texts: Does a user have the right to request their forum posts deleted?

texts:
Forum posts and similar stuff: chat messages from chatlogs, etc.

According to https://eugdprcompliant.com/personal-data/ , a person's social media accounts and their posts there are considered personal data under GDPR.

In this case, does a person have the right to request permanent removal of their posts from an Internet forum or from chatlogs?

This breaks the flow of the archived conversation and makes it difficult for readers to understand posts of other people that are not removed.

Does a person have the right to request removal of certain posts without removing their account?

Moderation problem; a person may request removal of posts that are stored as evidence of their past problematic behavior, in an effort to keep bordering the forum's rules without ever crossing the line to getting suspended.

If a person requests all their data deleted, is anonymizing their contributions enough?

I've seen an EU-based Internet forum that, on account deletion request, anonymizes all posts from this account (repleaces the author's nick with 'account deleted'), but leaves them in the archives. This still damages the flow of a past converstation, but not as badly as if the post was outright removed.
Other posts may contain the nick of the author of an anonymized post ('what @username said, ...'), making such anonymization questionably effective IMO?

Bottom line: If a user requests all their posts on an Internet forum deleted under GDPR, do I have to comply? Do I have to also censor other users' posts, which may contain this user's nickname and / or quotations of their posts?


texts: How does providing written messages as evidence work?

texts: For agreements made by e-mail, text message or even written on paper, how can they be used as evidence in small claims court? For example if a plaintiff claimed a defendant owes him $100 for work completed. Plaintiff prints out an email from defendant showing the defendant agreed to this. What if the defendant just denies having sent such an email? In theory it could be easy for either party to be lying, so would the court order a subpoena to the email server to see what their records hold? This seems awfully in efficient? What if parts of the agreement are made over other messaging apps?


texts: Cancelling a confirmed order to double the price

texts:
I ordered 4 Items from Walmart's online store for 28$, totaling in 115 after fees and tax.
I just got at email that said they were backlogged and more people ordered before me, so there werent enough there to fulfill my order. That got me upset enough when the listing said they were in stock for that price, but whatever. Shit happens.
I go to the website to see there are 5 left, and it's now 60$. So if I want to have my order that was already confirmed over 30 hours ago, I have to pay over double what i was originally charged.
They didn't state it as a price error, as 10+ people got theirs for the same price i was supposed to. In short, they cancelled my order so they can make people pay more, for what I already payed for.


texts: Can use of a pre-emptive pardon also be illegal obstruction of justice?

texts:
It seems well established that the President does indeed have the right to preemptively pardon people for crimes they have not yet been convicted of, so that is not my question.

Right now there are news reports that President Trump is asking his staff how his power of pardon works. The speculation by media pundits is that he might use it as a preemptive pardon to derail the investigation by Special Counsel Mueller. Since a Special Counsel is confined to investigating only "criminal matters", if any target of the investigation were to be so pardoned it would seriously hobble certain courses of inquiry.

So my question is: If President Trump used his power of pardon preemptively on a known target of an investigation -- and it was very clear that the reason for doing so was to prevent further investigation (imagine a tweet that same day saying "This ends the unfair and fake witchhunt by Mueller!" -- would that action be able to be considered obstruction of justice under the law?

From the Cornell Law School website:

  A person obstructs justice when they have a specific intent to obstruct or interfere with a judicial proceeding. For a person to be convicted of obstructing justice, they must not only have the specific intent to obstruct the proceeding, but the person must know (1) that a proceeding was actually pending at the time; and (2) there must be a nexus between the defendant’s endeavor to obstruct justice and the proceeding, and the defendant must have knowledge of this nexus.

Allow me to provide another, hypothetical, scenario for comparison:

Let's say that a State DA is investigating a public official who has been accused of raping someone. Along the way the DA discovers that a convicted murderer on death row has crucial evidence related to his investigation which would clear the public official of all charges. Unfortunately the man is scheduled to be executed in 3 days so the DA goes to the governor and asks for a temporary stay of execution so he can use the man's testimony to close the case. The poblic official is a political enemy of the governor so he decides to deliberately refuse the request for a stay and the execution goes forward as scheduled, thereby destroying evidence that might have been used for exoneration.

Is the governor guilty of obstructing justice?

EDIT

This edit is to clarify and prevent excess discussion on something that has started to become a minor discussion thread below. It is certainly relevant to understanding the eventual Answer but it is only tangential to the specific Question asked:

The Office of Special Counsel is an evolution from the Nixon-era caused Independent Counsel Act which was (deliberately) allowed to expire in 1999 due to unanticipated flaws. To replace it a set of Federal Regulations, 28 CFR 600 "GENERAL POWERS OF
SPECIAL COUNSEL", was created (also in 1999) by the Justice Department to establish the role of the Special Counsel for cases where the DOJ might be investigating matters that have or appear to have conflict of interest issues.

The tangential matter related to the above Question is whether or not the President can personally fire the Special Counsel. Apparently the President could order the Atty Gen to fire the Special Counsel, but the President cannot directly fire him unless the DOJ was first to go through the involved process of modifying 28 CFR 600.7(d) or alternatively repealing the entire Part 600 set of Federal Regulations.

  [28 CFR 600.7] "(d) The Special Counsel may be disciplined or removed from office only by the  personal action of the Attorney General. The Attorney General may remove a Special Counsel for misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, conflict of interest, or for other good cause, including violation of Departmental policies. The Attorney General shall inform the Special Counsel in writing of the specific reason for his or her removal."

Former Acting Solicitor General, Neal Katyal, helped draft PART 600 and explains in this article how it was designed to work.


texts: Can a country put a foreign criminal on trial, without catching them?

texts:
I'm thinking about a few scenarios here. One scenario is a Pablo Escobar scenario, or a Don Eladio scenario if you're a BCS fan like myself: A drug kingpin operating outside the United States, allegedly orchestrating drug dealing in the United States.
Another scenario is the Hassan Nasrallah scenario, where a leader of a Lebanese group considered by some to be a terrorist organization, is allegedly responsible for murders in another country, Israel. There are probably many more examples with other countries, so let's not make this political. Let's take the Pablo Escobar example.
Can the US put the foreign drug kingpin on trial? Say that the US has concrete evidence that the drug kingpin is responsible for crimes in the US, but they haven't managed to arrest them yet. Would it be legal for them to put them on trial in the US without their appearance?
Would it be in the US's interests? What are some advantages and disadvantages of that?
The reason I was thinking about this: As far as I know, in civil lawsuits it's possible to put an individual on trial even if they have completely disappeared to a different country. This is legal as long as they have been served properly, even if they never actually received the notice about the lawsuit. I'm wondering whether the same is possible for the cases above.


texts: Model Release with 3-way collaboration involving LLC

texts:
I will be facilitating photoshoots through my LLC and was wondering if anyone has any recommendations around contracting / due diligence.

I'll be working with a photographer and a model. They will be doing the shoot and providing photos to me for me to distribute on my channels with my branding (and theirs, if they desire). I don't mind not owning copyright, but I do want distribution rights. I don't know much about the legalese here. No money is being exchanged yet - but in the future one or more parties may be paid.

All parties are open to anything - I just want to make sure I've done everything properly and professionally. Hopefully without dumping capital on a lawyer.

Has anyone ever shot with this structure before? Any advice on documentation I need?


texts: Could a judge sentence someone who isn't on trial?

texts:
A somewhat common TV trope is for a judge to sentence someone who isn't actually on trial - for example, the real culprit bursts into the middle of a trial and confesses, and then the judge says, "In that case, I sentence YOU..."

Could this ever happen for real? (United States) It seems like a major violation of due process.

The closest real-world example I can think of is that I know judges have had people thrown in jail for bad behavior in the courtroom. But I'm not sure if that counts as a "sentencing" or if it is more like an arrest for contempt of court.


texts: What is the right daily rate for annual leave in the UK when unspecified in employment contract?

texts:
tl;dr

I had an amount of annual leave at the end of my contract and I want to determine the daily rate for payment in lieu of the untaken days of annual leave.

My employer initially paid half the rate that I expected, then made another payment at a rate close to my yearly salary divided by 260 days (52 weeks and 5 days a week).

I would like to request one of the two daily rates below and find the legal basis for it:

salary divided by 230, to account 30 days of annual leave entitlement into account
salary divided by 222, as above, and also bank holidays (8 per year in the UK).

No details in employment particulars

I checked the Employment Rights Act of 1996 and it requires
details on the rate for payment in lieu of leave:

  1 Statement of initial employment particulars.

  ...

   (4) The statement shall also contain particulars, as at a specified date not
  more than seven days before the statement (or the instalment containing them)
  is given, of—

   ...

    (d) any terms and conditions relating to any of the following—

     (i) entitlement to holidays, including public holidays, and holiday pay (the
  particulars given being sufficient to enable the employee’s entitlement,
  including any entitlement to accrued holiday pay on the termination of
  employment, to be precisely calculated),

My offer letter does not include these details and I have no other legal documents.

Scenario for "payment in lieu"

Consider the following scenario. For simplicity, let's assume:

my contract had 24 days of annual leave (2 per month)
a month has 20 working days
I left my employer on the last day of September
I had 18 days left of annual leave to take

I could either (i) have requested a payment in lieu for the annual leave; or (ii) let the contract extend to cover the 18 days of leave. I think that "payment in lieu" means that my gross payment should be the same in both cases (net payment differs depending on the monthly tax-free allowance in the UK, but that's between me and the taxperson). In case (ii) I could have extended the contract by 20 days to cover the full month of October: for 18 of those days, I would have taken leave from my stock at the end of the contract; for the other 2 days, I would have taken leave accrued by being on payroll during the month of October.

If October had a bank holiday, then I would still have had one day of annual leave at the end of October.

Questions

am I right in my understanding of "payment in lieu" in the above scenario?
which of the daily rates at the top of the post should I request?
is there a legal basis for such a request?


texts:
I'm looking for an appropriate term for an obligor that breaches a duty. It should apply to tort and contractual duties and to substantial as well as procedural law.
I would also be interested in a corresponding passive term (for "obligor," it is "obligee").


texts: If one had an idea for an invention, but had no ability to make such a device, can you make the "idea" legally yours, insofar as it is specific?


texts: Is perimeter search without a warrant ever legal?

texts:
Are perimeter searches without consent nor warrant ever legal?

What if it's a motor vehicle / car?  Is the situation different with a house?


texts: As a consultant, is it acceptible to have two contracts for a given project (one from the agency, one from your entity)?

texts:
In the process of negotiating a web development or design project, the agency often provides a contract without favorable terms to the developer or designer (consultant).

Is it common for the designer or developer (consultant) to also have a contractual agreement they supply to the agency in order to further protect themselves or should the two parties be working to negotiate on the terms of the agencies original contract?


texts:
Consider the relationship:

mens rea:crime

as is:

?????:a line of questioning

In other words, is there a term that captures the intent \ mental state of a line of questioning?


texts: What is the benefit of Credential Evaluation for Green Card?

texts: My employer is applying for a Green Card for me, and my paralegal asked if I would like to go for credential evaluation of my educational record.  How does that affect a green card application?


texts: Video recording when your neighbours are creating nuisance?

texts: Is it illegal to make a video recording when your neighbours are creating nuisance in the back garden?


texts: How should I ask for permission to adapt a copyrighted work for non-commercial purposes?

texts:
I‘m part of a small group of hobbyist producing an audio play podcast for fun. We don‘t make any revenue - no ads, no donations, no fees, no affiliate links. We have around 600 listeners.

Now we have come across a novella from the 60s which we would like to adapt into an audio play. The copyright owners seem to be the author‘s heirs, represented by an estate representative.

What would be a good way to ask the rights holders for permission?


texts: Can/should a lease say what happens if a rule isn't followed?

texts:
Let's say you have a lease for a rental property that says

no smoking in the house
$5 will be charged for any unreturned keys at end of tenancy
no noisy parties

For #1 what happens if the tenant is caught smoking in the house? Should #1 be rewritten to specify what would happen, for example "no smoking in the house or tenant would be charged for carpet cleaning"?

For #2 is it legal to decide any amount for unreturned keys or other items? For example could it say $100 for every unreturned key?

For #3 can something intangible be enforced/sued for?


texts: Is downloading YouTube videos legal for personal use?

texts:
Hypothetical: I am learning a language at the moment and have found certain playlists very useful. I want to have them on the go and have written an application to download and manage downloaded videos, strictly for personal use.

Could I get in any kind of legal trouble doing this?


texts:
In the US, what is the process for passing a new law? What are the stages and what are the regulatory bodies involved? Does it depend on the type of law?

Also, once a law is passed, is there any legal procedure by which such law can be withdrawn?

Finally, are there any international bodies which can override a US law?


texts: How dangerous is it for British lawyers to give advice on Law Stack Exchange?

texts:
How risky is it for people to self-identify as legal professionals and answer questions here?

In Britain, precedent such as Chaudry v Prabhakar – 1989 can make British lawyers reticent to give informal advice, even when outside of a professional or business context.

I do wonder whether the site disclaimer is sufficient to protect against a claim for incorrect advice however.

  Law Stack Exchange is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for individualized advice from a qualified legal practitioner. Communications on Law Stack Exchange are not privileged communications and do not create an attorney-client relationship.

It is also questionable as to whether professional indemnity insurance in the U.K. would cover a British lawyer sued in this way.

So, what are the risks for British lawyers, and do other countries rulings similar to Chaudry v Prabhakar – 1989?

I don't believe this is a duplicate of other 'advice on stack exchange' questions, as it addresses more specific concerns. Also, I posted this on the main site rather than on Meta as it's an interesting legal question in its own right.

Also I acknowledge that there may be selection bias in responses by legal professionals prepared to answer this. *8')


texts: Does the language “willing to take” provide a way to not follow through with a term on a contract?

texts:
My wife and I are selling our house in Illinois. As part of the sale, the agent of the buyer said that they will take a 1% commission instead of 2.5% to cover some of the closing costs. The costs are $5,000, and $2,000 of the that would come from the agent.

But the wording of her email concerned us a little. It reads:

“I am sending this email to confirm that I am willing to take 1% commission (instead of the stated 2.5%) for the sale of [our address]. This allowing the seller to contribute $2,000 more towards a closing credit for my client. I was told by my office as well that the amount will be reflected on the commission statement.”

Our concern is with “willing to take.” We were told by our agent that the email is legally binding.

Should we be concerned about this language? Can the agent decide not to follow through with this? Should we ask for more definite terms?


texts: Are you liable to your email signature regardless of email address?

texts:
This question is related to this case.
As far as I understand, email address (the domain) is like the letterhead. Email sent from an unofficial domain is not official.
For example, if I send an email from my gmail account and sign

John Doe
President of the United States of America

Is it still a criminal offense because of being an imposter?


texts: Can one person be charged for producing the (inherently dangerous and possibly contraband) murder tool used by someone else?

texts:
If Person A manufactured a poison, and it was given to somebody else by Person B, without Person A's knowledge, what could Person A be charged with?

I am writing a novel for NaNoWriMo and I have set up this situation as a driving force for the mystery. I am just unsure what crime the police could charge Person A with (if not murder, which they suspect he committed).

My first instinct was involuntary manslaughter, but it doesn't seem to fit correctly, and I am unsure how to proceed, as my background is not in law.


texts: Is it considered rape if a victim doesn't understand what is happening?

texts:
If a person engages in sexual intercourse with another who lacks sexual education is it a crime?  If so what is the crime?
More specifically, suppose the innocent party is a minor (say around 12 years old) who does not know about sex.  Suppose also that the perpetrator is a minor but does have sexual education.
I'm particularly interested in law applicable to Kentucky.


texts: What argument supports a right to bear arms but denies a right to bear nuclear weapons?

texts:
Per the second amendment:  A lot of people really want to be able to declare that they can own any weapon they want but then the argument absurd is always, "Well that means you could own a nuke too."

Is there any legal academic literature that supports owning any weapon except nukes?


texts: Is it legal to deceive someone into following through with an already-signed contract?

texts:
This is entirely hypothetical but I was thinking about it today and was wondering if it was legal or not.

Let's say a sign a contract with a company to produce 100 widgets a month for $50/month, plus a $500 setup fee. It will cost me $500 to set up production and cost me $0.25 each to produce. I will ship out the 100 widgets on the 14th of every month, and the payment for those widgets ($50) will get sent on the 21st of the same month.

I receive the initial $500 setup fee and the check clears, so I start production and ship out the widgets on the 14th. On the 21st, I don't receive any money, so I call up the company I signed an agreement with and they tell me to go pound dirt - they're not sending any money. So far, I have spent $525 on production and have only received $500, even though I should have received $550.

After they tell me to go away, I call the company again and offer to produce the remaining widgets at just $0.10 each if they send me the $50 owed to me. They agree, but upon receiving the check I do not produce any more widgets and ignore all contact with the company.

For the sake of this question, assume the contract is a standard contract and completly enforceable. Would this be legal?


texts: Questions regarding laws on technology designed to avoid prosecution?

texts:
From my understanding it is illegal to operate a car with a radar detector installed in all states of Australia, but.

Is it illegal to posses one if it's not being used?
Would there be anything in Australian law that prevented an Australian company from manufacturing them?
What if the products were for export to international markets where they were legal?
Is there a crime involved with designing a piece of technology that would aid the consumer to avoid detection and or prosecution for an offence?
What if secondary non illegal use cases could be argued?


texts:
I live in a rental apartment in Florida. This apartment is located in a 7-story building with an attached 7-story garage. Main entry points on each floor have closed-circuit cameras monitored by security guards. The doors on the street-level are locked and can only be opened when swiping a badge at an adjacent sensor.

On another hand it is (technically) possible to enter the building from the garage without swiping a badge, although in this case an alarm will sound and the security team is alerted.

And like other apartment complexes, this one also provides a maintenance service that can come and repair any broken appliances such as the AC or the dishwasher.

The maintenance service people are able to enter the apartment on their own key although they typically knock first. However they usually do not inform us ahead of time of when they might be here (probably because they are on premise and it's a single building so it is easier for them to just 'pop by').

Now after reading news articles such as this one (about an apartment security guard that was arrested for Florida woman’s murder) I have a problem with the personnel having an unrestricted access to my apartment.

I would like to be able to install a security chain on the inside of my apartment door, but I noticed that the contract says the following:

  Right to Enter and Terminate. Resident(s) consent to Owner entering the Premises at any time and for any purpose without notice.

Can my landlord legally say no to installing a security chain on my apartment door?


texts:
I'm about to start a small business and am going to do it under an LLC (sole proprietorship in federal tax eyes). I had assumed a much heftier tax rate around ~30% but I'm seeing just tax for self-employment which comes to around 15-16%.

Is that all the tax that I'd owe on my company income which in essence "flows-through" to me?


texts: When does a digital document become subject to copyright?

texts:
In the USA, a document is subject to copyright when it is "fixed in a tangible medium". What counts as "fixing in a tangible medium" for a digital document? Is it enough to save a copy of the file to a local, private disk, or must said file be made available to another person (e.g. via publication on the internet)?

To make this concrete, let's suppose Alice has a version control repository (such as Git), which is initially private and is later made public. In the USA, at what point does the contents of the repository become subject to copyright? (Assuming that the contents are of a type of material eligible for copyright.)

Consider the following hypothetical timeline:

2010: Alice initializes a Git repository. It is initially empty and is stored only on Alice's local computer.
2011: Alice creates and adds file A to the repository. (The repository is still private.)
2012: Alice creates and adds file B to the repository. (Again private.)
2013: Alice makes the repository publicly available.
2014: Alice adds file C to the repository (which is now public, so the file is published immediately).

Now, what is the correct copyright year to apply to each file in the repository? (Let's assume the files are not modified after they are added. Let's also suppose that the version control system metadata, including timestamps, is correct and hasn't been altered.)

For file C, the answer is fairly obvious: the file was created, added, and published in 2014, so the copyright date has to be 2014.

For A and B, the answer isn't so obvious. I used to think the answer was 2013, since that was the time at which the files were made publicly available. However, I recently talked to a laywer about the case of a physical document which is later published, and said laywer (though not providing legal advice) said the copyright date would be the time at which that physical document was created, rather than published (since at the time of creation, it is already fixed in a tangible medium, even if it hasn't yet been published). If that is true, the copyright dates for A and B would have to be 2011 and 2012, respectively, since that is when those files are authored and created.


texts: Why OpenBazaar is legal and Silk Road was busted?

texts: I don't get it. Why OpenBazaar is considered legal and LE is ok with OB2, but Silk Road was the devil inside. Is it due the the ways it did marketing.


texts: hearing date keeps getting extended - Ukraine

texts:
Sequence of events:
November 2019: Person A and Person B are caught shoplifting at a major grocery chain in Lviv
December 2019 - February 2020: Deposition/Discovery happens. First hearing. They plead guilty and Judge gives a date for next hearing in March 2020
March 2020: No hearing. They get a call from their advocate that next date is in April.
April 2020 - July 2020: Covid hits. New date received in August 2020.
August 2020: No hearing. They get a call from their advocate that next date is in September.
September 2020: Hearing happens. Judge says he cannot pronounce the sentence as injured party is not present. New date October 2020
October 2020: No hearing. They get a call from their advocate that next date is in November.
My question: Can the court just change the date without accused being present? It looks like "court business" is being conducted over the phone.
Is there something goofy going on in here or is normal in Ukraine?


texts:
Florida enables recording of HOA meetings:

FLORIDA STATUTE 718.112(2)(C) states: Board of administration
meetings.—Meetings of the board of administration at which a quorum of
the members is present are open to all unit owners. Members of the
board of administration may use e-mail as a means of communication but
may not cast a vote on an association matter via e-mail. A unit owner
may tape record or videotape the meetings. The right to attend such
meetings includes the right to speak at such meetings with reference
to all designated agenda items. The division shall adopt reasonable
rules governing the tape recording and videotaping of the meeting. The
association may adopt written reasonable rules governing the
frequency, duration, and manner of unit owner statements.

If the meeting is done through the phone, to avoid problems caused by COVID-19.  Does recording over the phone create a conflict with Florida wire-tapping laws?
934.03 Interception and disclosure of wire, oral, or electronic communications prohibited.
Because Florida requires all parties to consent, if any party did not consent then this would veto the right of other owners to record.
Which statute would take precedent and why?  Ideally there would be relevant cases to provide precedent.
Florida Statues: 934.03 Interception and disclosure of wire, oral, or electronic communications excerpt:
(h) It shall **not** be unlawful under this section and ss. 934.04-934.09 for any person:
1. To intercept or access an electronic communication made through an electronic communication system that is configured so that such electronic communication is readily accessible to the general public.
2. To intercept any radio communication which is transmitted:
a. By any station for the use of the general public, or that relates to ships, aircraft, vehicles, or persons in distress;
b. By any governmental, law enforcement, civil defense, private land mobile, or public safety communications system, including any police or fire communications system, readily accessible to the general public;
c. By a station operating on an authorized frequency within the bands allocated to the amateur, citizens band, or general mobile radio services; or
d. By any marine or aeronautical communications system.
3. To engage in any conduct which:
a. Is prohibited by s. 633 of the Communications Act of 1934; or
b. Is excepted from the application of s. 705(a) of the Communications Act of 1934 by s. 705(b) of that act.


texts: Transcrbing Website Articles for the Blind and Copyright Laws

texts: What are the legalities for a website article transcribing service for the blind. Essentially a service that reads articles to create audio files so that the blind can listen to the content instead of having to read it, which they obviously cannot do. Fees would be charged for the service of transcribing, not for the content which is available free online. Obviously, if the content is only available through a paid service, then that would be a different story, but I am focused on the transcribing of content available free online.


texts: how intellectual property can be protected while it is undisclosed?

texts:
i have learned that " Contrary to patents, trade secrets are protected without registration, that is, trade secrets require no procedural formalities for their protection. A trade secret can be protected for an unlimited period of time, unless it is discovered or legally acquired by others and disclosed to the public. For these reasons, the protection of trade secrets may appear to be particularly attractive for certain companies. There are, however, some conditions for the information to be considered a trade secret.
source

So, if a competitive company stole an idea from another company and says it has discovered such idea, what the original company have with them to demand the Intellectual property, as they haven't registered or disclosed certain idea.


texts: I got a ticket for driving on suspended license. I appeared for arraignment but the court did not have any record of it. How long does the officer have to file that ticket in the state of Michigan.


texts: Is it legal to use the same signature to sign multiple digital documents, in Europe?

texts:
When not using e-signatures we have to sign by "pen" even digital documents, then scan and sending them.

If I scan only my signature and then I add it to various documents - via for example a pdf editor - as-is without re-scanning it (so no subtle differences whatsoever), is it still valid?

Location: Europe


texts: Can Trump legally sell stocks on Friday, tweet about imposing tariffs on Sunday and then buy more of the stocks back on Monday?

texts: Trump could have made a lot of money by selling stocks before tweeting about imposing tariffs on China and then buying more of them back when the price of the stocks has dropped. Would this fall under the ban on insider trading, or does insider trading only apply to confidential information about companies?


texts: Copyright status of photo of copyrighted painting

texts:
A museum has a very famous painting that is familiar to people across America. However, the museum says it owns the copyright, and you can't display pictures of the painting without paying a fee.
But someone takes a photograph of the painting and makes it available on Flickr with a Creative Commons license that allows commercial use.
Can the photo of the picture be used commercially? Or is this photographer in violation of the law?


texts: What are the health and safety laws surrounding a building owned by a charity?

texts:
I'm a member of a charity that owns a building of which there are regular meetings. The building is also open to the public so they are free to walk in if they wish.

Is there any website / document that describes the legal requirements we must assure for health and safety? i.e We currently have people assigned as "attendants" to man the front door - Is this a requirement? We lock the door so people can't just walk in at night time when we're in the building etc (the door can be opened from the inside out, but not outside in).

I'm trying to establish if we need to do anything more to adhere to our responsibilities legally,


texts: How strictly will a small claims court apply the language of my lease in Florida

texts:
I'm having a typical tenant landlord dispute. The TLDR is that I'm the tenant and my property manager is claiming exorbitant damages and landscaping clean up fees as well as home cleaning fees to a property we rented in Florida for 1 year.
I've moved to NJ after that rental. I want to take him to small claims as I have video of the house when we left it showing that it was not dirty enough to warrant 1k clean up but the main thing I think I can get him on is that he didn't follow the language of the lease in the security deposit section. He didn't send a certified letter letting me know his intent to make claims within 30 days. 33 days after the lease ended, he mailed a certified letter with a check that had a tiny fraction of the of the security deposit and a letter detailing what was deducted and why. (Hes supposed to allow me 15 days to refute any claims he was making).
He did send an email 15 days after we left saying he was "waiting for bills from the cleaners". However, along with the check that he sent 33 days after the lease ended, he sent a letter detailing what was deducted and why. However, On 9/13/20, he sent another email with a bill from the cleaners attached that is dated 8/31 (the last day of the lease) claiming he had just received it. He's going to claim they didn't get him a bill until 8/31 (I know he probably got them to make up a phony bill with that date exactly 30 days after the lease ended and claim that's why he couldn't send the certified letter in time)
In our back and forth where I told him I was going to take him to court and sue him for the legal fees+the security in an effort to have him just return the security deposit he claimed that the landlord "knows the best real estate lawyer in Florida" and that I'd be the one getting stuck paying the legal fees.
I've reached out to lawyers in the area but everyone is trying to charge 300-400 just for a consultation fee but I would be devastated if I had to pay for the 2 trips to Florida (for mediation + small claims court appearance) and I ended up losing and being forced to pay his legal fees on top of losing my security deposit.
I believe I have a very strong case outside of just the 30 day clause refuting the costs hes claiming but I'm kind of lost as to how to go about fighting this.
My main question is: how strictly will a small claims court uphold the language of the lease. Will they be lenient enough and assume an email is good enough for a certified letter or will it be simply - didn't comply with the 30 days, you lose.


texts: How can an objective standard be subjectively applied?

texts:
Source: Canadian Tort Law in a Nutshell, 4 ed. p. 66 Bottom

   Not every error made by a professional, amounts to negligence. The law does
  distinguish between incompetence and mere "errors in judgment." An error falls
  into the latter category if it is the kind of error a competent professional might
  make.34 This appears to be an objective standard which is subjectively applied, as
  there are no clear criteria from the cases indicating how errors of judgment are to
  be identified.

  34Lapointe c. Hôpital Gardeur (1992), 90 D.L.R. (4th) 7, 1992 CarswellQue 47, 1992 CarswellQue
  131, 10 C.C.L.T. (2d) 101, [19921 1 S.C.R. 351, 9 C.P.C. (3d) 78, (sub nom. Lapointe v. Chevrette)
  133 N.R. 1 16, (sub nom. Lapointe v. Chevrette) 45 Q.A.C. 262, [1992] S.C.J. No. 11 (S.C.C.); Pelky
  v. Hudson Bay Insurance Co. (1981), 35 O.R. (2d) 97, 1981 CarswellOnt 706, [1982] 1.L.R. 1-1493

How exactly would an objective standard (henceforth OS) be applied subjectively? How does subjective application differ from objective application of an OS?


texts: Are corporation assets included on IRS offer in compromise (form 433-A)?

texts:
In the IRS offer in compromise process, the individual fills out the 433-A form that lists their personal assets.  What if the individual is the sole shareholder of a standalone, incorporated business? Will the assets of that incorporated business have to be listed on the 433-A financial disclosure form?
Scenario 1.  The individual is self employed, bills his clients thru an "LLC type corporation". The individual's tax return is filed as 1040, self employed. With the net income of the LLC listed as income on the 1040.
Scenario 2. The individual is the sole shareholder of a "subchapter C corporation" that has 2 employees, the individual and one other. The corporation derives its income from work the two employees do for clients. The corp files its own tax return. And pays a salary to the individual and the other employee.
In both scenarios there is cash in the checking account of the corporation.  Is that cash required to be listed on the 433-A financial disclosure form?


texts: Can a landlord forbid subletting if not stated in the lease?

texts:
Situation: I don't want to renew my lease, but found a place that's available 2 months before my current expires.

My solution: I found a replacement tenant, and offered to do whatever cleaning is necessary for them to move in. The unit would be vacant for 0 days. I also am willing to remain legally responsible for rent, and wait 2 months to get my deposit back. I'm not sure if I could be more accommodating as a tenant.

Result: Refusal. The manager said I cannot terminate or sublet. They did say I could pay the remaining 2 months rent up front and end the lease.

The lease: My lease explicitly disallows early termination by the tenant. Period. The lease is silent on subletting though. Not sure if it matters, but there is a "use" clause restricting, the use to residential property by myself and wife.

Question: Can I legally allow my replacement tenant to move in, pay rent to me, and I pay the landlord? It doesn't seem right that the landlord can verbally add sublet restrictions not listed in the lease.

Caveat: I realize I can just do this without the landlord's notice, and they all they could do is evict / terminate the lease, and they probably wouldn't. I'm not afraid of that risk, but I'd rather not actually break the law even if I can technically get away with it.

Also, I live in Atlanta, Georgia.


texts: How to legally exploit an old Jazz music without copyright issues?

texts:
I am an amateur musician and I would like to do some mixage (partial exploitation, such as a melody) or remix of some Jazz oldies and publish them in Youtube.

I don't earn money from this (no video monetizing) so I don't envisage to spend money (on copyright), except on the Digital Audio Workstation (software for mixing).

Are there conditions? What are they if any? Ex: The minimum age of a music ? Partial exploitation..?

Thank you


texts: Can a company withdraw their decision without compensation?

texts:
A company allows eligible person to use their service at a discounted rate. Somebody would like to enjoy the discount but was not 100 percent sure about his eligibility. He then simply submitted the application, provided no fake documents, and the application was approved. The time was 2015.

That person needs to renew his subscription annually, and the most recent (and successful) renewal occurred on March 2017. Before that the T&C has changed, of which the person is not aware. Additionally, the T&C applicable to the every-year subscription is the then-effective one at the time of renewal.

On June 2017 the company decided to terminate the service to the person because they think he is not eligible. In the T&C the company does have the right to "verify the eligibility of the person and terminate the service to the ineligible at any time". However before the termination the person has made several successful payments (on a monthly basis), which are also accepted by the company. I may safely assume here that the company has approved the person's eligibility for this year's subscription? And since the most recent renewal there is no change in the T&C, and no change in the person's status since 2015, from which I would like to assume no reason for invalidation of his eligibility.

Is my logic legally valid?

Location: WA, United States


texts:
I require somebody else's property to be removed from land I am freeholder of as I need the space myself. I think that:

Them refusing to remove it is "tresspass", a civil wrong.

I can take them to court for it and be awarded compensation for "nuisance".

Is this correct?


texts: Is it legal to create a service that help people filling up small claim court forms?

texts:
I have an idea of an online service that prepares forms and letters for small claim courts. The service would take an input from a user, analyze it and output documents required to file a small court claim and instruction for a user.

Is such a service legal in California? I'm a software engineer, not a certified lawyer.


texts: Could I write a new Frankenstein book since it's public domain?

texts: I was largely just wondering about this as there are a number of very fun, interesting things that could be done with the character.


texts: How does the CLOUD Act apply for non-US persons' data stored on US-owned servers outside the USA?

texts:
The Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act or CLOUD Act (H.R. 4943) was signed into law on March 23, 2018.

The law became necessary because the previous legislation in the Stored Communications Act (SCA) of 1986 was written before the advent of cloud computing, and it was unclear whether the US Government could demand that American companies turn over data that was stored on foreign servers.

The law provides a framework for the United States to enter into bilateral agreements with other countries in relation to how data can be demanded/shared, but it also provides additional rules in absence of the bilateral agreements (none of which exist at this time).

Under the CLOUD Act, can a US company be compelled by US courts to turn over data about a foreign (non-US) person if that data is stored on a foreign (non-US) server owned by the US company?

For example, Amazon is a US company and they have an AWS Region in Canada. Since the data is stored in Canada, the CLOUD Act governs how US courts may demand access to that data.

A Canadian company probably should not store personal (e.g. healthcare) information about their clients on a server where it would be vulnerable to foreign courts without the approval of Canadian courts.

Therefore, this question has a significant effect on whether Canadian companies can use US-owned cloud services even if the data is held in Canada.

My vague understanding is that the Cloud Act permits the US Government to demand cooperation from US companies with data overseas belonging to "US persons", with the possible exception that the US company has options to respond if this would violate the laws of the country where the data is stored.

But what if the foreign data belongs to a non-US person? In that case, I am hoping that this would only be permitted according to the rules of one of the as yet unwritten reciprocal agreements with the foreign government.


texts: Has anyone been convicted of campaign finance violations by paying an informant before an election?

texts:
The Atlantic reports

  In pleading guilty to violations of campaign-finance laws, Cohen said that the then-candidate Trump had directed him to do so, arranging payments to two women who alleged affairs with Trump in order to hush them up and affect the result of the 2016 election.

Cohen has plead guilty to eight felonies, including  campaign finance violations by paying of a woman to keep her quiet leading up to the US Federal election.

Has anyone ever been charged with - much less convicted of - unduly influencing a campaign and election results by paying an informant to not come forward with "damning" information?

Has anyone ever been tried and convicted of similar transgressions in any US election?


texts: Would it be by US law a discrimination to limit a job offer by IQ?

texts:
I am not sure whether there have been cases already in US.

Would it be illegal to say in a job offer they require people from a certain IQ level?


texts: Will a copyright holder lose the right to enforce copyright if they're not enforcing it on some stuff, or even just have problems enforcing it?

texts:
I'll give an example to make the question more clear.

Recently a person uploaded and made public a clone of Super Mario, able to run on Commodore 64. This is clearly not just a pirate copy of the old game, but it could contain such a thing. Regardless, even if he coded and drew everything from scratch, he still violated Nintendos copyright. So say Nintendo which promptly 4 days later had enforced their DMCA takedown and the content was pulled.

Now, comments I see many places online relates to how un-nice that was of Nintendo. Typically it ends with something like "- It's not like they're losing any money over this".

Now, is this comment actually true? Let's assume that Nintendo doesn't sell this particular game any more so from actual sales, let's assume the meaning of that comment is true. They won't lose a sale to this clone because they're simply not selling the game.

However, ...

I recall having read that if a copyright holder doesn't enforce his copyright claims, for things like older content in this case, they risk having problems enforcing copyright claims on new stuff.

So my question is this, is this true? Will a copyright holder get some kind of problems enforcing copyright on new, still-being-sold goods, if they're lax on protecting older goods?

In other words, if Nintendo looked the other way in this case, could they risk having problems enforcing DMCA takedowns and copyright claims on copies or clones of Super Mario Bros on Switch (as an example), a game which still sells quite nicely I suspect?


texts: In fiction, is it legal to state a newspaper wrote an article when in fact it never did?

texts:
I'm writing a novel. I have a line in my book that goes something like this:

  He looked at the newspaper on the table. The Chicago Tribune featured an article that read, "Hank Reed sentenced to 20 years in prison."

The Chicago Tribune is a real newspaper and the article above has never been featured in the newspaper. Is it legally permissible to claim that the Chicago Tribune wrote this article? I have the normal disclaimers in the front of the book, but I'm not sure if that protects me.


texts: Can versioning of legal documents from many different countries hope to work by just using the name of the document?

texts:
A coworker is suggesting to have laws versioned in a system we're building by using the name of the document and the date of change, under the supposition that names of documents will remain the same between versions. This system needs to handle laws from lots of countries, as well as international regulations from organizations like the EU etc.

It is my experience that laws do not keep the same name in all versions for all particular lands, so to implement this would require extra administrative work. I am wondering if anyone can say how prevalent keeping the same name between versions of law is. Or cast light on versioning problems regarding laws from multiple countries.


texts: Implications with states that classify traffic infractions as misdemeanors

texts:
It appears that some states, for example, Wyoming, classify most traffic infractions as misdemeanors.

Does it imply that someone who has committed a 5 mph speeding in such a state is technically a full fledged criminal, whereas another person doing the same in a state like California never is?


texts: Is copying the User Interface and features of an Android app considered illegal in US?

texts:
I live in US and I am a freelance developer.

If I take a popular yet generic Android app (such as a calendar app or a note taking app) made by a company in United states and make an app which looks almost similar to it, with the same User interface and features, but without using any of their content (such as images, music, etc), is it considered legal?

What if I make the app a non-profit freeware (no ads, no purchasable content) ?


texts: Manager interrogating employee about sick days

texts:
My friend is working in a big company. She used to be pretty autonomous and self managing. After restructuring her job responsibilities were completely changed and she was placed under an extremely micromanaging and controlling manager. The manager has no business knowledge about the job but does not listen to suggestions from my friend. Previously she was free to work remotely but now it is completely forbidden - she has to be in the office at 9am sharp for no reason other than pleasing the manager.

All this is of course creating lots of tension between them. As a result my friend takes somewhat more sick days than usual, sometimes mainly to cope with the stress and anxiety. All these absences have been accepted by the company and any proof of illness was not required.

Recently my friend was told by her manager that "the HR has noticed a pattern in her absences and require an interview". When asked for confirmation over email to have this in writing, it turned out this was really a meeting between her and the manager, with a random third party friendly with the manager noting everything down:

  Hi Friend,

  Thanks for speaking with me just now, as discussed - I think there’s been crossed wires here.

  To be clear, the meeting on Thursday is a meeting to discuss your levels of absence, and to establish whether there have been any patterns or anything which merits a formal investigation.

  Following the meeting, should the outcome be we decide formal investigation will be required, the investigation will be led by HR.

  This is not a disciplinary matter as of yet, however should l the matter be raised to a formal investigation it may result in a performance improvement plan or other measures to see what we can do support to you with managing your absence levels.

  XX is another sector head who is going to be joining the meeting to take notes so we can ensure that everything discussed is noted down correctly and fairly, she will not be participating in the meeting but rather taking notes.

  Let me know if you want to discuss this further.

  Thanks,
  Manager

Judging from the manager's past behaviour, this will likely be an interrogation asking about exact details of all of her sick leaves, all in the presence of another unrelated person noting everything down. Needless to say this makes my friend extremely uncomfortable.

Is it even legal for the manager to organise something like this? Can the meeting be recorded by my friend and should it be, either openly or secretly?


texts: What's the best way to include e-mails as evidence from a technical perspective?

texts:
It probably would be easiest to copy and paste quotes from emails into my evidence submission. But of course text could easily be changed in this format. I could take a screen shot of the email as I received it, and include the screen shot as evidence. The problem with this is highlighting certain lines of text would be harder.

The tribunal I am going through requests documents be submitted electronically.

At one point a person who tried to help mediate entered the conversation by e-mail. Out of privacy to him, can I redact his name or email address? The point would be the defendant did agree to something, but he sent it to the mediator and told him to forward it to me. (this wasn't a professional mediator, more like a mutual friend).


texts: What does "majority at" mean in ruling documents

texts:
Example document:
https://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/886946.pdf

p. 13:

  Instead of following Cox, 14 the majority relies on City of Houston v.
  Hill, 482 U.S. 451, 107 S. Ct. 2502, 96 L. Ed. 2d 398 (1987) to
  support the notion that "obstruction statutes may not be used to limit
  citizens' right to express verbal criticism, even abusive criticism,
  at police officers." Majority at 12.

What does "Majority at 12" mean?

A footnote on page 16 says "Majority at 12 n.9.". What does the "n.9" mean?


texts: What are the limits to presuming one has permission to enter a property if not explicitly told not to enter it?

texts:
The USA federal law for trespassing states:

  A person commits an offense if, knowing that he or she is not licensed or privileged to do so, he or she enters or surreptitiously remains in any building or occupied structure.

I'm curious how explicit one's knowledge that they lack privilege to enter anther's property must be before they are guilty of trespassing.

I have to assume that there has been some precedent set that states that if a reasonable person has reason to believe they have 'privileged' to enter a building then I wouldn't be guilty trespassing, thus the reason I can enter a store or my local church without asking explicit permission first.

I'm curious about this precedent I assume must exists, and where the lines are drawn on it.  Is there case law that defines when one is allowed to presume they have permission, in absence of being explicitly forbidden, to enter a building?  And where do they draw the line on ones ability to presume they have such privilege?

Could I walk into any strangers house because they haven't explicitly told me they don't want me to, or does case law say a reasonable person should know they are not welcome in a strangers home?  Could my kids go jumping on a neighbor's trampoline or swim in their pool because the neighbor never built a fence or told them they weren't welcome?


texts: I am an F1 student on OPT and my employer is based out of Washington. This would be my only source of income. Given the remote work situation now, I am planning to stay in a different state and work. As I am a non resident in the state that I am temporarily in and my income source is only in Washington, would I owe taxes in my current state. Specifically, I am thinking about Georgia and Missouri.


texts: Can you file a lawsuit before paying unwarranted damage charges?

texts:
I recently moved out of my apartment and was just sent a bill for $608.93 for "damages" that I believe are completely unfounded (some of which I noted on my original move-in condition form).

I obviously don't want to pay these damages, but can I file a lawsuit in small claims court to have these damage charges reversed before paying them? If not, what are my options? Should I pay and then file a lawsuit in small claims court?

The other possible option is since the apartment complex is holding on to my $250 security deposit because of these damages, I file a lawsuit to get my security deposit back before paying the damages.


texts: Does copyright law apply if I download films in Iran?

texts:
I live at Iran. I would like to know if downloading films, like Hollywood films, via internet is illegal, if I don't pay money to the owner?
I'm asking because I read this:

Iran's copyright law does not protect authors outside of Iran either.
While Iran is a member of the World Intellectual Property Organisation
(WIPO), a specialized United Nations agency tasked with promoting the
protection of global intellectual property, it has never signed the
WIPO copyright treaty, nor any other international copyright
agreements that would make infringing copyrights of foreigners
unlawful.

If downloading is legal under Iranian law, is it illegal under international law, or perhaps under spiritual or religious law?
Thanks.


texts: How can I determine what license a video is under on youtube?

texts:
This video_1 claims it is under "Creative Commons BY-NC-SA", while this video_2 does not.

How can I determine what license a video (such as video_2) is under on youtube.


texts: Defective software update instructions irreparably breaks product. Do any UK consumer or product liability laws apply?

texts:
Note - I'm not asking legal advice. I already have a basis of claim in my actual case. But the case prompted a question mark over an apparent loophole in UK consumer protection/product liability law, and I'm wondering if it's covered in some consumer law I don't know about.

Background

I bought an expensive computer networking product, some years ago. The firmware hadn't been updated since, so I decided to do so. The manufacturer puts new firmware on their website, together with "release notes" (guidance and instructions concerning the update, and procedures to follow in updating). The instructions state simply, to upload the firmware to the device, and restart the device. No warnings or caveats are stated.

On following these instructions, the product was rendered inoperable - "bricked". I found numerous threads on the manufacturers support website where many people had exoerienced this exact same issue, often with this exact same model, over a period of months or years.  The manufacturers staff members' response was invariably that this update, applied as in the release notes, can irreparably break the product in some circumstances. Specifically, if the product still had old/original firmware, then the procedure in the release notes would render the product irreparable.  A completely different procedure, not in the notes or mentioned by them, should be followed instead. If the broken product was in warranty, it would be replaced, but otherwise nothing could be done except pay the very high price for out-of-warranty replacement/repair.

I'm happy to rely on tort in my own actual claim (see below), but it never hurts to know your law fully.  I am trying to understand whether any specific product safety laws apply as well, since the Consumer Rights Act 2015 seems to exclude this (it falls in various loopholes?):

CRA2015 for the update and release notes as "digital content". But s.33 says it is only covered if a price was paid (1), it was supplied free "with" other paid items (2), or it is not generally available unless some paid item was purchased (2). The update was free, it was supplied separately and independently from any paid product, and it is available freely to all, so this doesn't seem applicable.
CRA 2015 for the update and release notes as a "service". But s.48 seems to require a contract, and no explicit contract was required to be clicked for download or installation. Would a court impute a contract, sufficient to meet this requirement, regardless? If not, this doesn't seem applicable either.

Negligence seems clear (duty of care, reliance, defective software usage instructions known for years to cause serious damage, defective instructions continue to be provided with no warning, predictable damage resulted), so I'm happy about my own actual case, but I'm really surprised not to find any UK consumer protection for harm-causing product updates if they are made freely available after and separate from purchase, by a manufacturer, as this is such a common situation.

Are there any UK consumer laws or product safety/quality laws that might be applicable to free but defective software update?


texts: Do I need to verify the licensing of an image to be used on a clients website?

texts:
A client has sent me an image to use on her home page. If this image is stolen, am I (or my company) held liable?

Side/follow up question: In my personal work contracts, I add a clause stating that I assume all images sent by the client are OK to use and I am not responsible if not. Does this protect me sufficiently?


texts: Does someone in the U.S. illegally have the same rights in court as a U.S. citizen?

texts:
So right now in my home state of Iowa, an undocumented immigrant is on trial for murder charges. Apparently he wasn't read his rights when he was being investigated.
Whether that is true or not, does he have those same rights as a U.S. citizen?


texts: Legal options for someone going through my bank statements

texts: So I live at home with my mother and brother. I pay rent, comparatively not much but the amount was agreed upon. The other day I got home from work to find out she had not only gone through my bedroom without my permission, she had also found bank statements at the bottom of my draw and decided to look through them, again without permission. We have in fact had multiple arguements where she wanted me to show her my bank account and I had refused. Is there any legal action I can pursue to dissuade her from doing this again in the future?


texts: Wife sent to collections 3 years after a doctor's fee was settled (Connecticut)

texts:
Back in Sept 2011, my wife had her IUD removed during her annual female checkup. When she asked if the doctor would take it out, the doctor said "no problem" and basically pulled the attached removal string...took about 1 second.

Imagine our surprise when the office sent us a $250 bill for "surgery". I called to notify them of the mistake, and they reassured me that $250 was not a mistake, they can bill whatever they want, and if we didnt pay it, they would send us to collections. A day or so later I drafted a letter that briefly explained that the proposed bill was not justified or agreed to, but that we would pay $20 (still way more than justified) in order to settle the account..."Please cash the enclosed check for $20 to agree to this payment arrangement for all serviced rendered on 26-Oct-2011". Mailed this to the billing address by certified mail.

They cashed the check.

About a month later we got a bill that was noted "30 days past due" and another a month after that "60 days past due" and then a letter from a collections company. I called up the collections' phone number and explained that we had agreed to settle the account for $20 and provided them will a copy of the canceled check and a copy of the letter. They never called back.

Fast forward to 2015. We got another letter from a collections company (not sure if it was the same one) saying that they had done an audit and found that the account was past due and that we still owed money for this bill. I explained to them what happened over 3 years ago, and that their book keeping was in error - no money was due. She said that they would note the account, and I never heard back.

About a week ago, my wife and I were looking over our credit reports and saw that a collections notice had been added to her report...which dropped her score from over 800 to just barely over 700.

What is my best course of action? Submit a credit report dispute? Contact the collections agency? Contact the doctor's office? Contact the Better Business Bureau?

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.


texts: Can landlord backbill 4.5 years worth of utilities that were never billed to us bimonthly as directed in the lease? (RSO rental)

texts: My landlord has back-billed me for 4.5 years of water utilities and are saying I owe them money. The lease does state that the tenant pays for water (split as a percentage with the adjacent duplex unit), however, it also explicitly states that this utility would be billed to the tenants every two months. We have never received a single bill from them regarding this utility, nor have we received any notification of violating our lease. They have failed to bill us and are charging it as a lump sum. I asked them why they never billed us, when they did send the percentage bill to the adjacent unit, and all they said was theyre "not sure" and may have "overlooked it". They are desperate to get me to move out since it is a rent-controlled unit and I feel like they have done this to cause issues and force me to default on rent. Is this a legal practice? Does the "billing every two months" in the lease have any hold on this issue if they breached their own lease? We honestly forgot about this utility on our end because our other utilities are on autopay, and without receiving any bills, it was out of sight out of mind. Is there anything we can do?


texts: Translating into French a book published in the US?

texts:
So there is this niche novel I read during high school and liked, it was maybe still is published in the US, and I would like to attempt translating it to French.

What authorizations if any are required/is it possible, to either make my translation freely available online, or publish it commercially in France?

Thanks


texts: Exemption for "conduct of litigation" as a lay representative?

texts:
The following activites are "reserved legal activities" per the Legal Services Act 2007 ("LSA 2007"), s 12(1):

(a) the exercise of a right of audience; (b) the conduct of litigation

Only authorised and exempt persons are allowed to carry out reserved legal activities (LSA 2007, s 13). In relation to the exercise of a right of audience, a person is exempt if they have "a right of audience before that court in relation to those proceedings granted by or under any enactment" (LSA 2007, s 19 and sch 3(1)(3)).
The Courts and Legal Services Act 1990, s 11(1) provides that:

The Lord Chancellor [may] by order provide that there shall be no
restriction on the persons who may exercise rights of audience, or
rights to conduct litigation, in relation to proceedings in the county
court of such a kind as may be specified in the order.

Such an order has been passed in relation to rights of audience for the small claims track of the County Court. The Lay Representatives (Rights of Audience) Order 1999, art 3(1) provides that:

[any] person may exercise rights of audience in proceedings dealt with
as a small claim in accordance with rules of court.

I have checked Westlaw and there does not appear to be an equivalent order made under the Act for the conduct of litigation.
The right of audience is confirmed in the Civil Procedure Rules in relation to the small claims track. CPR 27 PD 3.2(1): "A party may present his own case at a hearing or a lawyer or lay representative may present it for him" and CPR 27 PD 3.2(4): "Any of its officers or employees may represent a corporate party."
Further rights are granted to company representatives for other tracks. CPR 39.6: "A company or other corporation may be represented at trial by an employee if (a) the employee has been authorised by the company or corporation to appear at trial on its behalf; and (b) the court gives permission."
My question: is there any associated exemption for the conduct of litigation, to mirror the rights of audience for lay representatives? It seems somewhat strange that a lay representative on the small claims track can address the judge and interview witnesses, but cannot issue the claim or conduct any other ancillary administrative tasks relating to the proceedings. On the other hands, I believe barristers using the direct access scheme face a similar restriction so perhaps this is a deliberate omission in the exemptions.


texts:
I consider my questions brilliant and I want to reserve my rights to publish them in other forums.
Am I allowed to do that or do I need permissions?


texts: What does it take for witness testimony to be believed?

texts:
I'm imagining a very generic situation of violence. Say there are two groups of people, W (witnesses) and A (accused). Some members of group A are accused of an act of violence from all members of group W. All members of group A, whether directly accused or not, deny this accusation.

Apart from this witness testimony, the only other piece of evidence are the injuries sustained by members of group W. However, these injuries are minor enough so that they could be self-inflicted (e.g., torn clothes, a few bruises, or a small flesh-wound cut from a knife).

There is no other evidence. No physical evidence, like a knife or a security camera. Nobody has an alibi either. And there's no good reason for why the supposed violence occurred. The members of W simply claim that it happened and that it was perpetrated by members of A.

The situation is generic, but I think I have described it well enough for one to address it specifically. What happens? With whom does the Law side? How does the answer depend on the sizes of group W and group A?


texts: Special immunity that newspapers do not enjoy

texts:
Pai said in a statement Thursday.

“Social media companies have a First Amendment right to free speech.
But they do not have a First Amendment right to a special immunity
denied to other media outlets, such as newspapers and broadcasters.”

This is in regards to regulating "social media" outlets.
What immunity do newspapers NOT have that the likes of Facebook enjoy?
I ask, because I was under the understanding that a newspaper would be enjoying greater freedoms, as they have very explicit first amendment protection.
Note this question is in law section, only interested in how newspapers are regulated, whereas "social media" companies are not. What greater freedoms do these companies enjoy.


texts:
I have several projects and inventions the development of which I would like to chronicle on YouTube, however I'm also aware of the risks in doing so as anyone viewing the videos would be able to steal the concepts shown before any formal patent is filed. Ideally I'd like to release most of my work under some sort of open source license that allows non-commercial and educational use.

My question isn't about what license would cover this, but rather:
What license, if any, could I release the videos under that would immediately protect their subject/contents?

I can find many licenses that protect the videos themselves, but none that cover the subjects shown in the video. I would imagine something along those lines exists, as the videos themselves would also serve as proof of original development. I've tried finding information on this myself but can't quite seem to find exactly what I'm looking for, I hope someone here may be able to help me.


texts: If I use the Deposit Protection Service-provided Alternative Dispute Resolution, is there any danger of legal fees or legal consequences?

texts:
The background of the dispute is below. To be clear, this is not really about the money, but about the principle. I believe the landlord is attempting to take advantage, and many tenants more timid than myself would simply knuckle under and pay. I want to make the landlord understand she won't get away with treating people this way.

The DPS provides a dispute resolution service which the landlord is proposing to use, if I do not pay up the £150 she wants to replace the hob. The only circumstances I would pay up, rather than go to the dispute resolution, is if I were exposing myself to some significant risk by choosing the latter.

IOW: is it plausible that the dispute resolution service would hand me a significantly bigger bill than this landlord is demanding? Is it likely that they could turn around and say 'she only asked for £150, but actually you have to pay her £2000', or something like that? (for reference, the deposit is £1200)

**Edit: A user asked why I would think that a bill of (say) £2000 is a possibility. As it happens, I don't think that such a big bill is a possible consequence of going through the DPS resolution process. I am asking because my partner wants to just pay up and be done with it, because she is afraid of unforeseen consequences. I want to be able to reassure my partner that those fears are unfounded.

The point is, it commonplace for the DPS to look at the evidence and decide the landlord deserves more than the landlord asked for?**

The background

I have recently moved out of rented accommodation. I am having a dispute with my landlord over the deposit, which is lodged with the DPS (I checked, it is).

The dispute is over a gas hob. The hob is controlled by plastic nobs, one of which I broke while cleaning.

My ex-landlord believes that this means the hob is now unsafe and unusable. She wants to replace the whole hob with a new one, and charge us for it.

I think this is absurd, because:
1) The hob was not new when I moved in two years ago, let alone now. Buying a new hob is not mitigating her losses.

edit: clarification regarding above -- I'm no lawyer. But it's my understanding that if the hob is indeed broken, I only have to pay what it was worth at the moment before it was broken. If it was only as good as a second hand hob going for e.g. £40, then £40 is what I have to pay. As I said I'm no lawyer, so please advise me if I am mistaken. I also believe, per number 2) below, that the hob can be economically repaired in any case

2) I do not accept that there is anything wrong with the hob apart from the absence of one plastic knob which could be easily replaced.

The landlord is also contending that one of the taps is 'jammed down' and can't be turned. I don't know what she means by that, except that I was able to turn them. One of them was stiffer than the others, but I do not think that is as a result of me removing and replacing the knobs to clean the hob.

I asked the landlady who says the hob is unsafe, and she said 'the gas inspector'. She gave me his mobile number, but not his name or credentials.

I strongly suspect she is getting advice from people who stand to benefit from fitting a new gas hob instead of repairing it. She says that cooker companies have advised her that no-one fixes gas hobs because it's too dangerous, which again I believe is ridiculous. A google search in my local area reveals a dozen companies who do this.

One other thing: the landlady has known for months that the knob was broken because this 'gas inspector' came round and looked at the hob. If it was indeed damaged by my act and unsafe, he would have known that then, and reported it to the landlady. In that case the landlady would have known that I was living with an unsafe appliance, and would have been breaking the law in a pretty serious way by not addressing that problem... right?


texts: Power of Attorney - Unique scenario where have it over mother but not father who has been deemed incompetent

texts:
My wife is power of attorney for health and financial for her mother.

My wife's father has a power of attorney document which specifies his wife and two son's as power of attorney for health and financial.

My wife's father has been deemed incompetent.

Since my wife is power of attorney for her mother,  and her father is deemed incompetent what power's does my wife have over her father?

The situation is her brother's live too far away to be helpful in making decisions.

Thanks,


texts: Stolen passport and loan is taken or company opened who is liable for fraud?

texts:
One of my relatives got his wallet with EU passport, drivers license and his credit cards stolen in Kiev...

He immediately told about this to his bank, police and embassy, so at this point everything is supposedly done and you shouldn't be liable for anything that happens after...

However I have done some reading and there are cases where loans have been taken and even companies opened and then it seems like burden of proof fell on person with lost passport and not companies and institutions that gave out loans and opened companies without properly checking the documents...

On whose shoulders does burden of proof falls in such situation speaking internationally? Does it depend on country of passport issue and country where crime was committed (e.g loan taken or company opened)?


texts: What legal process do private companies need to follow to win a contract with 911 emergency dispatch?

texts:
Please note: at its heart, this question involves understanding the regulatory procedures that county-level emergency response agencies (911 dispatch) have to use for dispatching private companies to respond to crises/emergencies. Because of this I believe the question is on topic here since these procedures would have to comply with (I assume) state and federal law; however, if you disagree, rather than DV or CV this question, perhaps you could suggest another SE site or even Reddit where this question might be more appropriate (please and thank you!)

So, United States here: I am interested in understanding a very particular aspect in how 911 emergency dispatch services work, and there is surprisingly very little information out there on the subject.

Specifically, my understanding of 911 emergency dispatch is to essentially map the incident being reported (via phone call) to the applicable crisis/service providers. For instance:

If the emergency call is in regards to a house or structure fire, the local/applicable Fire Department would be dispatched
If the emergency call is in regards to, say, a robbery in progress or a domestic violence issue, the local/applicable Police Department would be dispatched
If the emergency call is someone who recently ingested a poisonous substance by mistake, a local EMS shop might be dispatched and the caller might be forwarded on to the Poison Control Center for further instruction

etc.

In some cases, the service provider that is dispatched will be a public agency, such as a public Fire Department or a Police Department. But in other cases, the provider that is dispatched might be a private company, such as a private EMS or a private/volunteer fire co.

In the case of private companies, how do they land their contract/arrangement with 911 dispatch? Through what department at what level do they have to go through before they can make it onto "the list" that 911 dispatch will use?


texts: What does 'The Company' refer to in this proprietary ltmited company constitution?

texts:
I'm trying to understand who has the right to issue new shares in my proprietary limited company (wherther through board or general resolution). I found the following clause in the constitution:

  The company possesses all powers of a natural person, subject to any restrictions in the Corporations Act. The powers of the company
  may be exercised in any manner permitted by the Corporations Act. In
  particular, the company possesses the following powers:

  the power to distribute property of the company amongst members in kind or otherwise;
  the power to charge uncalled capital assets of the company as a security;
  the power to grant a charge over company property, whether fixed or floating;
  the power to issue and cancel shares, which shall include redeemable or non-redeemable preference shares, partly paid shares and
  bonus shares;
  the power to grant options over shares that have not been issued; and
  the power to issue company debentures;

It refers to 'The Company' but who is the company? The board or the shareholder?

I'm from Australia.


texts: Changing California residency status for school

texts:
I moved to California a little under a year ago after falling in love with the state, and don't see myself ever moving back to my native New York. I work as a software engineer, and I'm also a full-time student while I finish my computer science degree.

The problem is, my parents suggested I use their address for school while settling in, in case of delays moving into the home I've now been living in for several months, and I was labeled a non-resident. As a non-resident, I'm paying several times the tuition that would be paid by a resident, and thus I intend to change my status once I hit the one year mark.

How would I go about changing my residency status to resident as considered by a state college?


texts: In GDPR, who exactly are the processors and what do they have to do?

texts:
I thought the processor was just someone who processes all personal data on behalf of the controller, basically a simple substitute for some matters. But from what I read online it seems that a processor is anyone that deals with any personal data, even partial data, as part of a service provided to the controller. So it sounds like everyone that deal with personal data as part of their job is a processor, except the end users of the service. But since processors must be bound by a specific contract to deal with the needs of the controller (article 28 says "processes the personal data only on documented instructions from the controller), then I'm afraid it will soon become a huge mess with a gazillion contracts to sign.

For example, John Doe has a website with a contact form. The contact form collects data, and the end user should accept the privacy policy written by John Doe. John Doe is the controller. However, John Doe's website is managed by a web agency! Is this web agency a processor? I guess so. So John doe needs to write a contract and have the web agency sign it. If every website owner does this, the web agency will have to read and sign hundreds of contracts. But the web agency hosts the sites on a web hosting provider, which in turn becomes another processor! And they use Gmail, provided by Google, which in turn is yet another processor that will have to sign millions of contracts. And so on, in an potentially endless cycle, just thinking that if you read your work email from your iPhone you might have to send a contract to Apple too.

It seems a huge mess to me, but I'm not sure I get it right. It looks like everyone is a processor except the end user, but the confusing thing is that the the law seems to say that it's the controller the one who decides the contractual terms, so it's not just a matter of accepting a privacy policy like we have been doing so far. So far, Google has provided a service to you, and you agreed to their privacy policy. Now it seems it's you, if you are a controller or a processor, that have to come up with a contract and Google has to accept it (if they want to). Like it's the other way around compared to the usual privacy policies. Of course this will probably never happen, and Google will probably come up with predefined contracts that both parties can agree on, but at that point what difference would there be between the contract required by GDPR and the usual privacy policies everyone has been using so far?

I hope the question is clear enough. I'm basically very confused about the actual role and duties of processors in real-world scenarios.


texts: Creating an image derived from a stock image

texts:
I have created two images of a horse and an elephant from scratch based on Shutterstock images.  I have changed some colors and added some more details but at the bottom line it looks very much the same.

I want to use those images in my website, can I do it without risking being sued for copyrights violations?


texts: What does it mean for the Administrative Court to be "acting as a constitutional court"?

texts:
Kindly see the boldening below. It baffles me because

the UK doesn't have a SEPARATE Constitutional Court, unlike France or Germany.

Isn't the Administrative Court a Constitutional Court?

The work of the Administrative Court comprises the administrative law jurisdiction of England and Wales. Its varied work is directed at the lawfulness of the acts and omissions of central and local Government, regulatory and disciplinary bodies, inferior courts and tribunals, and other public bodies and officials exercising public functions. The Administrative Court has both a civil and criminal jurisdiction.
This supervisory jurisdiction is exercised in the main through the procedure of Judicial Review (JR) – a wide and still growing field.

Note that I'm quoting from the EWCA judgment, not the UKHL one. Jackson & Ors, R (on the application of) v HM Attorney General [2005] EWCA Civ 126 (16 February 2005).

The reality is that the 1911 Act was a most unusual statute. By that statute the House of Lords, the House of Commons and the King used the machinery of legislation to make a fundamental constitutional change. Nearly 100 years after the event, the court has been invited to rule on the precise nature and extent of that change. We have decided that it was right for the Administrative Court to accept that invitation. The authority of the 1949 Act purported to be derived from the 1911 Act. The latter Act, by s.3, expressly envisaged the possibility that the validity of subsequent Acts enacted pursuant to its provisions might be subjected to judicial scrutiny. The effect of the 1911 Act was undoubtedly susceptible to judicial analysis. However, in considering that effect, the Administrative Court was acting as a constitutional court. There was no precise precedent for the jurisdiction that it was exercising.


texts:
If a lesser crime imposes the same or greater sentence as a more severe crime, is the punishment considered cruel?

One example, possessing a bottle of pills imposes a harsher sentence, longer term of imprisonment and exorbitant fine, than murder.


texts: Can my accountant bill me for previous work he agreed to perform for free?

texts:
Context

I can provide more context to the story (question), but I also want to keep it short. I have been paying my accountant for helping with my corporate taxes for the last 4 years in Toronto. I was paying for the corporate taxes about 30-40% higher above the average for the same work my colleagues are paying. In return, this firm has offered to file my personal taxes for free. Which did successfully happen three times previously. It was a gentlemen's agreement and I have no proof of this agreement in writing. At the same time, he naturally never invoiced me for this work either.

Question

This accountant has suddenly sent me an email saying I never paid for filing my personal taxes with him for the last 4 years. The invoice is asking to pay $350-600 + HST per filing. For myself + my wife. Our taxes were really simple with simple T4 forms, nothing fancy. In fact, I used to use TurboTax and it took me 30-50 minutes to file on my own. So the invoice total is about $1600+ for four previous years of personal taxes for myself and my wife.
Can I legally ignore these invoices? It does not make any sense that he sends me invoices for work done 4 years ago.
Would really appreciate any advice!


texts:
Consider a hypothetical room with in it two murder victims. Two people are both suspects of both murders. There is overwhelming evidence to show that the victims were not killed by the same person. It can also be proven that no one besides the two suspects could possibly have commited the murders.

We can deduce logically that both suspects committed precisely one murder, but we don't know who killed who.

Can the suspects be found guilty of murder?


texts: International sexting: how often is sexting overseas prosecuted? (Please read details)

texts:
I am asking for someone dear to me. This will be a hypothetical example.

Hypothetically, if a 19 year old male (living overseas, say in Turkey) sexts/exchanges nudes with a female who says she is 18 (living in the US) and then it turns out that she lied about her age and she's 16 or 15, for example, and 2 years later her parents discover about this sexting and decide to take legal action against the person living overseas, what could be done? (Assume that there's no screenshots of when she lied about her age and said she's 18)

Would he be extradited? And under which jurisdiction? I have contacted an expert on online security and he said that less than 1% of domestic cybercrime is prosecuted, and that international cybercrimes very rarely get prosecuted, except for fraud, because there's a lot of 'serious offenders' overseas. But I still would like the opinion of people well-versed in law please. Assume it happened on a fake Facebook account or the Kik app for instance.

As you know, there's a lot of scams like this but my question assumes that the situation isn't a scam. So for the sake of example, please assume that there is no scam and that the situation is 100% real.

Would you tell this guy to calm down, or that he should wait till the statue of limitations (7 years I guess) for this kind of thing is over, for example? He is legitimately considering hanging himself because his parents live in the US and he doesn't want his mom to see him behind bars for something he did 2 years ago. I talked him out of hanging himself recently and told him that nothing is going to happen and he should breathe easy. But he's genuinely afraid and keeps getting paranoid. If you have noticed, I keep posting here about related subjects trying to find answers for this guy. He contacted a lawyer who basically said that the chances he will be prosecuted are slim but not impossible. This even made him more paranoid. It could be a scam and it could be a 50 year old man who lied and said he's an 18 year old female, but I want to take a worst case scenario to calm my friend down and tell him the worst consequences possible. (Assume he owns the router and Wi-Fi connection but the rent is registered with another family member's name)

Thank you.


texts: Can Employer Destroy Payroll Records of Current Employee?

texts:
The employer of one of my family members owes several thousand dollars in unpaid wages, which is documented in the employer's books. The family is considering legal action and they want to demand copies of the books as evidence (the employer never provided any formal pay stubs). The state (Pennsylvania) does have laws requiring employers to permit inspection and copying of payroll documents. However, there is significant concern that the employer (a rather sleazy independent contractor) may simply destroy or doctor the books to hide what is owed.

So, my question is two-fold: Are there any legal tools to allow an employee to obtain copies of his payroll documents without giving the employer an opportunity to destroy said documents, and what sort of repercussions would an employer face for destroying payroll documentation after a request for copies has been made?


texts: Is this copyright or am I allowed to have this in my math textbook?

texts:
I was recommended from MSE(math) to ask here.
I'm creating a fun math book to sell and I don't know whether if I'm allowed to have these in my book due to copyright or not:

video game / movie references and names
common integration bee problems
names of a university / math competition organizers
integration techniques and formulas
using someone's Overleaf Latex package to format the book

Do all of these violate copyright or are they not considered copyright?
It's quite hard to explain, so here's a preview of how my textbook starts off.


texts: Is it common for contracts to be voided on the grounds that they are unreadable?

texts:
Not illegible- as far as I know, no one's signed the Voynich manuscript and been held to it- but simply incoherent, needlessly verbose, or prohibitively lengthy?

I recognize that legal language uses a lot of terms of art, and that it's necessarily going to be a bit abstruse, but it seems like most terms of use are entries in some sick competition to see who can ensure as few people as possible actually read the thing.


texts:
I have heard this from 3 people now and I am trying to find the law being used.

In the NYC Transit system, if a party is even questioned by NYPD (something happens where they call in your drivers license), if said person has received 2 or more tickets in the system, whether paid/case closed or not, that party is going to the pokie for processing.

Without anything pending in the courts, what law are they using that allows them to detain someone?

It's some sort of indexing system.
I don't see how it could be legal either.


texts: Is it legal to bribe an employee of a fully private company?

texts:
Let's say I go into Starbucks and slip an extra dollar to the barrista so that he gives me a slice of cake for free (just a small example). Is this legal according to criminal law?

I know it's illegal to bribe state employees, but I never understood how the law applies to 100% private companies.


texts: How similar should a tune be to constitute theft of someone else's tune?

texts:
i am a composer of hip hop songs. As opposed to rap songs, hip hop songs are very melodic by nature. now sometimes i get  inspired by someone else's tune, or write my own tune and then find out someone wrote a similar tune too. When you look at melody there is:

notes
key
sounds (or instrument)
volume
length of each note (which can be different between the notes)
sequence of the notes (which note comes after which note)

My question is across these, how many things have to be different to show it is similar?

Also specific question about number of notes- lets say i have same sequence, almost same volume and length. how many notes before it becomes theft? 3? 5? 7?

I am choosing US because most of the hip hop songs are in the US. But i am in the UK. But I'm trying to make songs that work for the US too.


texts: Would it be illegal to sell notes that I have made using my own reading and understanding of a textbook and nothing else (like nothing from lectures of classes (they were all online so there were no lectures)). I'm assuming it would be illegal if I were to copy images from the textbook but if my notes were snippets of the singular textbook and what I find to be important information, of which are mostly notes that I've written verbatim, would that be illegal and considered as a condensed version of the textbook? If so, if I were to cite the textbook would I then be able to profit from my notes?


texts: License notices when shipping hardware and firmware

texts:
I'm planning to release a hardware device with proprietary firmware source code, using some MIT, BSD, Public Domain libraries. I have a question about a clause like this:

Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

How to reproduce the copyright notice when shipping a hardware device? Must I have a sheet of paper with the information included in the package? (I'd prefer to stick to digital documentation)

Can the copyright notice information be made available on a special section of the products' website?

Are there any other acceptable options for reproducing the copyright notices?


texts: Could one legally duplicate a commercial product's design for their own personal use?

texts:
John Doe lives in the United States and wants to create a machine that sorts fruit. Rather than design and build it himself, he finds a patented commercial product that sorts fruit, but he discovers he can't afford it.

Instead, Doe decides that he will analyze photos and video of the product, reverse-engineer it's design, and build himself a replica in an effort to save money. Doe does not intend to sell his 'knockoff' fruit-sorting machine, but instead simply wants it for personal use.

Would Doe be in violation of US patent or intellectual property laws? In what ways would Doe's use of the patented design violate the law, if so? Or, is there an affirmative defense that Doe would have in this hypothetical?


texts: Can a US citizen be required to provide the authentication key for encrypted data on a confiscated computer?

texts:
I'm asking this for the sake of a story I was considering writing.

Assume that someone has a computer, and within that computer he has some encrypted data.  He is accused of a crime and the police get a search warrant to confiscate his computer.  They suspect that he may hold evidence of the crime within the encrypted data, but have no way of getting to it without a password.

Can the police force the owner of the computer to reveal his password, and/or penalize him if he doesn't, since they have a search warrant which justifies their viewing his data?  Or would this qualify as being forced to bear witness against yourself and thus be protected under the bill of rights?

Related question, if they confiscate a user's computer and learn his password, either from his providing it or it being saved on his computer, would they have the right to use that password to view information stored on 'the cloud', such as in his e-mail or even on his facebook?


texts: Can a landlord break a fixed term contract before it becomes a monthly basis, without giving notice?

texts:
I have a rental agreement with my landlord with a fixed period of 1 year. It states in the contract that this will automatically become a month by month basis, subject to cancellation under the same clauses that the fixed period was under, after the 1 year period is up. These cancellation clauses state that either side must give a certain amount of notice before cancelling the agreement.

I've been informed by the company that handles my property that they want another fixed contract rather than letting the contract become a month by month one. They've heavily implied I have no options other than to comply and sign a new fixed term agreement, and that the contract will not become a month by month one. I can't see anything that gives either side the option of cancelling this provision, so I'm not sure if legally they can do this. I don't want to sign up for another full year.

Are they allowed to do this?