say that an individual were a slave in the United States before the passage of the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution, abolishing slavery. Could such a slave own intellectual property over things they created (let's assume it was of their own volition and not as a request of their owner)?

For instance, would they own the copyright to a work of art that they created, or have the ability to patent an invention they made? If not, could their owner claim that ability? Or could they claim it after they had been freed?


texts: Can "Dumb Starbucks" be legally considered Fair Use as satire or parody?

texts:
About a year ago, a new, familiar-looking coffee shop opened in LA. Their reasoning for this was, basically, that it's making fun of the popular coffeehouse chain and is thus fair use:

Naturally, it attracted a lot of attention and was later revealed that it was really a publicity stunt created by a comedian, but he still made a statement that "as long as we're making fun of Starbucks, we're allowed to use their corporate identity" (as seen here).

Had Starbucks sued for trademark infringement (which they probably planned to do, but the thing was actually closed for operating without a valid public health permit), would the whole parody as fair use thing hold in court (or at least have some relevance in the case)?


texts:
My wife and I have run a company for the last 6 years. Unfortunately one of our  former employees opened a website using our logo, pictures, and referring to himself as if he were still our employee.  So he is using our branding to direct potential customers to him. (Is this considered Phishing?)

We are based in Ireland, and I contacted his hosting company, but I don't think they will block his domain/website.

What should I do in this scenario?


texts: In technology contractor employment law what does "lump sum" mean?

texts: I have a contract that says contractor will be paid X for providing services, is that per pay period, per month, or for the term of the gig?


texts: Do I need to ask my app users for permission to gather anonymous telemetry data?

texts: I want to gather basic telemetry in my app (ex: which buttons are pressed, how long someone stays on certain pages, etc). Do I need to ask for a users permission to do this, or give them a way to opt out of it, if the data that is being collected includes no personal information at all. All it does is send the name of a metric (ex. ms_user_stayed_on_page) and sometimes a numeric value (ex. 20000 [milliseconds]). The data is then aggregated and averaged or summed up for all users, to be able to graph whats happening in the app for each minute.


texts: Contractor - incomplete, ineffective and a mess left with a huge bill

texts:
I hired a contractor to redo some drainage in my yard, simple straightforward with a contract.

Verbal estimate 1500-1800 complete all in. After day one I knew he didn't know what he was doing and had a conversation with him, about how deep the trench was to be with how much drain rock etc. All laid out in the contract he signed and agreed to.

His slope was wrong and doesn't drain. The connections are all wrong and not even joined in the main areas. My stairs have not been put back on the retaining wall etc.

What is my obligation to pay him and how much as he has now overbilled by several hundred dollars higher than his range on the quote for this shoddy incomplete work?

I had to on day 2 ask him to leave at the end of the day as he hadn't done what he was hired to do specifically. I have to now at this late time in the season hire another company and the fixes to this are double what I started out from his highest quote.

I don't know what to do, hire the other company and not pay him at all or what is my obligation here?

The debris of rock and swales and mess he has left is unbelievable.

Live in Canada - not sure what is acceptable but I do know his work is not. Cannot pay for his lack of experience and mess. Help.


texts: Can the US president be charged of crime such as murder while in office?

texts: If the US president commits murder during his vacation as an unofficial action during his presidential term, can he be charged with a crime in court (i.e., in the judiciary branch) before he steps down as a president?


texts: Mother wants her baby to carry her surname, while the father of a child is against. What surname will be given to a child?

texts:
What is the process of legally giving a child his surname? I am on 4st month of pregnancy and I want my child to have my surname or at least have double surname since I will be the one suffering through childbirth, not my husband, he is enjoying his life while I am vomiting, suffering, sacrificing my career and health. I adore my family and I am the only child, so I want my family name to continue. On the other hand my husband is Indian and he and his family is dead-against this child carrying my surname. How will this be resolved? Is it possible that child will be given his surname without my agreement? Can I prevent this happening? Can I secure at least double-surname as a mother? What does law say about it?
What are my rights in this matter?

State: California

I am not sure if this may matter in court, but I am equally with him working and taking care of family finances. And I am the one who is gonna birth the child and suffer all the consequences. By default I am doing way more for this child to happen than him and I do not depend on him in any way. And by law I clearly have equal responsibilities with him in case of divorce and alimonies and all. So could it even possible be that my right on passing my family name will be denied? If yes, based on what? It feels that if we have same legal responsibilities (and very unfair to me factual responsibilities) it should be a way for me to claim equal rights (at least) in this matter.


texts: How does insider trading law affect bitcoin exchanges?

texts:
The Bitcoin network is predicated on the premise that it is difficult to find 'low' hash values for a given input. This is an incredibly safe bet because of the way the algorithm is implemented - if you change one byte in the input then the output changes to an (apparently) random number without any way to predict what it could be in advance.

People can 'mine' for new bitcoin by taking existing blocks and trying to 'solve' them by looking for a particularly low hash value. Currently this is done by simply trying lots of input values until a low enough output is hit by chance. Huge 'farms' and pools of computing power and specialised hardware exist to mine the new bitcoin and by all accounts only just manage to turn a profit after the cost of powering them.

So suppose someone somewhere discovers the hashing algorithm the Bitcoin network uses is not as random as the world thinks and comes up with a new unlocking algorithm that can reliably produce low hash values and 'solve a block' in seconds on his beat up pentium III computer at home (I realise that this is almost certainly impossible but it's a hypothetical).

He, and only he, then knows the secret and has the power to create new bitcoin quickly. Would there be legal implications for him to use this new knowledge to his advantage and to the detriment of others by, for example,

Generating new bitcoin and accumulating it just slowly enough to avoid arousing suspicion
After a period suddenly dumping and short-selling as much as he can before going public with the news of his algorithm (which would surely suddenly devalue the currency to the point of collapse)

Obviously he would be on safe ground if he just started using his new algorithm to generate bitcoin - nothing in the rules about how blocks are solved.

My suspicion is that as soon as he uses that algorithm to deliberately influence the exchange for the currency for his own profit (which he arguably does by 'going slow' in stage 1 but certainly does by timing the dumping/short selling just before the announcement in stage 2) then he must be violating some law, such as some kind of ban on insider trading?


texts: Is this airline violating the Montreal Convention?

texts:
According to the Montreal Convention, I can read the following:

  Article 17 -  2.

  The carrier liable for damage sustained in case of destruction or loss of,
   or of damage to, checked baggage upon condition only that the event which
  caused the destruction, loss or damage took place on board the aircraft or
  during any period within which the checked baggage was in the charge of the
  carrier [...]

and

  Article 22 - 2.

  In the carriage of baggage, the liability of the carrier in the case of
  destruction, loss, damage or delay is limited to 1,000 Special Drawing
  Rights (1,230€) for each passenger [...]

Now when I read a certain airline's Terms and Conditions, there is the following:

  If the registered luggage was damaged during air transport, which has made a
  finding act before leaving the airport of destination and sent a written
  complaint under the provisions of the Montreal Convention art.31 points 1-4,
  the compensation will be given depending on the type of baggage, calculated
  the amount of damage and wear it.

  Depreciation is calculated as follows:

  In the first year of use: wear represents 20% of the purchase under the
  purchase receipt.

  Starting with the second year, the depreciation amount is added each 10% per
  year until the ninth year of use

Doesn't this contradict Art. 22-2? If a baggage worth 100€ has been irreparably damaged, why should the airline not pay you 100€?

In that case, if I bought a ticket with this company, would I implicitly accept their T&C unlawfulness, therefore accept whatever refund they would give?


texts: How long can the Senate hold up nominations?

texts:
Article II, Section 2, of the US Constitution states:

  [The President] shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law[.]

Could the Senate legally just decide that no more appointees would be confirmed and positions left vacant, for a long period?  Are there limits on "long period?"   (A more extreme version of the question is here.)

This question is, of course, motivated by current happenings and statements from the Senate Majority leader that "no Supreme Court nominee from President Obama would be considered."


texts: In my state (GA), there is a one party consent to recording a conversation, does having in the syllabus that recording without permission trump this? Would the school have any barrings against me if I did?


texts: Are medical malpractice lawsuits part of the public record?

texts: I know most lawsuits in the U.S. are part of the public record. Exceptions can be made to remove the names of minors etc., but, for the most part, lawsuit details are openly available. With that said, are there exceptions for medical malpractice cases that include protected HIPAA information? If someone files a medical malpractice case, are the contents of those cases and details regarding their medical history exposed?


texts: Returning the signature page only on contractual document

texts:
As a signor, i've been given multiple requirements in the past. Either, the entire document must be faxed/emailed back including signed signature page. Or, sometimes I'm only required to return the signature page. Is this just various misunderstandings on the part of the document owner or is there some legal reason? Does it depend on the type of document or wording of the contract?

In this case specifically: It is a software licensee agreement where I am both the author and the "Licensor." My Licensee (person I'm licensing the software too) has returned just the signature page. This is part of a larger deal involving the purchase of a business from me (I sold them my business, but retained rights to certain software that I am licensing to them). They have returned the business bill of sale with just the signature page as well.

I'm inclined to say this doesn't matter / is fine. Am I mistaken? Does it depend?


texts: IN ARIZONA is there a time limit for a police officer to file a complaint or ticket they have written you

texts: If I Have been written a criminal ticket for -Indecent Exposure-, and my stated court appearance date came and the clerk of the court said that i wasn't on the docket because they hadn't even turned their copy of the ticket in yet ........ In arizona, how long do i have before they cannot turn their copy of the ticket in?  is there a filing time limit ?


texts: Under China's two-child policy, what happens if triplets are born?

texts: China has had a one-child policy until 2015 and now has a two-child policy intended to decrease the population size. What happens if multiple children are born at once, as is the case for twins (under the one-child policy) or triplets (under the two-child policy)?


texts: What are the main differences between Napoleonic law and Germanic law?

texts:
I only recently started appreciating the differences between Civil Law and Common Law.

The following map on wikipedia shows the distribution of different legal systems around the world, which makes a distinction between Napoleonic law and Germanic law:

The respective articles articles on wikipedia are a bit too obtuse for my limited intelligence.

In layman's terms, what are the main differences between Germanic and Napoleonic law systems, and the main implications of those differences?


texts: Does Jennifer Granholm's 'Perfect Game' proclamation carry any actual weight?

texts:
On June 3, 2010, in response to The Almost Perfect Game, then-governor Granholm issued a proclamation, that reads, in part:

  Now, Therefore, be it Resolved that I, Jennifer M. Granholm, governor of the state of Michigan, do hearby declare Armando Galarraga to have pitched a perfect game...

Could someone later use this proclamation to legal effect? For example, could a person who had placed a bet on a perfect game occurring that day collect?  Or is it simply a way to indicate support for the home team without any legal weight?


texts: How can one start a class-action lawsuit?

texts:
My family member believes that DriveTest failed him unfairly and wrongly. He appealed to DriveTest and Ministry of Transportation, but they biasedly swear by the examiner's submissions, dismissed his submissions without independent evidence, and thus rejected his appeals unfairly. He has written evidence against DriveTest, because in one email, a DriveTest employee writes that he should not have been driving below the speed limit. Clearly, this is wrong.

Suing DriveTest as an individual seems financially foolish, because legal fees easily transcend the cost of redoing his G2. But he still hopes to seek justice. Thus what can he do?  We know little about class-action lawsuits, but is this the solution? How do we start or join one? Thank you!


texts: Salesman text me from his personal phone

texts:
I recently went to a garage to ask about different cars and offers, the salesman took some details; phone and email, when leaving I said to him I would be in touch if I wanted to proceed. He called me off the garage's phone and emailed me off their work email but I have been busy with work so missed the call and forgot to email back. I received a text from an unknown number asking if I still wanted the car, I replied asking who it was to which he replied: "it's X from Windsor's lol".

To say I'm furious he got my personal details from their system to text me off his personal phone is an understatement, I just want to know if this is a breach in GDPR or anything like that. Receiving calls and emails from the garage are fine because that is their work environment but when someone goes onto that system to get my information and use it this way is unacceptable to me.

I am looking to take this further and would just like to know my options here because who knows how many other people he has done this to, I have been in touch with his manager but got the feeling he thought X was doing an outstanding job by hounding me in his personal time.

EDIT: This question was purely to get some feedback and different points of view, I have/had no intention of suing the garage or pursuing that kind of legal action. I wanted to see which arguments I could raise when taking this up with the garage's head office, for me it is the principal of privacy and being a nuisance rather than any personal/legal damages. I feel some people may think that I am trying to make a claim, this is not the case so I just wanted to clear that up.


texts: Question regarding share of profit and loss in LLP

texts:
A started an online business (India) on his own. Now he wants B and C as partners to register an LLP. But A wants to retain 20% of share (he calls it founder's share) aside without any liability of loss. From remaining 80% A, B & C will hold 30%, 30% and 20% respectively for their partnership, but we have to share the entire 100% loss in the ratio of this partnership. Now the situation stands as:
Share of Profit: A:B:C = 50 : 30 : 20
Share of loss  : A:B:C = 37.5 : 37.5 : 25
Moreover, A claims, if we need to add a partner, our existing shares will go down in the ratio of this partnership, leaving that 20% founder's share untouched.
Now the question is: Is all this legally valid and fair enough? Is it fine for us (B and C) to join this?


texts: Can Members of Congress be Charged with Incitement (and etc.)

texts: Following the recent Capitol Riot I started to wonder about incitement. I ended up wondering about members of Congress, who are protected against arrest and questioning for what they say when Congress is in session (Constitution Article I, Section 6, Clause 1). If during a session of Congress, a Representative or Senator urged their supporters to invade the White House, but refused to comment outside of Congress, could they be charged with incitement? Furthermore, if yes (or no), to what extent could this be pushed? Could a member of Congress ask their supporters to assassinate members of the other party? Could the 14th amendment be applied to bar them from office for participating somewhat in an insurrection?


texts: How do I find out if my Internet Service Provider (ISP) was subpoenaed or released information secondary to a subpoena?

texts: What is the best way to find out if a subpoena was served to my ISP ? Next, is there a way to find out who requested the subpoena and what information was released (if any)?


texts:
If someone did an act which was not generally considered to be illegal at the time, but which the court later ruled to be illegal, would he be liable or go to jail?

For example, if Oracle wins the Oracle-Google copyright lawsuit and Google would have to pay Oracle for damages, would Google have to pay the same damages as if the Supreme Court ruled that API was copyrightable before Google's copyright violation?


texts:
To convict someone of perjury, I would think it must be proved that in a statement under oath either

they knowingly said something untruthful, or
they knowingly told less than the whole truth, or
both.

What percent of convictions for perjury fall into each of those three groups?


texts: Can I create a website that restricts political opinion of user-generated content?

texts:
Say I created an animal rights tool, in which most of the features are community developed and voted on by the community.  Highly-rated users can create buttons without approval.  I clearly am doing this for socio-political reason and so of course I would not allow poachers to create a subdomain.

In what ways can I restrict what users actually turn the site into?  Would I put those constraints within the terms of use that each user agrees to upon first app usage?  I am not sure exactly what I mean, either.  I just don't want my app to be a tool of abuse and use against its original purpose: to prevent & reduce animal torture & murder.


texts: Am I liable to my employer if I keep my notebooks past the term of employment?

texts:
As I work, I keep a notebook. At a high level, it is a list of things I need to accomplish on a given day, or within the next few weeks. Sometimes I also use it as scratch paper, which means that I write down names of things (I am a programmer, so that might mean potentially sensitive information for a malicious agent).

When I work with scratch paper in the office, it is sufficient to deposit it in the recycling bin in the office, my managers see no need for it to be specifically destroyed. The employee handbook makes the general statements about not bringing home company documents, but does not mention personal notebooks specifically.

I am in an employment structure that sees me in a series of different short term positions (roughly 4 months each) at a series of different companies. At the end of each engagement I take my notebook home (as I do every evening), and place it on a shelf, where it stays.

Are there specific laws or precedents that cover this? Specifically for Canada and the US, but I am also interested in general. Or would this entirely be governed by company policy?


texts: Is unequal application of a site TOS either a civil or criminal violation?

texts: If a site is not treating all of its users the same way, and is applying the TOS against some users, but not others, is this in any way a violation of civil or criminal law?


texts:
Over the summer I signed a contract with a public school corporation. This is my first year with this school corporation. In the contract it stated my salary. We're now 1.5 months into the school year, and the school notified me that my salary was being reduced because they finished the employment verification, and one of the years they counted as experience does not actually count. I thought they would have done employment verification before signing the contract, and that once the contract was signed, that was my salary, period. I'm a little baffled that they can come back now and change my salary.

I actually declined another offer based on signing the contract with the school in question. Without going into the details, reducing the salary of this position may have made me reconsider the position that I declined.

It is also worth noting that I did not misrepresent anything during the hiring process. They asked me for my experience, and I gave it to them. They never put any qualifications on what kind experience counted. Also, they never told me that the salary is pending employment verification or anything. We just signed the contract--I thought the salary was "locked in".

When they notified my of this, I wrote back explaining my frustration, and I let them know that my decision to accept this position was made based on the terms of the contract, and obviously the salary is one of the most important terms. I kindly asked them to attempt to keep my salary in line with the contract. They said the are "obligated" to correct the salary and issue a "corrected contract". Furthermore, they are adjusting my next pay to make up for over-payment the first few pay periods.

Part of me wants to just drop it and move on. But I am curious. If I were so inclined, would there be any legal recourse? Can they legally change the contract on me after both parties have signed and I'm 1.5 months into the school year?


texts: Can a person use a picture of copyrighted work commercially?

texts: I was reading a book which had a picture of a car on it. I started wondering whether the author needed to get permission or a licence from the brand, or could they use the picture without infringing copyright. (For sake of discussion suppose that the author took the photo himself.)


texts: How long can a vehicle registered and owned by a person in one state be used in a different state?

texts: My ex-husband has been using his sister's car that is registered in New Mexico, but he lives in AZ. I am concerned if this is legal now that my daughter will be staying with him for the school year and getting her driving permit soon.  Should she have any concerns about explaining the use of a vehicle registered in another state?


texts: What is the 'right of possession' and how is it transferred?

texts:
I am evicting a tenant because they are in arrears on their rent. I am pretty sure any self-help options are illegal here in Hong Kong (based on British law).
Does having the right of possession protect him from being treated like a squatter? E.g. if a random guy moves into my apartment without permission I can just call the police to throw him out.

So when do I exactly get back the right of possession? Does he need to physically hand over the key and move out his stuff? Or can the court revoke his right and award it back to me? It just sounds odd I have to claim my own property back...

Ideally I would add a clause to the contract so a tenant waives this right when this kind of breach occurs. Then I should be able to just call the police to throw him out?


texts: Can a psychotherapist offer lower rates to African-American clients as reparations?

texts:
I have a friend who has started offering lower rates to African-Americans, as her contribution to reparations.  She is a psychotherapist in private practice.  My loose understanding is that civil rights protections apply to "public accommodations."

Is this kind of discrimination legal or illegal?

Some light research seems to indicate that as a health care provider, her services would be considered "public accommodations" under the Americans with Disabilities Act, but would not be included as "public accommodations" under the Civil Rights Act and therefore, her "discriminatory" pricing policy would be allowable.


texts: Is a US (New York) police officer allowed to take your keys at a traffic stop?

texts:
So I was browsing Reddit earlier and came across this video of someone on a motorcycle lane splitting in New York (which is illegal there), when a police officer swerved into the path of the rider to stop them and pull them over. But before the biker could get out of the middle of traffic, the police officer had already taken the bikers keys without asking for consent.
So in short, my question is this: Is a US police officer (New York specifically) allowed to take your car/ bike keys without asking for consent first?
If this is state specific, it would be awesome to see a list of states where this is legal/ illegal
Edit: I should've mentioned that, yes, taking the key to ensure the motorcycle is immobilized and cannot run (as motorcycles/ motorcyclists tend to do more oftencitation needed) is probably the reason as to why. But I'm not asking about why the police officer did it


texts: Oregon v Newcomb: warrantless searches for animal welfare

texts:
Oregon v. Newcomb:

  A dog is personal property under Oregon law. However, Oregon law simultaneously limits ownership and possessory rights in ways that it does not for inanimate property. Live animals under Oregon law are subject to statutory welfare protections that ensure their basic minimum care, including veterinary treatment. The obligation to provide that minimum care falls on any person who has custody and control of a dog or other animal. A dog owner simply has no cognizable right, in the name of her privacy, to countermand that obligation.

The bolded portion confuses me. By "countermand that obligation" I think they are referring to the obligation of animal owners to take care of their domestic pets. How exactly does the right to privacy clash with this obligation? Am I supposed to interpret this sentence as saying that you may not invoke your right to privacy to protect yourself from a warrantless search of your pet if it is suspected that you have neglected your obligation to maintian your pet's welfare? Or is it trying to say something else?

In this case the animal was seized by an officer without a warrant on the basis that the animal was severely emaciated and was dry heaving. He had received reports of dog abuse, and the owner admitted that she had no food for the dog. The dog, though emaciated, was not in any immediate danger. The court ruled that the owner's rights to due process and privacy was not infringed upon.


texts: How to notify a corporation to not destroy any evidence because a legal case may be filed?

texts:
What is the procedure to notify a corporation to not destroy any evidence because a civil legal complaint will likely be filed?  Criminal complaints may also be pending, but that will be up to the prosecuting agencies.  The corporation is located in the USA.
The evidence that needs to be retained includes documents in their possession, notes from their employees, detailed call records, and telephone recording they made.
Note that some of their recordings were made illegally, but their staff has confirmed they did record the calls.  I'm not sure if that complicates things at all.
Also, if there are standard documents for this purpose available online, links to such documents are welcome.


texts: How to prove unreasonable interference with use and enjoyment of property?

texts:
I am not looking for legal advice here, this is for educational purposes.

If I had to prove unreasonable interference with use and enjoyment of property in a situation where someone in my rental apartment complex who is not even a tenant is walking their dog on the third floor balcony which faces my kitchen door, allowing her dog to pee on my doors and plants and walkway and then later on having cellphone conversations in front of my kitchen door, how do I go about doing it?

An additional detail in such a case, would be that this individual is a guest of another tenant on the property.

Does pictures suffice? Video? Audio? How do you typically demonstrate that legal element?


texts: Is it legal (and sensible) to point rifles and guns at people randomly as they do in many movies?

texts:
Even when you are in your remotely located house, and somebody knocks on the door, and you bring your rifle or gun to the door, open the door and point it at the visitor, asking them to tell you why they re there, isn't that illegal in itself? Even if weapons are legal where you live and you have a license?

I would certainly never dare to point a real gun or rifle with real ammo in it (loaded or not) on somebody unless I intended to shoot them. Who knows when some complex series of physical laws (weather, wear and tear, humidity, random chance, getting startled, etc.) causes the trigger to unexpectedly be pushed, or the same mechanism to happen, causing a bullet to fly out and kill the person in front of you?

I just would feel completely uncomfortable doing that even if I knew the firearm in and out. I'd "relax" it pointing to the floor but in their general direction, so that it can be quickly pointed up to fire if they really do have bad intentions.

For example, in "Ace Ventura" (yes, it's an exaggerated comedy, but that's what I last watched where this happened), a man opens the door and keeps his shotgun pointed at Ace for a long time as they talk. It seems like such a major risk to me. Surely it cannot be legal, nor sensible?


texts: Is a decree of civil court mandatorily required to be executed in common law juridictions?

texts:
In short, my question is that are execution proceedings mandatorily required to be concluded before a decree holder may enjoy the fruits of his decree against the judgment debtor OR are execution proceedings only required to be initiated when the judgement debtor fails to comply with the decree.

My query pertains to common law jurisdictions and arbitration, specifically w.r.t. to that in India.

Suppose, one has obtained a decree, or arbitral award for that matter, in his favour, through which the claimant/plaintiff has obtained the title of certain immovable property and also the defendant/respondant has been directed to hand over the possession of the said property to the former. Allow me to add, that this decree/award has been passed with the consent of the defendant/respondant.

Now, supposing that the judgement debtor has complied with the decree, but still the decree holder is required to get the property mutated under his name in municipal/revenue records. Are municipal authorities bound to honour an un-executed decree/award? Are we required to get the decree duly executed by the execution court before it obtains the force of law?


texts: Is it illegal to masturbate inside public toilet behind closed door out of view from the public?

texts:
I suspect someone is doing that but it is hard to catch him because it is illegal to install surveillance camera in the toilet.

Putting that aside, is this act that should be done in private at home illegal when done in a public toilet behind closed door?

I welcome legal views assuming the jurisdiction is from UK, U.S, Australia.


texts: Can a vendor sue me if I decide to choose another known vendor?

texts:
The title was a bit hard to form so I'll try to elaborate here. I was speaking with a vendor about X IT related services and after vetting out several vendors, another vendor of whom I have an existing relationship with informed us that they too offer the service we're looking for.

A respectable colleague of mine warned me that I have to be careful because If I choose to move forward with the vendor of whom I have an existing relationship with, that we CAN NOT let the other vendor know or else they could sue for us choosing to go with the existing vendor and not giving other vendors a chance.

How accurate is that statement? Can a vendor really sue us for choosing another vendor of whom we have an existing relationship with?


texts: GMO Patents: Organism specifc or generic

texts:
If a patentee actually expresses recombinant gene-X in organism-A does that give him the right to also claim this gene-X in other organisms?

All other organisms? If not how broadly? Too broad sounds unfair: Just because you successfully expressed said gene-X in organism-A does not mean expressing it in organism-B is a task of trivial difficulty.

e.g. If I insert a gene into one bacterium do I get to claim the patent over all bacteria?

I know patents are messy and there's probably a lot of case by case variation. But are there any general principles here?

e.g. Are there past examples of one Biotech Company expressing a foreign gene via organism-A to sell a metabolite and another Company also expressing the same gene via organism-B?


texts: Can I require someone to donate money to a charity I'm not associated with prior to donating an embryo to them in the USA?

texts:
I have a left over embryo from IVF which I plan to donate to someone else so they can have a child.  However, I want to do the most good with this embryo as possible, and so it occurred to me that in addition to finding a good family I feel would make excellent parents I was considering asking them to donate a certain amount to charity as a 'fee' for receiving the embryo.

As far as I understand it is illegal for someone to pay me directly for an embryo, and likewise if I had them donate money to a charity I gained some indirect benefit from supporting that would be arguably illegal too.  However, I believe if the donation is truly to a non-profit I do not benefit from this would not violate any rule about profiting from embryos?


texts:
As a followup from Is the right to keep and bear crypto protected by the Second Amendment?, for export control purposes, United States has been classifying crypto as munition.  In the old days, maybe late 1990s and very early 2000s, it was not uncommon for there to be two version of Netscape Navigator -- one with and one without "strong crypto".

Bernstein v. United States. http://export.cr.yp.to/

On what exact legal basis is crypto considered munition?

I mean, has anyone ever been killed with crypto?  Is that even possible?


texts: Legal sending personal information to a third party if the user supplied incorrect contact information?

texts:
To clarify the title, here is an example:

Alice wants to sign up to online store Nile.com
Alice enters the email bob@mailprovider.com by accident
Nile.com does not send a verification that Alice has to complete but directly accepts the registration and the email
Alice orders stuff from Nile.com
Bob, who is completely unrelated to Alice, starts getting emails that contain information about Alice that includes her name, (delivery) address and purchases

I tried to look through the entire text but I honestly got lost around the processing sections. The only relevant part I noticed was in Chapter II, article 5

  Personal data shall be:

  [...]

  (d) accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date; every
  reasonable step must be taken to ensure that personal data that are
  inaccurate, having regard to the purposes for which they are
  processed, are erased or rectified without delay (‘accuracy’);

  [...]

  (f) processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the
  personal data, including protection against unauthorised or unlawful
  processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage,
  using appropriate technical or organisational measures (‘integrity and
  confidentiality’).

(emphasis mine)

What are the legal obligations of Alice and Nile.com here? It is ultimately Alice who made the mistake and Nile are following the user's preference for contact, even if it's wrong. I couldn't see (or I missed) if Alice has an obligation to provide accurate data. At the same time it seems like Nile.com should have done due diligence before essentially leaking (is this considered "accidentally losing"?) PII to a third party.


texts: Cookie opt-in required on paid-for web-based software-as-a-service application?

texts:
Context:

We provide a paid-for web-based software-as-a-service application. This application requires users to register an account, and agree to our terms & conditions and privacy policy to be able to do so. We are based in the UK.

Question:

We’re unsure whether a cookie we want to use can be classed as mandatory to perform our services. The cookie in question is used for partner resellers and is used on our web portal.

The cookie is able to track users who have been referred to the website by one of our partner resellers via a special URL. A piece of code on the website reads the URL and looks out for a special ID that identifies the reseller. Once this ID is found, it is stored in the cookie. When the user purchases our services, this ID (which was previously stored in the cookie), is sent through to our API to inform us that this user was referred by one of our partner resellers.

When we receive this ID through our API, we pass it into our payment processor, Stripe. This can then apply referral discounts and also help us in knowing who needs to be paid what commission. This information is all then visible to our partner resellers within our integrated third-party reseller portal.

This cookie is necessary for our third-party reseller integration to work, and necessary for any referral links to actually provide discounts to customers. However, the cookie is not necessary for users who have not been referred by our partner resellers.

Can this cookie be classed as necessary in order for the platform to function?

Further Research

After further research, I've found descriptions of compliance such as:

"Including a pop up may not provide the best user experience, so some companies have opted for including the cookie disclosure within their Terms and Conditions. This can be a very effective and non-intrusive method, but there are a couple of caveats.

First, users have to agree to the use of cookies, so if you include the information in your T&Cs, you need a way for users to approve your T&Cs. This is usually done as part of a sign-up or registration process. If your website does not require users to sign up, this option probably won't work for you.

Second, you cannot simply add the cookie language to your existing Terms and Conditions because you need to gain consent specifically for the use of cookies. This means, if you already have users who have agreed to your T&Cs, after adding the cookie language you will need to prompt them to review and agree to the new T&Cs."
[https://www.privacypolicies.com/blog/eu-cookie-law/]

This would mean that acceptance of our privacy policy would also mean acceptance of non-necessary cookies. However, I also thought that you weren't allowed to block access to websites if a user doesn't agree to the use of non-necessary cookies. Is this different for web applications like Stripe/Zendesk/other web-apps, as I've never seen a cookie manager within any of these platforms.

Thanks for any insight you can give!


texts: What types of speed radar detectors are illegal in France?

texts:
I'm traveling in France, and I've been vaguely told that some radar detectors are illegal. What types of radar detectors are illegal in France?

Ideally I'd like to know the sanctions as well. I'm especially interested in radar detector applications on smartphones.


texts: Can I legally create software or a game based on old student group project?

texts:
Back in college, myself and a group of classmates created a video game for a "major design" requirement project.  The game turned out to be pretty fun, and it won first prize in a student-run contest.

Now, 10 years later, I thought about rewriting the entire game from scratch using a modern engine, and selling it.  I think it has potential to be a popular indie title.

Is this legal?  None of the content would be taken from the old game, but the general design and game-play elements would be almost identical.

If possible, I'd also like to reuse the original name of the game as well.

Do I need to somehow contact my old classmates to acquire their permission?  I honestly do not know how to contact them, and some of their names have even been forgotten.  We only worked together for that one project.


texts: Architects Registration Board UK - Charging annual fee for use of protected job title

texts:
Background: The Architects Registration Board (ARB) in the UK has the following on its website

The Architects Register is the definitive record of all UK architects. If someone is not on the Register, they are not an architect – it’s as simple as that. The title “architect” is protected by law in the UK. It can only be used by people who have the appropriate education, training and experience needed to join the Architects Register.

Anyone with the appropriate education and work experience can apply and join the register and only then can they legally call themselves an architect. If one is not registered but calls oneself an architect e.g. on LinkedIn, the ARB can and does prosecute. It has even gone to absurd levels to enforce this rule e.g. here.
I understand the need for protected job titles and the need to have a body that safeguards such protections but now comes the part I find a little absurd: The ARB charges every architect in the UK an annual fee to stay on their register. The fee is £119 this year. Failure to pay this fee results in a fairly swift removal from the register and one also loses the legal right to call themselves an architect. Even if you're unemployed, the fee is mandatory to retain the right to use the word "architect" in one's CV, LinkedIn, etc.
Is there any other country/profession where use of the protected job title requires payment of an annual fee? Does the ARB's policy of charging an annual retention fee seem reasonable and if not, is there a UK government agency that one can make a formal complaint to about this?
EDIT:
Moo's comment made me realize that the same holds for doctors too. As someone who works in neither field, the fact that some people must pay an annual fee to a government body for their entire lifetime just to call themselves a doctor or an architect feels very strange.
It surprises me that this money doesn't come out of taxpayer funds. After all, it is for the protection of the general public that some job titles are regulated so it seems unfair that the doctors/architects/etc. are the ones paying for this regulatory service.


texts:
If the assets of a trust includes shares in a company, can that company be appointed as trustee of that trust?

It's not clear to me how section 259A of the Corporations Law works in this situation.


texts:
During WWII, Desmond Doss joined the US Army as a combat medic. Due to his religious belief in nonviolence, he refused to carry a weapon and was eventually allowed to do so, going on to win various medals (including the Medal of Honor) for rescuing casualties in various battles of the Pacific Theatre—his story was later made into the film Hacksaw Ridge.

Is it still possible today for somebody to join the armed forces, but to refuse to carry a weapon? Specifically, I am wondering about the US and the UK armed forces, but interesting answers about any other country are welcome.

Initially I thought Doss would have been conscripted which may have changed things, but apparently he chose to enlist so that argument doesn't hold up. I've searched but I haven't found anything about whether this would still be possible now or if military law may have changed to disallow it.


texts: Can I break a lease for an unrepaired leaking roof?

texts:
There have been severe storms in California (Palo Alto) and unfortunately the house I am renting has leaking roofs. Landlord is aware and says they will fix it, but no date has been set. Another major storm is coming.

Is this enough to break the lease without penalty?


texts: Adding markers/colors in an IOS app that is using apple maps violates the license?

texts:
I want to use the apple maps for a ios application and saw this in license: (c) reproduce, modify, translate, or create derivative works of the Service or any portion thereof; https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/maps/terms-en.html

1.Integrating maps and putting multiple CUSTOM markers will violate the license?

2.How about the modifying map colors, will it violate the license?

3.Is there a requests per day/month usage limit?

I cannot understand what violates the license and what doesn't. Thanks in advance for response


texts: Vocabulary for the outline levels of an SEC rule

texts:
I am working on a data modeling project involving an SEC rule and am struggling to deduce the proper vocabulary when referring to the various outline levels of the document.  For example, at the top of page 532 of the rule is Item 1 of schedule AL.  Beneath Item 1 is (a)(1) and (a)(2), which I am able to deduce are referred to as "paragraphs".  My question, however, is what is the name of (a)?

E.g. if I wanted to say "in Item 1, [______] a, there are two paragraphs, 1 and 2.  What word would take the place of the blank?


texts: Pictures of people breaking the law in Facebook

texts:
Within this COVID19 pandemic various activities were forbidden in Portugal, like spearfishing or catching crabs in rocks. Yet, some people insist on doing them (let's call them rebels) but in a "hidden" way. For instances, instead of catching crabs with the proper tools, they go with a dog nearby as if they're walking the dog (walking the dog is allowed).

Considering this real life case, some people (spies) try to "make justice" by taking photos of rebels when they are performing the forbidden activities, without permission, and then they go to social media, like Facebook, and expose it.

I'm not trying to justify the behaviour of the rebels. Can't stop but to wonder how legal is it what the spies are doing? If not legal, how should a rebel proceed of was damaged by such thing?


texts: What is considered "public" in the context of taking videos or audio recordings?

texts:
According to the answers in this question it's legal to photograph someone in public without their consent. I'm assuming the answers still hold true for video or audio recording (such as what can be done with a smart phone). What counts as public? For example, if you're at the gym or you're in an office and record yourself and by chance someone else gets in it, or a conversation is overheard, is that illegal? Or if you paid to watch a sporting event at a stadium? There are certainly times when T.V. shows do it, such as Candid Camera, and I seem to recall a news station who would use a hidden camera carried by the interviewer. In this video someone recorded how easy it was for him to break into the building and I don't think he had prior approval to do so.

I'm targeting the question towards Canada.


texts: Can my employer deduct my holiday bonus from my check if I quit right away after receiving the bonus?

texts: I received a bonus in a xmas card from my employer. I also quit that day. When I received my last paycheck, the bonus was deducted as a "gift deduction". Is this legal? It was not a loan or anything of the nature.


texts: Max amount pay in small claims court when sued for $500?

texts: I am being taken to small claims court in Utah for $500. If I was to lose what is the worst case situation? It sounds like I might have to pay the $100 filling fee. Is that true? Would I have to also pay any of their legal fees?


texts: Can I send someone who wants to meet me about a business contract on a "wild goose chase"?

texts:
I have received an unsolicited electronic message (email sent through my web site) touting for business.

The sender is in breach of the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act, and I hate spam.  He also represents a real company in my part of the world.

Were I to set up a meeting with him, in a place which does not exist, and with no intention of actually transacting or meeting with him, would I be acting illegally ?   (I happen to live in New Zealand, but I'm interested in perspectives of other common-law countries as well)


texts: What is the difference between "private" and "confidential"?

texts:
It is often stated on the envelope of bank statements, or certain email messages:

  Private and Confidential

Presumably, "Private" and "Confidential" are two different legal terms, hence the need to state both of them. What is the difference?


texts: Who is supposed to teach the law to the citizens?

texts:
As I understand, in general, not knowing the law does not excuse violating it.

That should apply to most if not all jurisdictions in most cases with very few exceptions.

From personal experience, never in my life has school, family or anyone ever actually taught me any laws or showed me where I could consult them myself, and I have already reached legal age a couple of years ago.

So my question is, who, by law or morality, is supposed to teach citizens the law so that they can be aware and abide by it?

Answers can be generalized to include most jurisdictions or be specific.


texts: Standards for legal professionals responding promptly to clients?

texts:
As an example, The Rules of Professional Conduct for the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania state:

1.4 Communication
(a) A lawyer shall:
...
(4) A lawyer should promptly respond to or acknowledge client communications.

"prompt" and "promptly" are used quite liberally in those above rules – dozens of times.
And yet there is no definition, explanation, or even rough description of what promptness might mean concretely or in detail.
Are there any more concrete, specific, and explicit standards, whether formal or informal?
Are there even any definite examples?
I'd imagine, absent some narrow, and extreme, circumstances, a legal professional responding within five (5) minutes of a client's communication would be definitely prompt.
But what's definitely not prompt? And does that depend on the form of communication? Are legal professionals less obligated to respond, let alone promptly to emails versus phone calls? Is there a hierarchy of promptness expected?
Are there any practical standards, e.g. with regard to malpractice?


texts: Is crowd funded income used to pay legal fees taxable?

texts: I have a legal case that would impact a large number of people. I wish to raise money from them to appeal the case. If I do, will that be considered income for me if I provide it to the lawyer? Would it make a difference if I have the funds given directly to the lawyer?


texts: Do I have a case for video game liability?

texts: I brought black ops 3 a couple weeks ago and I have been playing it alot.  Over the course of the games I have experience extreme frustration in constantly being killed and it has caused me to throw my controller more than once and finally breaking it.  It has caused me to lash out at my mom on multiple occasions due to the sheer frustration of the game.  I was wondering if it is possible to bring up a lawsuit against treyarch company, the maker of the game, for causing me emotional distress and breaking my controller.  There was no warning on the game that it would affect me like this.  This is a serious question please be professional.


texts: Classifieds site's responsibility for user content

texts:
Say there is a website allowing users to post ads/classifieds. Every ad includes the poster's contacts details (however, there is no guarantee that they are genuine).

Now, user U posts an ad containing unlawful/objectionable material (for example, offering a house for rent where the applicants are discriminated by race/sex/age etc., or adult photos, or copyright infringing content etc.).

The website owner would prefer to offer maximum freedom to the users and save on content moderation.

Given any of these jurisdictions: US, UK, Canada, AU, NZ, Singapore, are there laws that render the website owner responsible for not taking the U's ad down? Which laws in particular? Can not the responsibility simply stay with the user only, especially that they advertise their contact details?

Would the answer be affected if the site guaranteed that the user's contact details are genuine?


texts: What are the legal repercussions of taking a stranger's picture in public?

texts:
With Snapchat and Instagram it is all too easy to abuse picture taking and really inexpensive to snap a photo of an unknowing stranger. If you are in public and will only post pictures online without their permission, can the victim take legal action against you?

What would be the effect on the photo taker? Will there be punishment for the host company (if it encourages this type of behavior)?


texts: Can anyone prevail against government law enforcement agencies for defamatory press releases?

texts:
The following problem is becoming notorious (among first search results: "online guilty before proven innocent"):

Police arrest or charge citizen for a crime.
Police issue press release about the charge, apparently as a matter of policy.  Release is picked up and printed by at least the local paper.
Citizen is exonerated.
Citizen asks, "Now where can I go to get my dignity back?"

People lose jobs because of these things, even when police themselves quickly realize they simply "got the wrong guy."  And, thanks to Google and the relative "page rank" of online news sites, a citizen can be tainted by the press release in perpetuity.

It appears that there is some sort of blanket immunity for law enforcement and prosecutors to convict people in the press without due process.  Is there in fact explicit legal immunity from any liability for this practice?  Or are there any examples of a citizen having won legal damages for this practice?


texts: Is stolen property being seen on my property grounds for a search warrant?

texts: So this happened a few years ago in a college town in California. A police officer came to the door of the house I was living in, and told us that someone had stolen a large theta from the front of a frat house, and that someone walking down our street at around 6:00am had seen the letter on the lawn in our front yard. Given that it was stolen property the police officer told us that he could get a search warrant for our house, and if we didn't let him in he would block our cars in with his car and wait for the search warrant. We had nothing to do with the stealing of the letter and woke up long after it was gone. We assumed someone had drunkenly stolen it and dropped it on our front lawn. One of my roommates ended up getting scared and letting the officer in so the point was moot, but I did not think the officer was being truthful in saying he could obtain a search warrant. The stolen property had been seen on our lawn, but there was no way anyone could prove (because it was false) that we had anything to do with stealing the letter, or that the letter was even still around.


texts: Is it legal to download a website and display it on another that I own?

texts:
I would like to know if it is legal to download the content of a website and display it in my own?

There is one way to include a website inside another: <iframe> (w3schools description)

However, some websites decide that they don't want to get iframed. For example Google doesn't allow other websites to frame their content. This has of course certain reasons. There is a very simple option, the X-Frame-Option that can tell a browser that it must not render a page withing a frame if it is not from the same origin as the page itself.

So far so good. Just for the sake of completeness I want to say that it's still possible to display just the content of another website. The most trivial one would be to hit CTRL + S on my keyboard, save the website and host it on another server. A more sophisticated of course would be to write a program that does that for me. One could simply download the HTML page and embed the result into another.

I can imagine that e.g. copyright could be an issue. But what if my site states that it does not own the content etc. and that it did not modify anything and so on.

Is there a way that this could be legal?

Example

What is with this example? https://proxy-nl.hide.me allows you to enter any URL and e.g. specify that it should remove JavaScript code. This allows you to see even www.theindependent.com, which tries to take counter measures against embedding their site, under another domain.


texts: Can I sign legal documents with a smiley face?

texts:
The signature on my driver's license is a unique and identifiable smiley face  :-)

I use this signature to sign all legally binding documents.  A lot of the time, people reject it, and request an "actual signature".  I then show them that it is the same signature as my driver's license, and they usually, (but not always,) accept it.

Is my signature legal?  Or must it be my name?  If it is legal, is it a bad idea?


texts: Is brute forcing the password of an encrypted file legal?

texts:
A person I know sent me an encrypted .zip archive and I do not know what data is inside. Is it legal to break the password and open the archive, for example, by using a brute force algorithm? The algorithm may need a long time, but it will reveal the password that was used for the encryption.

The file was sent directly to me and I know that I am meant to be the recipient. I assume that the file was protected by accident.

Would the answer be different if I am not the intended recipient and someone sent me the file by accident?

We both live in Germany.


texts: Can I port something distributed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States license?

texts:
I'm a software engineer and I'd like to port (translate) a library from programming language A to programming language B.

The library is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States license.

I found this definition of a "derivative work" - Title 17 Section 101 of the Copyright Act:

  A “derivative work” is a work based upon one or more preexisting works, such as a translation, musical arrangement, dramatization, fictionalization, motion picture version, sound recording, art reproduction, abridgment, condensation, or any other form in which a work may be recast, transformed, or adapted. A work consisting of editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications which, as a whole, represent an original work of authorship, is a “derivative work”.

Does porting fall under the "translation/transformed/adapted" category in this definition?

Thanks,
erip


texts: Legal options for unauthorized access to bank account (and how to prove it)

texts:
I've run into an unpleasant situation: https://money.stackexchange.com/questions/75965/mom-keeps-illegally-monitoring-my-bank-account-what-to-do.  I was advised to move this question to legal.  Could anyone please advise me on my legal options in this case, and how I can gather evidence to prove the transgressions and legally punish them?

tl;dr:

An employee at a large national bank chain has been accessing and giving out confidential information about my bank account to my mother, with whom he/she is friends.  I reported this unauthorized access to the bank's manager directly, who said that he would put an alert on my account to make sure that it does not happen again and that he would get back to me after an internal investigation was carried out.  However, he never got back to me and never returned any of my calls again.  A few months later, I opened a new bank account at another bank and transferred most of my funds to it.  My mother then asked me shortly thereafter why I withdrew most of my money from my original bank account.  Hence, the problem was not solved -- my bank account information is still being accessed without my permission and my privacy is being violated.  Since I already reported this info to the bank's manager, I do not know what else to do to pursue any legal action towards the rogue employee who has been accessing (and releasing information) about my bank account to my mother.  I want to know if I can pursue any legal options against the bank, my mother, or both.  I do not want to close my original bank account because this would constitute a major inconvenience (since my wife, kids, and I bank there).  I know with 100% certainty that it is coming from an employee friend at the bank, because my mom told me about it directly.


texts: do you have to agree to terms of service before they apply?

texts:
Here is a scenario:
If you donate to someone through a page with no reference to the terms of service (no tick box or link) on that page and sent a message with the donation through the same page. Does that message that is being sent with the donation have to comply with the terms of service?

At what point can someone be held accountable for the terms of service?


texts: Can a US government official legally deny they are a US government official

texts:
I was wondering if it is illegal or legal for a US government official/employee to deny that they work as a US government official/employee, even if they are requested to deny this information(I'm not aware if that part of my original question is a real thing..).

The only reason that I ask this is because it is something that a couple friends and I have always been curious about(which we never got a straight answer from any of our US government law teachers in high school about)..

If this is a law that is in place I would like to know if it is federal or state specific, and if it is state specific, which states have a law involving this subject.

Regards,
Cole


texts: Contract issue (Austria/EU Law) backdating start date of work

texts:
I would appreciate some advice with respect to my situation.

I was offered a job in Austria (I'm from the UK) back in the summer of 2019. The job was conditional on finishing my Masters Degree in the UK, which I was set to do in September 2019. I was set to start 1st of October 2019. I moved over and began working. However, when there, I was told that I would not be given a contract (and hence paid) until they had confirmation not only of finishing my masters but that my final grade would be a pass (or higher). I was told on the 3rd of October that, when I had this final confirmation of grade, my contract would be backdated to the first of October and I would get pack-pay. I have this in writing in an email from the HR department. I accepted this offer and continued turning up to work, expecting to get back pay.

In December 2019, I got the final confirmation from my masters course (including confirmation that the date of completion was in September, before my start date). The documentation was sent to HR but they have now refused to backdate to October, stating that they only backdate to when they receive the documentation, not, as had previously been stated, to when I was told to start.

I've been working for three months at this institution on the information that I would get back pay for this.

Given that they told me I would get back pay and I worked conditional on that information, am I entitled to it?

Thank you all in advance.


texts: Why is CBD legal in UK, Ireland, etc but it is Illegal to advertise it?

texts: Why can't you advertise CBD on Facebook, Google, etc., considering there is no THC and it is not a drug?


texts: Is there really a German law that requires that credit card companies *only* provide statements in read-only format?

texts:
I live in Germany and have a German €-denominated credit card.  I used to download my monthly transactions in CSV format, but after a recent web site redesign, the new credit card web site only allows downloads as PDF.

I contacted the bank about this, and they replied that German law requires them to give the transactions in a read-only format such as PDF.

I don't know what law they're referring to, but this seems far-fetched to me.  I could see a law requiring them to make statements available in a read-only format, but I find it hard to believe that the law would insist that exclusively read-only format is permitted.

Would anyone be able to locate the law in question, so I can read it for myself?  (I can read German reasonably well.)  Articles about this law or other commentary would be welcome as well, in English or German.


texts:
Can not paying a monthly fee because of a lack of balance of your reloadable visa card hurt your credit score and isn't there a law against that?

That's what I was told after I bought a visa debit card. Is this something new? I thought there was a monthly fee only if there was a remaining balance on my card. Isn't there a law against such practice in Canada? I bought the card in Canada and card companies used to not slap you with a negative balabce when you bought a reloadable debit card, but I guess everything goes nowadays.


texts: What can the government do with the Iranian tanker Grace 1 seized in Gibraltar?

texts:
The UK/Gibraltar has seized the Iranian oil tanker Grace 1 , for allegedly breaking EU sanctions and attempting to supply oil to Syria.

On the assumption the seizure is legal and the accusations correct, what can the government actually do with the ship?

If customs seize something from you when entering the UK it’s usually sold or destroyed, does that apply to the ship?


texts: European Air Passenger rights - Must airline pay?

texts:
Short story: Air Berlin went on strike last October - we got home 15hours later - Air Berlin have said euro air passenger rights penalty/rewards are optional, they also said flight was cancelled due to lighting strike, and they offered 2x300euro gift vouchers. I declined, we want the cash. They refuse. What more can I do?

Longer story:
Last October we flew Hamburg Majorca for vacation. We checked in for our return flight, and while at airside all flights for the airline (Air Berlin) got cancelled. No official announcements were made. Staff left desks. For multiple Majorca flights going to Germany by Air Berlin. Monitors showed the words Delayed. Some flights showed cancelled. Some flights just disappeared from the screen.

Two staff appeared three hours after our flight departure and distributed a single pre-printed letter explaining our passenger rights. They had no news to update us on when our flights might fly, nor any reason why the flights were cancelled.

A number of online news outlets said Air Berlin staff were on strike.

Some 12 hours later a chartered plane was arranged, we flew back to Hannover and jumped on a bus that brought us to Hamburg Airport.

Based on the letter Air Berlin shared with me, and based on http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-rights/air/index_en.htm I calculated that the flight was more than 1500km and thus we should get paid 2x400euro in cash.

The URL on the preprinted letter I got from Air Berlin was invalid. Eventually I found and complained, and requested they pay the 2x400euro penalty to my bank account.

They apologised, then told me the penalty was optional for airlines to pay, and instead offered 2x300euro discount vouchers instead.

I replied, declined the gift vouchers, reminded them of the passenger rights, and again requested payment to my bank account.

The replied that the flight was cancelled due to inbound flight being struck by lightening - thus they need not pay me anything at all.

I replied with photos, online info that proved the flights were cancelled due to a flight but they decline to pay.

Can anyone advise what might next steps should be?

Thanks


texts: Search of deceased person's residence following fatal incident at work

texts:
I am a British writer trying to get law enforcement procedure right in a thriller set in San Diego, CA. (There are numerous plot reasons that prevent me placing this action in e.g. the UK where I am slightly less ignorant about the law and law enforcement.)
The question is, given the following circumstances, who can search the dead man's residence, and on what basis?
The hypothetical situation: a man has died in an incident at work - whether it is an accident, homicide, or what we call in the UK manslaughter (which is to say death incidental to other action and without intent...) is unknown at the time law enforcement would like to perform the search (partly in hope of discovering whether a crime has in fact been committed).
The man is reasonably believed to be in (legitimate) possession information concerning a threat to US National Security. Because of the national security issue, the FBI are involved in a counter-intelligence role. The information may be on computers/devices in the man's home.
There is no evidence per se that the man's death was due to sabotage, but there is prima facie evidence of unauthorised interference with the employer's computer systems, which might have caused the man's death.
I cannot find any basis for a warrantless search of the man's residence based on his death alone (having reviewed various sources including California Code, Government Code - GOV § 27491.3, 4th Amendment and some commentary on related Supreme Court decisions), given that he died at work.
His sole living relative (daughter) does not reside at the property. She does however have a key and might therefore be considered "in control" of it. (But if so, would she have to enter the property first?)
Questions: Is a warrant required/advisable to search the man's home, or could the daughter be asked to permit entry? If a warrant is required, who would apply for it? UCSD PD or FBI, and on what basis?


texts: Are laws requiring fees and classes to practice 2nd Amendment constitutional?

texts:
Would laws requiring citizens to pay for training courses and permits costs be ruled as unconstitutional if they were challenged?

I only ask because, in Minnesota where I live I need to pay for a $60 - $100 dollar 5-hour course, then pay a $100 dollar fee to the sheriff's office every 5 years in order to carry.

MN Carry Laws Source


texts: Can a citizen sue the FAA for noise pollution from planes redirected over residential areas?

texts:
Can a citizen sue the Federal Aviation Administration for noise pollution resulting from NextGen flight redirection over residential areas?
EPA used to have a noise abatement division which was discontinued many years ago, now the NextGen has resulted in airline highways over our neighborhoods, where previously they were required to follow the Potomac river corridor south for 10 miles from DCA to gain higher altitude before banking west.  Many people across the US are affected - and thousands have filled out petitions to no avail.  State of Arizona has sued FAA but no published result.  online compliant forms to Washington metro airport authority are submitted and no response, is there anything we can do?


texts: Merchant charging thief doubled price on stolen merchandise

texts:
I’m curious about an interaction between a merchant and a thief.

Drawing from a well-known Youtube channel, a prime example is a thief and a local gas station. The thief is shown in video footage stealing merchandise from the gas station. The thief then selects cheap items to purchase to avoid suspicion. The merchant engages in a trade for the “faux” merchandise and waits for the thief to leave the premises. At that point, the merchant leaves and confronts the thief. Let’s say for this example the thief admits to stealing the merchandise.

Does the merchant have a legal right to increase the sale price of the stolen merchandise? And what kind of legal actions does the merchant have available if the thief agrees to only pay the original price (assuming its legal for the merchant to increase the price of the stolen items in the first place)?


texts: Is it possible for a party to a contract to use a mutual NDA primarily to constrain the other party?

texts:
I am more regularly entering in meetings in which my group and others need to collaborate on technical details, while protecting our respective intellectual property. Typically we sign mutual non-disclosure agreements and then continue on to the technical detail in question.

The nominal intent of these meetings is to entertain the possibility of collaboration on special projects. While we always enter meetings in good faith, I am aware at some point we may have the misfortune of enter a meeting with a group looking to tactically create a protection of their IP.

In such a meeting I imagine the other party may bring and present a large quantity of information for the specific purpose of ensuring we are prevented from using it. The only protection I know of is for us to independently document and date our own IP in a way that would stand up in court.

This could well be an exhaustive task and yet still not protect us from being constrained on future research projects should the sought partnership not eventuate with the other party. In the event we did not participate in the meeting and be exposed to the other party's IP, we would be free to develop similar projects. The act of having the meeting and agreeing to the NDA could then have the effect of creating a barrier to development that we would not intend.

Is this ever a consideration for people entering into agreements or should the meeting only be agreed if good faith is established beforehand?
Is there language that could be used in an NDA that would prevent these abuses?
Is it ever common practice to agree a priori the topics to be covered so as to not be exposed to the technical details that might create this issue?
Are there documented cases of parties entering into protected meetings for the intent of tactical constraint of the other?
Are there any strategies people typically take going into these meetings that specifically prevent the issue from arising?


texts: Working after-hours and in weekends in Germany

texts:
I recently heard that in 2013, Germany banned out-of-hours working. This article says:

  Germany's employment ministry has banned its managers from calling or emailing staff out of hours except in emergencies, under new guidelines intended to prevent employees from burning out.

As a PhD-student, I've got several deadlines throughout the year and sometimes I need to work after the regular working hours and in the weekends. I could work at home, but I am always more productive at my workplace.

The thing is, no one is asking me to stay, I am staying out of my pure will. I can simply tell my supervisors that I am not willing to consider the following conference deadline and they would not mind it, it's my decision.

Would it still be illegal if I spend extra time at work or go on weekends?

Although I have the status of a student, "PhD student" in Germany (and many places in Europe) is a paid job. Your employer could be the institute/university, or you could be funded through a scholarship.


texts: Can I use my Stack Overflow profile to release the contents of my questions and answers under a secondary license?

texts:
As I understand, when I post something on Stack Overflow (or other Stack Exchange sites), I have copyright on the contents of the post and I've licensed significant redistribution and re-licensing rights to Stack Overflow.
Stack Overflow then releases that content to other netizens under an open license, but requires attribution in the form of a link to the original answer.
I have occasionally seen users on Stack Overflow who update the 'bio' section of their profile page to say something like 'I hereby release all of my contributions to Stack Overflow, past, present, and future, into the public domain.'.
Since those users do hold copyright, it seems to me this is valid. I.e., anyone using the content can choose to use it under the license offered by Stack Overflow (with attribution required) or as public domain content as offered by the user themself (without attribution required).
Is it valid to use the 'bio' section of your Stack Overflow profile to release your Stack Overflow contributions under a secondary license? Does the answer differ if releasing to the public domain rather than under a secondary license?


texts: Can someone use DNA samples that were scattered by their owners for commercial purposes?

texts:
Artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg has collected DNA samples from cigarette butts and chewing-gums found on the floor to create realistic portraits of their former owners.

I find this project fascinating, and although there are still some caveats in the likenesses and the technology behind it, it opens doors to several questions about ethics and the age-old race between technology and laws.

Mostly, is this "discarded DNA" still "owned" by their owners after they flick it to the floor? (I am assuming that our DNA code belongs to us...)


texts: I am trying to understand how do legal systems handle situation where there is no clear causal responsibility of a person, but a well established stochastic relation. I am aware of the "beyond reasonable doubt" standard in some legal systems but I'd welcome any more information of text to continue research. For an example, let us assume that it's proven that certain chemical compound can induce a specific disease - some type of cancer, for an example. It is also well established that exposure to that chemical is not sole cause of this type of cancer, so there is incidence in a healthy population. So, let say that incidence doubles and it is found that a factory upstream of affected population has been dumping this chemical into water source. Person that has this disease sues the factory. There is no scientific way to prove that the person wouldn't get it without exposure, but it can be proven that this is probable (50%) and that the person was exposed. How would such situation be viewed in continental or common law?


texts: Can I use a proprietary software in my web service?

texts:
My goal is to develop a web service that is automating multiple software together. I plan to sell the whole web service as a SaaS for a monthly fee.

Problem is, one of the software programs I plan to automate is proprietary (even though it is free). It is a desktop program which was designed in order to run on a personal computer.

Hence, in the end-user license for this software, the following terms are written (the complete EULA can be found here):

  No Granting of Rights to Third Parties. You shall not sell, assign,
  rent, lease, distribute, export, import, or otherwise grant rights to
  use the Product or any part thereof to a third party.

But also this:

  The Product may be incorporated into, and may incorporate itself, into
  software and other technology owned or controlled by third parties.
  The use of any such third party software or technology incorporated
  into the Product shall fall under the scope of this Agreement.

I find these two statements contradictory:

As a third party, can I integrate their software in my own solution that I plan to resell?

I've heard of white label software, I don't know if it applies for me, if there are better solutions, or if I'm simply free to go without proper relicensing.

If it can help, I live in France and the company that owns the other software is Russian.


texts: What is the term for the human behavior of not being able to truly understand what it means to abide by a legal contract until after the fact?

texts:
Sorry if this is in the wrong place or just a dumb question.  It honestly expect it to be rejected.  However...

I'm curious if there's a term for the human inability to fully predict what it will be like living under the terms of a legal contract.  I'm talking about having an intellectual understanding of the contract at the time of signing only to realize later that you didn't-- and couldn't-- predict the emotional response you would have to it.

To be clear, I'm not asking if the contract is legal or enforceable.  I'm talking about an inability to truly, viscerally understand what life under the terms of the contract would be like at the time of signing.

This question has to do with a home owners' association.  I believe it was impossible to truly understand how obnoxious and petty the HOA would be just by reading the text of the contract.  I believe that they rely on this human characteristic to not fully "get it" until after the fact when it's too late.  I'm wondering if others in my neighborhood have had the same reaction but I need a name to call it, if there is one.

Any ideas?

Thanks


texts: Who owns the copyright on a Polly recording?

texts:
This is a follow up to this question.

If I record my own work (original texts, phrases, sentences, etc.) using Amazon's Polly, who owns the copyright on those recordings?

In the AWS TOS section 65.5, they say:

  The distribution of audio output files created by Amazon Polly may
  require that you obtain license rights from third-party owners or
  licensors of content that you include in your text inputs into Amazon
  Polly. You are solely responsible for obtaining these licenses and
  paying any necessary royalties or fees.

From this excerpt, should I infer that I'm the owner of the copyright on the audio files, if I own the content used as input?


texts: Copyright on methodology from published book

texts:
One of the big consultancy firms has a really good methodology on company health evaluation. This methodology and their work is widely published on the internet and also in books.

Now I want to use this methodology, analysis in roughly the same way as the consultancy it presented in their book. Purpose is too slightly adapt it and make it available for the medium sized companies (not the big multinationals).

There are some deviations but roughly the figures and tables will be used. Also wording will be a bit different

Obviously in the books/websites it is stated that it is their copyright.

Is it allowed to make use of their methodology and analysis? What are the constraints?


texts:
An old friend messaged me saying they were stranded 4 hours home and needed a cab to get home and it cost 80$ dollars.

He asked if I could send him $80 and he has $500 at home and will pay me back when he gets home.

I told him I only have 30$ and I need this paid by next day and can allow him to borrow for a day. I also mentioned it was really important as that’s all I have right now and I need it to buy food for my boyfriends kids.

He agreed and I sent him the money on Facebook. I kept messaging him to know if was able to get remaining $50 and reach home. There was no response.

Two days later he messages me saying he’s gonna return the money and to just be patient. I’ve asked him multiple times to update me and give me a time frame of when he was able to return me the money. He is already late and the least he could do is update me. He reads the messages and ignores me. I can see that he is active on Facebook and has logged in and out. I also had another friend message him just to see if he would reply and he did.

I need to be paid back and I no longer believe that he is going to pay me back at all. Is there anyway I can go about getting it back? What are me legal options? All the messages are through Facebook and I sent the money through Facebook. I have kept them all.


texts: Being convicted for murder and manslaughter for the same act

texts: Derek Chauvin has just been convicted of both murder and manslaughter for the same crime (killing George Floyd).  I understand how one person can be charged with multiple offences for the same crime (because both can be proved to a jury), but how does this work with the conviction? Does the principle of ne bis in idem apply?


texts: Are there any complications in hosting an Italian website on a server in the USA?

texts:
I own a webserver that resides in the USA. This server hosts different websites but they all have users mostly from Italy.
One of the websites, a blog made with Drupal, has a .it domain registered with a company called aruba https://www.aruba.it/home.aspx
Yesterday I had an issue with he domain and i called their technical support. They noticed the domain was attached to an american server and they told me i could get fined for this due to the european GDPR law but they didn't want to tell me any more details despite me insisting. I don't think they read the privacy statement before saying that because the website was not accessible at that moment (even using the server's IP would not send you to the website, you need to go from the domain, which was not working)
I tried looking on the internet and i found 2 things:

That cloud services hosted in the USA might not be good enough to host european websited (which is not my case because i'm not using a cloud service)
If you server is in the USA and you are collecting personal data you must specify that in your privacy statement (still not my cause because I'm not collecting personal data)

This is what else i could think of about the website that might be relevant:

The privacy statement is a "standard" one i found on the web a few years ago and i've seen it being used on many italian websites
The website does not collect any personal data  by itself (only aggregate data like how many people visited a certain article)
There is a private area but it's for the staff only and it doesn't require email or any data (users are created manually and are for internal use)
It only uses technical cookies
It has Google Analytics attached to it but but it's specified in the privacy statement and the "cookie banner" is configured in a way that will block it until you opt-in

The only issue i could think of is that I have not specified in the privacy statement that the site is hosted on an american server but that can be easily fixed.
My questions are: Is what i was told by Aruba's technical support correct? What could be the reason for this risk? What can i do to prevent being fined? Do i have to move my servers to Europe?


texts: If proven, would collusion with Russia to interfere with election meet criteria for charge of treason?

texts:
If a President-elect was proven to have colluded with Foreign operatives to interfere with our presidential election, could he or she be charged with treason?

What we know:

  TREASON. Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war
  against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort
  within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall
  suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and
  fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be
  incapable of holding any office under the United States.
  (June 25,
  1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 807; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII,
  § 330016(2)(J), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2148.)

ENEMY OF THE STATE: According to 50 USCS § 2204 [Title 50. War and National Defense; Chapter 39. Spoils of War], "enemy of the United States" means:

  any country, government, group, or person that has been engaged in
  hostilities, whether or not lawfully authorized, with the United
  States; (3) the term "person" means (A) any natural person; (B) any
  corporation, partnership, or other legal entity; and (C) any
  organization, association, or group.

But what is the legal definition of hostilities? Must it include a declaration of war? Much could be parsed and debated but I'm not at all sure he could actually be charged, even if it's proven he colluded.

What say ye??