texts: My ISP is injecting .swf into my webpage. How legal is this?

texts:
I recently saw a pop-up, on a http page. It was the advertisement of some offers provided by the ISP.

Here is the code:

<td>
  <object width="480" height="195" data="<url>/V3/front_porch_RAN.swf" style="pointer-events:none;>...</object>
</td>

There is no javascript that is collecting my data, but is indulging in the activity of injecting code into the webpage, legal? I live in India.


texts: Clarifying language on law of auction sale

texts:
"where the sale is not notified to be subject to a right to bid on behalf of the seller, it shall not be lawful for the seller to bid himself or to employ any person to bid at such sale, or for the auctioneer knowingly to take any bid from the seller or any such person; and any sale contravening this rule may be treated as fraudulent by the buyer;"

Can anyone explain this in simple terms and if possible with an example.


texts: Is it allowed selling a kvm virtual machine with Ubuntu? what about copyright?

texts:
I would like know if it is allowed creating a package with a KVM virtual machine + Ubuntu as OS and sell this package. Is there any restriction due to copyright or fees to pay?

I would not modify anything on the KVM or Ubuntu, just add my scripts on Ubuntu for the customers.

KVM's parts are licensed under various GNU licenses:

KVM kernel module: GPL v2
KVM user module: LGPL v2
QEMU virtual CPU core library (libqemu.a) and QEMU PC system emulator: LGPL
Linux user mode QEMU emulator: GPL
BIOS files (bios.bin, vgabios.bin and vgabios-cirrus.bin): LGPL v2 or later

Any idea?
Thanks for your feedback!


texts: Can a judge from another state bring legal action over comments online?

texts: Bob is watching Youtube videos and sees a video of a judge trying to enforce their authority in a public building. This enrages Bob and he begins to call the judge a slew of profanities online. The judge happens to see Bobs comments online. Can the judge hold Bob in contempt or bring any other legal action against him under his authority as a judge even thou its a different state?


texts: Does an Equipment Failure Count as a Test Failure for California DMV?

texts:
This is not about me, but it is a question that has come up with someone I know.

In California, if you show up to take the DMV drive test, and you can't take the test because of an equipment failure (e.g., your brake light is out), does this count as a failed drive test?

I have read over all the California DMV materials I could find, and I couldn't find any answer to this question.


texts: What is considered a reasonable time under the Turner v. Driver case?

texts:
Turner v. Driver, No. 16-10312 (5th Cir. 2017), is a 2017 decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that established a First Amendment right to record the police.

The court found that:

  We conclude that First Amendment principles, controlling authority,
  and persuasive precedent demonstrate that a First Amendment right to
  record the police does exist, subject only to reasonable time, place,
  and manner restrictions.

Place and manner are much easier to define. But how do you consider a reasonable TIME in the previous citation?


texts: Laws regarding consensual sex and intoxication

texts:
Disclaimer: I do not intend to offend anyone, I just wish to learn more about the laws in this area. Also note I'm only referring to rape when consent has been given, but due to intoxication that consent is ignored in the eyes of the law.

As far as I understand, rape has occurred when either one (or both parties?) did not consent to intercourse. So even if the person did provide verbal consent, but were not in a mental state for that to hold in the eyes of the law (i.e. intoxicated/under the influence of drugs), then consent has not been provided and therefore the intercourse can be regarded as rape (I assume only if they bring the charges to a court of law?).

If both parties are too drunk to consent, and then the female party then claims the incident was rape, then surely the male could do the same? Would each claim then be examined individually i.e. deciding separately whether each person was in fact consenting? If both parties are found to not have consented since they were both too intoxicated, what then?

I tried to research if there were any cases of men who brought a case against a woman for rape due to the man being too intoxicated to consent, but couldn't find anything. Are the laws inherently designed to only protect female parties? It seems odd that there wouldn't be a sizeable number of cases where a sober woman has coitus with an intoxicated man whom would not have consented whilst sober. Then assuming there is trauma behind such coitus for the instance when the female is the intoxicated party, surely then there would be distress caused when the intoxicated party is the male one.

To summarise, why are there very few if any cases of females being accused of raping a male as a result of consent being nullified due to intoxication; and does this reflect a gender-bias in these laws?

Note, I'm new here so if I've been unclear anywhere, please just comment and I'll attempt to clarify.


texts: Can killing be "self-defense" if you are committing a crime yourself?

texts:
Kyle Rittenhouse has been charged with murder.
I believe that the facts of the incident are not in dispute, because of ample video evidence: Rittenhouse was attacked, tried to escape, and when he couldn't escape, he used his rifle on the attackers. However, he is a minor and was therefore in possession of a firearm potentially illegally. If so, does this fact make it impossible for him to claim self-defense?


texts: What recourse do I have against a person falsely claiming to reside at my home?

texts:
A relative who has never lived at our house is in the habit of falsely using our home address as their place of residence whenever disclosing their place of residence for legal purposes, rather than using their own.

Additionally, this relative is the family wastrel/black sheep/prodigal child, and is intentionally using our address in order to avoid the consequences of their bad behavior, and as a result, we receive bills and other legal documents intended for this relative, but what is more troubling,  we also receive visits from debt collectors and officers of the law who are looking for this relative.  We cannot even tell these people where to find our relative,  as they know that we will not help hide them, and so we are not told the relative's current address or other contact details.

We are in the position where this relative's actions have become intolerable, but asking the relative to correct their residential address registration with all entities where our address has been falsely substituted has been refused - apparently our discomfort is amusing to our prodigal relative.

We are at the point where this relative has destroyed any shred of affection that we may have had for them, and we are prepared to apply the full force of the law in order to have this situation corrected, no matter how negatively it may impact our relative.

We and our relative live in Victoria,  Australia, so what laws of that jurisdiction may we reasonably expect to be able to use to redress this situation?

EDIT

Ideally there would be some criminal matter with which we could have our relative charged, since we do not have - nor do we feel that we should have to expend - the financial resources necessary to protect ourselves from our relative by bringing a civil suit.


texts: Is the Justice System Fundamentally Flawed?

texts:
"Justice is the legal or philosophical theory by which fairness is administered."  In the Justice system a person is reprimanded for an act committed.

However the punishment of any given person is a function of more factors than the act committed in a nontrivial way. It varies, not insignificantly, with race, gender, wealth, attractiveness, and so on... You can, for instance, take the average difference of sentencing between a white person and black person for murder. This difference will be the punishment assigned to a person for the act of being a certain race. This punishment is not insignificant and cannot be considered to satisfy the condition of fairness in any approximation.

Is the Justice System flawed in it's most fundamental principle? If so, how can this be corrected?


texts: How can two separate federal judges rule on the same question at basically the same time?

texts:
In relation to Trump's executive orders, both the first version and the new watered down one, it seems that two (or more) separate judges were asked to rule on its constitutionality.  How can this be possible? Here are some specific questions:

Why didn't the judge in Maryland just say that the question had already been handled by another judge at the same level in Hawaii?
What happens if they make contradictory rulings?
If Trump wants to appeal, does he have to appeal each ruling separately?
Could, in theory, 50 separate federal judges have been asked to rule on exactly the same question at the same time?


texts: Is it ok to name a character after a real life fighter jet?

texts:
I have a character in a world i am making along with a few others who are named after real life fighter jets both new and old however i was wondering if whatever i have made took off and got poplular would i have to change their names if the respective governments that commission these jets to be named something different or would i get sued if they don't like it or see it as effecting copyright or something?

Kind of new to this concept and i'm not even sure what i am scared about is possible but i want to make sure just before i go public with these characters.


texts:
I run a small online entertainment business, recently a teenager has been hacking into our systems and causing numerous problems. After talking with him, and his refusal to cooperate, we have decided it would be best to report him to the authorities, and / or contact his parents. We have already written a report to ic3.gov and actionfraud.police.uk, however we're not sure any action will come from this.

Where else should we report this? His general vicinity is Nottingham, UK, if that helps anyone find local authorities.


texts: Can a witness avoid testifying based on lack of memory?

texts:
If a witness has been deposed and effectively denied having any recollection of events relevant to a case, can that testimony be used to keep her from taking the stand?

I'm imagining something like a motion in limine relying on either Rule 401 or 403.

I'm looking not for deductions based on experience or the text of the rules, but for case law addressing the issue.


texts:
Context

Three years ago, my small team and I created a product that we've been selling ever since. To clarify that I meant to use the name as a trademark, I added the trademark symbol (™) after the product name anywhere we used it.

The product is in French only (for now), but sold worldwide (it teaches English.) Even though we're small, the name is fairly specific and we're the #1 result on Google for the name, in various languages.

I didn't bother with registering a trademark earlier, because creating and supporting a product is enough work as it is and, at the time, it was a lot of money that we needed to use elsewhere.

Issue

Today, I found out someone is trying to register our name as a trademark in the U.S. It's unclear to me whether that person is acting in good faith (or acting as a trademark troll.)

At the least, they were too lazy to check whether the name was in use or, if they did, just didn't care that we did use it.

The registrant is not using the name anywhere online. The Intent to Use in their application is Section 1(b): "The applicant has a bona fide intention, and is entitled, to use the mark in commerce on or in connection with the identified goods/services". They're filing for standard characters, in the same identification category that could describe our product.

Questions

The USPTO has a description of the trademark registration process and nice flow chart timelines.
They also have a page on how to oppose trademark registration.

…but this did not answer all of my questions.

The docs say I have 30 days to oppose after the date of the publication in the Official Gazette (OG). Given it takes roughly three month between filing and publication, this would mean another two months to wait:

Can I oppose before publication in the OG?
Is there anything I can do before that?
Should I try to file for registration in the U.S. simultaneously? Their "filing basis" is Section 1(b) (intent) while I can file for Section 1(a) (current use).

Once we oppose, do we have good chance of winning? How can I improve our odds?
If my opposition is rejected and their trademark registration is successful, has the registrant any chance to enforce the trademark in court against us?


texts: Incorporating after receiving kickstarter funds

texts:
I am currently in the process of launching my first Kickstarter croudfunding campaign as an individual. I don't have a lot of money left, and I don't want spend it incorporating, especially because my kickstarter campaign might not even reach its goal.

Is it possible to incorporate after receiving the funds on Kickstarter and then transfer them to that business bank account?


texts: Bring non-EU parent in Switzerland after becoming Swiss citizen

texts:
I tried to find information about this, but without success.
Let's say that a non-EU national becomes a Swiss citizen by living in Switzerland for a certain amount of time and by satisfying all of the other requirements. Or by facilitated naturalization through marriage.
My question is, is it possible to then bring your non-EU parent to Switzerland given the fact that all of the expenses will be covered by me (insurance, living space, living expense etc.)?
Does the parent has to already depend on you (eg. financially) for this to happen? Any links to appropriate laws or cases would be highly appreciated!


texts: Can a business offer a product pre-sale without specifying when the product will be delivered?

texts: For instance, if there were a product that takes a variable amount of time to mature, could a business take pre-sale orders (clearly marked as such) without giving the customer a deadline? If so, what keeps a business from tying up customer funds indefinitely without ever delivering?


texts: On sites such as this one, people are often concerned about non-lawyers "giving legal advice" or "practicing law without a license".  What, exactly, constitutes such actions?  I'm particularly interested in the situation in the United States, since that's where the StackExchange servers are.


texts: Subletting in commercial space with verbal but not written permission - NYC

texts:
I'm a tenant in a commercial space in NYC that is sublet friendly (lots of artists, musicians, etc.)  My landlord told me subletting was okay when I first looked at the space I rented and I ended up subletting part of my space to someone who is now behind on rent and I want to evict (or at least go thru the process to get them to pay).  I have a signed sublet agreement with my subtenant that states he must pay rent on time.

But in looking thru my lease (with my landlord), it states that written permission is required for subletting, which I did not get.  I am fine with emailing my landlord now and asking them to confirm that I can sublet and explain I have someone in the space now.  I'm 99% sure he will confirm it's okay.  However, I am concerned the courts will not accept my attempts to evict for non payment of rent since I didn't get the written permission in advance.  Will this be a problem?  And if so, how can I remedy?


texts: Legal issues for using super hero in t-shirt design?

texts:
How can online company like Amazon, eBay, Redbubble, and Teepublic, have designs that sell trademarked super hero t-shirts and not get into trouble?

Here are some examples, all designed by random people and clearly a lot of the designs have trademarked characters on them:
Teepublic
Redbubble


texts: Suing neighbor lacking building permit in NYS

texts: I have a small vacation home in upstate NY. My next-door neighbor constructed a cinderblock additional building behind their home and have started using it for their business. They claim that they had been issued a building permit, but can't find it. The village cannot produce any record of a permit, but refuse to penalize them as they are long time residents and are very friendly with the local officials. If they can't prove they have a permit, can I file a lawsuit compelling them to demolish this building?  Thanks for any advice.


texts: If I pay someone to place a sports bet that wins, have I committed money laundering?

texts:
It is my understanding if a private individual sells a chip that is money laundering.

Say I pay someone $100 to place a $10000 sports bet that wins. If it wins, I cash the ticket.  Have I committed money laundering?

In addition: if a private individual sells a casino chip, or sells it for more than the face value, is that money laundering?

Jurisdiction is Las Vegas, Nevada.


texts: What does one do if, a party at trial denies having made a statement in a published article?

texts:
a) Ask party in deposition whether they made the statements and if they deny it, gather other evidence or witnesses that confirm that they made the statement?

b) Ask the party at trial whether they made the statement and let the jury decide whether they made the statement?

Are there other scenarios / approaches?


texts: Apartment leaser refuses to fix or acknowledge broken phone jack/lines

texts:
I've got broken phone lines coming into my apartment, which four technicians have confirmed (when trying to hook up DSL for my internet service). My apartment lessor refuses to acknowledge the issue is on their wiring.

Do I have any legal recourse to get it repaired?

I don't think there was any mention of phone lines in my contract, but I leased the apartment, seeing phone jacks in the wall, under the assumption that they would actually work.

Is there also a liability issue if I cannot hook up a landline phone, for example to call emergency services?

Location if necessary: Denver, Colorado, United States


texts: Would it be legal to record only yourself on a phone call without the other party giving consent in California?

texts:
Let's say you're in California talking on the phone.  Would it be legal to record just your part of the conversation without having approval from the other party?

For example, could you set up a recording device on the desk and have it recording what you're saying during the whole conversation assuming it's not sensitive enough to pick up what the other person is saying also?


texts: Is it illegal to market a product as if it would protect against something, while never making explicit claims?

texts:
I've recently come across an advertisement online of a product that stated

"Most people have heard of the horror of [bad thing] or even [worse thing]. Protect yourself with [our product] today!"

A layman would interpret this as "Our product protects you against these things", although there has not been an explicit claim that the product would actually protect against these things. For the sake of the argument, let us assume that any expert in the field would instantly recognize that the product could not possibly protect against these things - such as for example a better car stereo would not protect against car accidents or scratches in the paint.
Would it still be legal in the US and/or the EU to make advertisement that is intended to mislead consumers, without ever making explicit wrongful statements?


texts: Is it legal to publish information about companies on my website?

texts:
I want to publish info about companies, for example:

Official title
Address
Founder, CEO, CFO, ...
Number of employees
Products of company
Description of what company does

Personaly I feel like it is public information... however:

Is it legal at all?
If I do a mistake, may a company sue me?
What may not I publish stricly?


texts: Settlement agreements over statutorily limited contract terms

texts:
In some jurisdictions, certain types of contracts have terms which are set by statute. For instance, employment contracts might include a certain minimum number of vacation days, or lease agreements might limit overdue rent penalties to some percentage. The statute will specifically say that contract terms which would waive these requirements are void.

Now, suppose that, say, Landlord and Tenant enter into an agreement which violates the statute, with the overdue rent penalty set arguably too high. Rent is late, Landlord demands the listed penalty, Tenant argues that the contract term is void. There's some question over interpretation, though, and in lieu of a lawsuit Landlord and Tenant settle out of court, with Tenant agreeing to forego any claim in exchange for some partial remedy.

Is the out-of-court settlement itself enforceable? After all, its terms had the same basic effect as those in the original contract, allowing a penalty above that allowed by law. If Tenant had second thoughts later, could they successfully argue that the settlement itself should be rescinded? Is it possible to effectively settle a lawsuit over terms which might be statutorily limited?

I suspect that the answer here is widely applicable, but let's take English law.


texts: Is Trump’s barring of select media outlets from White House press conferences a violation of the First Amendment?

texts:
From the New York Times:

[...] Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, barred journalists from The New York Times and several other news organizations from attending his daily briefing, a highly unusual breach of relations between the White House and its press corps.
[...] Reporters from The Times, BuzzFeed News, CNN, The Los Angeles Times, Politico, the BBC and The Huffington Post were among those shut out of the briefing.

Have First Amendment rights been violated?
Nothing from Cornell Law's page seems to indicate that not admitting certain parties to a press conference is in violation of the First Amendment:


texts: What laws apply to Visa holders in the US?

texts:
I'm a French citizen currently staying in Los Angeles for studies under an F1 Visa.
I was told that in the US, only federal law applies to foreigners which is why despite Pot being legalized in California I was told that I am forbidden from buying/consuming it.

So I am wondering, what laws do apply to me?

Do I have to comply with State laws? What if State and Federal laws contradict each other?


texts: Taking and publishing photographs of military vessels in EU

texts:
I'm a French citizen. In a recent trip to Ireland, I took a photo of an Irish military vessel entering the port.

By curiosity, I started checking whether it is legal to first take, and then publicly publish photographs of military vessels, but I can't find anything at all about the subject, neither for Ireland, nor even for France.

I suppose that since the vessel was visible from a publicly accessible area, there is nothing which would prevent even a foreign citizen from taking its photo and publishing it. However, the same logic appears to be wrong for instance for some of the French military bases which cannot be photographed even from the public area, or for any federal building in USA, or any strategic installation, such as the railway infrastructure, in Russia.

So what's the legal situation (either in general in European Union or specifically in Ireland)?

Details:

The photo makes it possible to see a lot of details such as the position of CCTVs on the vessel, the emergency equipment, etc.
The canons are covered, but a specialist can still easily guess their size and type.
The photo makes it possible to deduce that at a given time, the vessel was at the specific GPS coordinates.
Sailors are visible, but not personally recognizable.
The name/ID of the ship is not visible on the photo.


texts: Why does 48 U.S.C. § 864 require English in Puerto Rican federal court if the US has no official language?

texts:
The US famously has no official language, and federal courts in removal jurisdiction are required to apply state law (which applies equally to Puerto Rico—48 U.S.C. § 864).
Given that Puerto Rico's case law is primarily in the Spanish language, and that English has no official status, and that rules of court procedure are normally dictated by the courts, not by statute, why does 48 U.S.C. § 864  require not merely that all proceedings, but also that all documents (including Puerto Rican case law) be in English? Doesn't this effectively make English an official language, contrary to public policy?


texts: Do I need to retitle my book in CC-BY-SA 4.0 to release derivatives that are non-CC?

texts:
I have a novel released in CC-BY-SA 4.0, and I would like to revise it and republish the revised version under full copyright.
The text on my website where the novel is currently posted reads: The text of [book title], including all chapters within it, is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC-BY-SA) license.
Because of this wording, does that then make ALL my future iterations of this title automatically fall under CC BY-SA? Or does that apply only to this version? Would I need to retitle my book in order to release the revised version under full copyright?
Thank you.


texts: Can I hire someone to haul my waste monthly?

texts: Can I hire an independent contractor to haul my waste in my city of Colusa, California. Someone said there is an exclusive contract that prevents the hauling of ones own waste to a landfill.


texts: If I don't want to patent something, what can I do to ensure the patent office doesn't unintentionally grant the patent to someone else?

texts:
Say that I have created a hypothetical new invention. I would like for it to be used by as many people as possible without restrictions, so I deliberately choose not to pursue a patent on it.

As described in the answers to What if I don't patent my invention?, someone else can patent my invention unless the US Patent Office is aware that there is prior art, established by me producing and selling my invention. The trouble is, I can't necessarily guarantee that they will become aware of my prior art if I'm not particularly well-known.

What can be done to ensure that the patent office knows about my prior work (which I deliberately choose not to patent) and therefore doesn't unintentionally grant a patent to someone else?


texts: Why all caps first and last names in id cards / passports?

texts: I am wondernig what is the reason, if any, that in the national identification cards the names (first and last) are written in ALL CAPS?


texts: Can an appellate court overturn part of a decision not appealed against?

texts:
Bob litigates against Rob. The case boils down to resolving two questions of law: X (rather critical to Bob) and Y (not so critical). The two questions are separate/isolated, although both are highly relevant to the facts.
Bob wins on question X (and hence, substantial/material relief against Rob follows) but fails to convince the judge to take his view on question Y (not a big deal but somewhat disappointing to Bob).
Bob takes the judge's decision to appellate court to appeal on question Y only.
Can the appellate court review question X on its own volition and overturn the decision on X reached by the lower court, effectively making Bob shoot himself in the leg?
If not, can the appellate court do that if Rob argues for it in his response to Bob's appeal on Y?
(Any jurisdiction with adversarial system. Case law examples would be very good.)


texts: What's the worst that can happen when copyrighted materials are unintentionally shown on a live broadcast?

texts:
(I know little about law & copyrights and such so please feel free to correct any misuse of terms)
By "copyrighted materials", I mean stuff that automatically copyrighted like YouTube videos, as well as things like shots/clips from Disney movies & commercials and such.
By "live broadcast", I mean things like the news, live-streams (YouTube, Twitch, etc.), or anything else broadcasted live to the public.
By "unintentionally shown", I mean the copyrighted materials are shown in the live broadcast without the knowledge/consent of the one doing the broadcast (a pop-up commercial, accidentally opening the wrong video, someone in the background camera-bombing the broadcast, etc.).
Would the ones doing the live broadcast be protected against such unintentional showing of copyrighted materials? What's the worst that can happen?


texts:
I am buying a house with a colleague in California.

I am paying 80% and he is paying 20%.

He is going to live in the house, and pay rent for my 80% stakes in the house.

Is it at all legal?
Can I protect myself in a legally binding contract, that in case he defaults on rent for certain amount of months, I get to evict him and give him his shares back after deducting the over due rent?
Who pays the property tax?
Who pays the insurance?
At a later time, can I decide to sell parts or whole of my share in the house without consent or informing my colleague?

OR

Can I simply set this up in our contract and it is legally binding?


texts: How will credit card purchases NOT fall under the guidlines of the new Supreme Court ruling?

texts:
The intent of this new ruling by the Supreme Court is for anonymous networks but, when doing forensics on a wire in such a manner as to present to a judge, you can't tell what's inside those packets. Also, an encryption session from the peer to peer client WASTE has a 256 encryption key in the header and that is it. WASTE would certainly fall under the criteria under the new ruling BUT, as soon as you class WASTE into the mix, a regular credit card purchase fits like a glove too!

Tor ban article: http://themerkle.com/fbi-can-obtain-a-warrant-if-you-run-tor-come-december/

The ruling: http://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/frcr16_mj80.pdf

The part that sucks:

  A magistrate judge ... has authority to issue a warrant to use remote
  access to search electronic storage … if: (A) the district where the
  media or information is located has been concealed through
  technological means;

What's to prevent cops from busting down your door for making a credit card purchase?

UPDATE response:
So, one dirty movie/copy write protection violation on Frostwire and a connection to Tor, and I'm gonna be looking down the barrel of a few M-16s?

In theory, the FBI could be after Bob but have the 'wrong address', like what happens so many times today. They perform a packet capture at the ISP and look for what they consider dirty traffic but could easily be some other form of encrypted service, and end up raiding Mary's house because she was running encrypted traffic (such as a credit card purchase) on a non-standard port to her servers. RPC servers do this all the time (send encrypted credit card purchase data on a nonstandard port).


texts: Signed generic NDA re purchase of business - can I start in competition

texts:
I'm interested in a general view as well, but my jurisdiction is New Zealand.

I am looking for a business to purchase, and came across an advert for a business hiring out common equipment.  While there are some interesting and less common aspects of what this particular business is hiring, there is nothing particularly unique about it, and this information is publicly advertised.   Also I have knowledge of the age and wear-and-tear of the items being leased (but not how much they re being leased for.).  Again, If I were to go into competition I would be seeking machinery that is a lot older or a lot newer then what is being sold.

There are some minor pieces of information I can't unlearn which may or may not be relevant - mainly I know how much the lease is, and this colors my judgment - even though I would not be seeking premises in the immediate area.

After signing an NDA, I then received an Information Memorandum and had an initial meeting with the seller and agent.  The information I received was such that I decided not to proceed with the purchase of the business (because much of the information provided was clearly false).  I did not put in an offer on the business or do due diligence.

I am now considering starting up a business which could be seen as being in competition with this business.

A clause in the NDA says The Parties above herein agree that in consideration of the sum of $1.00 to be paid by the Interested Party to (AGENT) that (AGENT) will disclose and supply to it such records, documents, representations, and financial information that (AGENT) may have in its possession, may obtain, or may have prepared.) Does the information being disclosed without payment or, or further discussion about the $1.00 invalidate the NDA?
The Interested Party will thereafter maintain the confidentiality of such confidential information and not use the same for any further purpose whatsoever.
For the purpose of this Agreement, “confidential information “ shall mean:

All information disclosed by (AGENCY) relating to the business and financial affairs of (BUSINESS REF/NAME DETAILS) whether by way of records, documents, representations, financial information, and books of accounts, connected with the business affairs and financial details of the Business.
Any information which the Interested Party acquires during negotiations in relation to any dealings, transactions or affairs of the Business.

Is there anything stopping me from setting up in competition with this business based on the above. If I do proceed I would rely on my skills and knowledge from people who work in similar businesses and who likely don't even know of this businesses existence.


texts: If the police are investigating a cyber-crime, and all they have is the IP address and they obtain the details from the ISP, how quickly will they usually obtain a search warrant in order to preserve evidence?


texts: Can a company claim they acted in good faith in this situation?

texts:
Let's assume that Hacker Corp. offers a penetration testing service to other businesses, and ACME Corp. contacts Hacker Corp. to conduct a penetration test for some internal testing.
Hacker Corp. requires ACME Corp. to sign a "Permission to Attack" document, which outlines that Hacker Corp. is allowed to attack a specific system of ACME Corp. during a specified timeframe in a specified way.
Due to internal turmoil in ACME Corp., the Permission to Attack document never gets signed by the people with the powers to sign it, and instead a low-level IT employee in ACME Corp. signs instead. During the penetration test, a machine in ACME Corp.'s infrastructure fails and causes an outage, which costs ACME Corp. millions of dollars. This failure was not foreseeable and not caused by negligence.
ACME Corp. now wishes to sue Hacker Corp. for damages, claiming they were attacking ACME Corp. without a valid Permission to Attack. Can Hacker Corp. claim that they acted in good faith, believing that the Permission to Attack was granted by someone from within the company who was allowed to grant such a permission?


texts:
Many have heard of the Tree that Owns Itself in Athens, Ga.

According to the Wikipedia article "Such a deed, even if it did exist, would have no legal standing."  So my question is, could I donate land to the national forest so it would essentially never be owned?


texts: Is criminal prosecution of asylum seekers who entered the US illegally a violation of the Refugee Convention?

texts:
The United States is a party to the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, and Article 1, paragraph 1 of that protocol incorporates Articles 2-34 of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. Article 31, paragraph 1 of the 1951 Refugee Convention says:

  Contracting States shall not impose penalties, on account of their
  illegal entry or presence, on refugees who, coming directly from a
  territory where their life or freedom was threatened in the sense of
  article 1, enter or are present in their territory without
  authorization, provided they present themselves without delay to the
  authorities and show good cause for their illegal entry or presence.

Arguably, criminal prosecution is such a "penalty" that states should not be able to impose on refugees (or people who claim to be refugees until their claim is denied) for illegal entry if they promptly turned themselves in and requested asylum after entering.


texts: Scraping factual data off the web and re-organize to release under proprietary license?

texts:
Lots of bits and pieces of information and chaotic data spread across the web and it does cost an arm and a leg to gather them together to form something larger and consistent that would prove to be much more useful.

Is it legally viable to scrape these factual data / information from different websites, compile and re-organize them as databases / data sets that will then be licensed under a proprietary license?

Thus far after some research, I find factual data can't be copyrighted, but the particular compilation / structure of data can. Does this mean I can do whatever with the scraped factual data as long as I have my own unique data organization / compilation / structure?

For example, I want to make a business information database off hundreds of different websites and then radically re-organize / re-structure / re-index these different data sets into one database that is better than any of the sources. Can I proprietorially license this particular database I made?

I know I can never own the data as they are straight facts. Right? But can I OWN the particular data organization and legally profit from it?

We are operating in US, but the data could be from websites on other continents.


texts: Are businesses required to try every possible combination of methods for verification under GDPR?

texts:
A site maintains accounts containing:

email
password
display name
account preferences

Two accounts containing the same password, display name, and account preferences may or may not exist but they will have different email addresses.  Email is therefore the defining thing that separates them and makes each account unique.
If a person provides a password, display name and the account preferences there may be one or two accounts with that combination.  Should a business on recieving a GDPR request containing this information (ie points 2 to 4 above) search for multiple accounts, and reply if there is just one but deny the request if there is more than one?
Similarly if only one person has an account preference or password no one else has and they send the password in a GDPR request then must the business check if the password is unique or not and respond if it is?
The reason asking this is because right to access as given above will introduce security problems.
Example : A business has an account made by an user having:

email : ll@l.l
password : 1lL@
display name : ll
preferences : yes

If a person comes and says my password is this, my display name is this and my preferences are these must a business check if this combination is unique or not and then send a reply to ll@l.l to that person?
But this will be security risk.


texts:
https://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2019/10/03/investigation-greg-lindberg-paid-for-spying-compilation-of-dossiers-on-women-in-whom-he-was-interested/
Is it criminal to surveille women as per the Lindberg?

Attach GPS tracking to subject's car?
Stalking?


texts: How can the blockchain act as legal title?

texts:
Do any legal opinions exist on the status of onchain tokens backed by offchain assets?

What case law / analogous examples are there to support blockchain proof of title.
Are any legal scholars actually looking at this.
If there is an investment company which manages assets on behalf of the owners of some token what kind of legal structure / legal agreements would be required to ensure that token owners are protected (e.g. in the case of insolvency and also from agency risks)

This question has been drawn from discussion by Dunning_Krugerrands, but I thought it was worthwhile enough to post here


texts: How long does money have to be possessed by a company for it to be considered theft?

texts:
I am considering taking a company to small claims court over the "theft" of an amount of money that I will not disclose here. I put money into my account in the form of cryptocurrency (the company is a cryptocurrency exchange), and they locked my account with the money in it. I was locked out because I am a minor and needed a parental form signed, not for any other/malicious reasons. I then completed the parental forms and submitted them, with no response and no return of my account. This was over a month ago. I would like to file against them for theft, but I first want to be sure that this is legally correct and I'm not just filing a useless claim. If the company has had my money for a little over a month, could that be considered theft or some other form of actionable offense?

Thanks in advance!


texts: How do sites like Imgur avoid Copyright infringement?

texts:
How do companies like Imgur avoid getting sued. Some of their users upload copyrighted material.

I want to build a site similar to Imgur, where the user can upload images and gifs.

I am worried about being sued for copyright infringement.
I am only going to provide a service for uploading images to a site, where everyone can view them.

Can I get sued for what the user uploads?

I am more than happy to remove any copyrighted material.
If a user asks me to remove an image they claim is copyrighted, can I ask for proof?

If a user decides to upload porn can I get in trouble for it?
Example: A kid browses my site and sees something he is not suppose to see.

This is a hobby project and I will be the only person working on it.

I currently reside in Norway. I am not a Norwegian citizen. I am a Namibian citizen. Namibia doesn't have any extradition treaties with the USA. I am not sure which laws apply to me concerning copyright.


texts:
I'm a university student and I shoot skeet on the weekends. Currently getting ready to sign an apartment lease for next year and I noticed this clause. Section C is the part I am confused about, as it involves roommate terminology and is worded in a rather specific way.

I follow my state's (Missouri) laws and am knowledgeable about firearm safety. The unit I will be leasing is not shared with other roommates. Does this clause prevent me specifically from storing skeet gear (shotgun, shells, eye/ear protection, etc.) in my apartment, provided it is stored securely?

  Tenant shall not, or permit any of Tenant's guests or invitees to, (a) unless otherwise permitted by the Rules and
  Regulations, keep any item of a dangerous, flammable or explosive character that might unreasonably increase the
  danger of fire or explosion or that might be considered hazardous or extra hazardous by any responsible insurance
  company; (b) engage in the manufacture, sale, distribution, use, or possession with intent to manufacture, sell,
  distribute or use illegal drugs, controlled substances or drug paraphernalia; (c) engage in acts of violence or threats of
  violence, including, but not limited to, displaying, discharging, or possessing a firearm, knife, or other weapon that
  may threaten, alarm or intimidate others or roommates; (d) engage or assist in the consumption of alcohol by a person
  under the legal age to consume alcohol in the State in which the Neighborhood is located, or (e) engage in any other
  illegal activities. It is understood and agreed that a single violation of this section shall be a default of the Lease.


texts: Someone broke my laptop, how should I handle this situation?

texts:
I am attending college in Wisconsin and I had my backpack leaning against the side of my desk. It was on the edge of the walkway between desks in the class room.

Somebody walking by kicked my backpack hard enough to bend the USB ports so much I can't plug anything into them. Now my laptop won't turn on.

I saw them do it, but I didn't get a look at their face at the time since I didn't think it was anything but a harmless accident. However, I took my laptop out that class, and I'm sure many people saw it wasn't functioning.

I asked my professor if she had seen who did it, and she gave me their name and email.

This is the first time I have been in this sort of situation. I am looking for somebody to tell me if there's anything I can do, and how to handle this situation.


texts: Roommate caused water damage to our condo, what are my options?

texts:
I live with 3 roommates and all 4 of us are on a lease for the condo owned by our landlord.

TL;DR my roommate "Jim" caused water damage to several rooms and I'm looking for advice on what I can personally do since none of the damage was directly my fault.

Full story:
The sink in the bathroom on the second floor doesn't drain and we have been unable to use it without the sink filling up with water. The previous landlord knew about the plumbing issues and our current landlord was made aware of this problem when ownership of the condo was transferred to them. In the past few months since then, the landlord hasn't taken any steps to fix it, so my roommate "Tom" started to work on it himself in an attempt to clear the blockage.

Tom disassembled the pipe directly under the sink and for whatever reason was unable to fix the problem and left everything disassembled for a few days while he tried to come up with a solution. Every one of us knew NOT to run the faucet and to use the first floor bathroom sink instead. No problems for a few days.

However, Jim ended up using the sink on the second floor and left the faucet running for at least 2 hours. The water had nowhere to go but out the pipe and onto the bathroom floor. And over the course of those 2 hours the water went through the ceiling of the first floor (it was pouring out of the ceiling when we discovered it) and continued to leak down into the basement. The ceiling is deformed due to water damage and I can only assume there is still water in the ceiling of the first floor and the basement. I'm sure it's safe to assume there could be water in the walls, too.

Clearly there will have to be a lot of work done (and money spent) to fix the damage. From what I understand of the lease, the landlord won't care whose fault it is and will expect us to collectively pay him back for the repairs? As I did not cause any of the damage, what options do I have to protect myself and minimize the amount of money that I will have to pay? Do I hope for the landlord to have mercy on me, do I take this to court (I wouldn't expect to win as there is no proof it wasn't my fault), do I take my roommate(s) to small claims court, or am I just SOL?

Edit: I don't have renter's insurance and I'm unsure of what my landlord's insurance situation is.


texts: Do law enforcement agencies have to announce DUI checkpoints in advance?

texts:
What does the 1990 Supreme Court case out of Michigan which found sobriety checkpoints did not constitute a violation of the fourth amendment require, explicitly or implicitly as the case may be, in terms of law enforcement agencies announcing or publicizing their planned checkpoints in advance?

Does it require agencies or departments to publish in advance the specific time, location and purpose of checkpoints in advance?
Does it require agencies or departments to announce that checkpoints will be operated within some jurisdiction over some period of time?
Does it not require but suggest either of the above?

Bonus question - does some other national/federal authority (e.g., the NHTSA, DOJ, newer court cases, etc.) have any rules, regulations or guidelines that govern local and state law enforcement agencies' operation of sobriety checkpoints?


texts: Refusing income or payment without tax liabilities

texts:
I am part of a non-profit organization that is insisting on paying me for my time. For personal reasons, this payment is more costly for me to accept than to disclaim it entirely.

Is there a proper and legal way to disclaim this income and disclaim the liabilities that come with receiving this income? Is there a law in the tax code that mentions a proper way of disclaiming income?


texts: Does a landlord owe you rent back if amenities on the lease are not available? (Florida, Broward County)

texts:
I'm in somewhat of a nightmare situation, where the property I am renting is currently under heavy construction, rendering many of the amenities I pay for inaccessible.

Specifically, the pool, fitness center, and dog parks are all cordoned off because they're under construction. The dog parks and pools have been closed since January, the fitness center since March. These amenities were available at one time and are even advertised on their website ("[lounging] poolside" isn't possible, unless you like being undressed in an active construction site, and "the outdoor yoga deck of our resident fitness center" doesn't even exist).

There are likely other amenities that are unavailable, but I only used the three above.

Do I have any legal ground to request a rent rebate for the amenities since they have been unavailable for so long?

Additional information from the lease itself: There is little mention of the added amenities, save for the Limitations on conduct section. It reads:

  Any swimming pools, saunas, spas, tanning beds, exercise rooms, storerooms, laundry rooms, and similar areas must be used with care in accordance with apartment rules and posted signs.


texts: What is the best way to search through session laws?

texts:
I've done a lot of digging through the codified statutes, at least in my jurisdiction.  I'm wondering if there is an efficient way to search through the session laws to find where the related session law is which corresponds to a codified law.  Often, the session laws are titled something that may not contain a relatable key word.  And they're ordered chronologically.  I'm mainly interested in seeing the progression of a chaptered statute as it is changed over many years or even decades and possibly centuries.  I'm sure there's an old fashioned way of doing this search and a new technologically improved way, too. I suppose I would need to know both, depending on how far back in history I wish to be looking.

The reason I am looking is because I am looking for evidence of intent for when the law was created.

If this is a question that will only be answerable in a jurisdiction-specific way, then I'm asking about Maine and the Federal Government.

(No, I am not in school, and no this is not my homework.)


texts: Can male guardians prevent Egyptian women from leaving the country?

texts:
As an unmarried adult Egyptian woman living abroad with a valid Egyptian passport, can my father/brother/... stop me, by law, from leaving Egypt after a visit there?

I know I don't need to show a permission by a male guardian at the airport to leave Egypt (unlike, say, women from Saudi Arabia), so by default I am allowed to leave the country, but what if my father/brother/... gets active to prevent that?


texts: Why can't a cryptocurrency be classified the same way as airline points or store rewards?

texts:
According to an article I read on Law360 (paywalled), Facebook's Libra could never be successful as envisioned because the tax reporting burden on it will be too high. Essentially, users will constantly need to track the value of their Libra vs the US dollar to report their taxes accurately in US dollars.

Here's an excerpt:

  Users hoping to pay for everyday transactions with Facebook Inc.'s
  planned cryptocurrency could be required to keep near-constant tax
  records, a major impediment to the company's dream of establishing a
  convenient worldwide digital currency.

  If tax authorities were to consider Facebook's Libra an asset — as
  most do digital currencies now — then they would likely consider any
  exchange to be a realization of gain or loss, requiring taxpayers to
  keep records and potentially pay capital gains tax. To create a
  cryptocurrency “as widely accepted and as easy to use as possible”
  that “people can use with confidence and convenience in their everyday
  lives,” as Facebook has promised, the company would need either to
  create an unprecedented tax compliance program for its users, or to
  persuade tax authorities around the globe to change how they treat
  cryptocurrencies.

My question is, why can't Libra just be classified like any "points" offered by a company or group of companies? For example, I earn Starbucks points and I don't calculate the value of a Starbucks point in US dollars every time I get a coffee.


texts: Can a USA governor pardon a felon who was convicted in another state?

texts:
Bill was convicted and imprisoned in a state (East Sconsin). He then moves to West Sconsin and wants to join the police. Felons are not allowed to serve as policemen.

Can the governor of West Sconsin pardon Bill, removing his felon status?

Must this be respected by the federal government or the other states?


texts: law about ethical hacker using pirated software or gadgets?

texts:
Is there any law if a ethical hacker is invited to our company and he used pirated software?
Can we take any legal action or its normal in this field?


texts: Is a website OK with GDPR if it is not permitting the users to delete their posts?

texts:
Think of a website that has gives no option for the users to delete what they have posted -but still the users can delete their account completely.

Is it against the right to erasure mentioned here as a part of GDPR?


texts: Is it common that a country has a law that supports additional taxing for national media?

texts:
An European country Slovenia (That small thing east of Italy) has a law that basically forces each household to pay additional tax each month for national radio-and-tv station. The amount is fixed to nearly 15€ per month regardless of household financial position.
This is not about companies or public-like places such as pubs. By law a person or a family needs to pay this monthly fee regardless of actual usage of this service. A person or family may opt out of this by ensuring that they have no way of connecting to the national radio or television. So already owning a car or even a phone with internet capabilities is out of question.
Is this common/normal? Does every (or most) country have such a law? This kind of law to me seems very dangerous and scary. In a way I feel like every year a new such law could be created and suddenly after 10 laws you pay 150€ per month additional tax regardless of your financial status and/or usage of services you are charged with extra.
Just for more info (though I feel a bit weak with my English at this point): The law basically states that the institute for national radio and television may gather data from those paying for electricity. They are to use this list to demand payment. So basically each household needs to pay once per month. And to opt out there should be no technically possible solution to connect to radio or television at all.


texts: Liability for data when reselling used data storage (US)

texts:
If I purchase used storage media from a company, what is my liability for the data that it may contain?

As a standard practice, all such media would be wiped. However, secure data destruction is not my business.

From an ethical standpoint, I would want make a "best effort" to ensure that all data is removed. However, from a legal perspective, where does the liability reside in the event of data being leaked?

Is there a "standard" disclaimer of liability for situations such as this that I can use, or is this a case "there be dragons, contact a lawyer"?


texts: Can companies legally make unreasonable term of service?

texts:
Say you buy a software. There is a term in the term of service that you got to pay $1 million dollar/become sex slaves, etc.

To what extend companies can do that?

There are 2 cases where something like this happen in real life.

http://www.asiaone.com/singapore/sim-lim-scams-student-reduced-tears-after-being-charged-1k-iphone-warranty

In Sim Lim case, somewhere hidden in the contract there is a writing that user agrees to pay $30*12 insurance fee.

Why they write $30*12? Why not write $3600? Yea it's there to deliberately make the fee unclear. Unsuspecting user sign and is reduced in tear.

In Indonesia, many insurance agency would write that there is acquisition fee of say 100% from basic premi. They didn't write the dollar amount. They write it in terms of percentage.

That acquisition fee can be 100 times higher than the normal price of insurance if bought separately.

Most customers do not even know they have high premium. Their agent simply say that all money are invested.

Indonesian lawyers say it's legal and common in insurance industry in Indonesia. I've heard it's common in unit link in other countries too. Is it?

What defense do we have against such companies?


texts: Are names of computer game characters copyrighted?

texts:
I am not developing a game or creating game characters. What I am trying to do is give a name to the software that I am creating in my spare time. It seems there is a game character by the same name, a popular game at that (I am not a gamer but a google search to check the name revealed it). The software is intended to be free but might make money in the future, so I want to know this.

Are names of characters in games copyrighted and is it illegal to use them to name other unrelated software components and applications that might or might not make money?


texts: What exactly is "publication" in commercial general liability insurance context?

texts:
CGLIs have following paragraph to define insurance trigger for advertising injury:

  Oral or written publication, in any manner, of material that
  slanders or libels a person or organization or disparages a
  person's or organization's goods, products or services;

Since many insurance policies usually don't define what is "publication", then how have courts in the past interpreted for something to qualify as publication?

As more concrete examples:

Are there precedents where facebook posts on person's timeline qualify as written publication? Does it make difference whether facebook timeline was visible publicly or protected (i.e. visible only to friends)?
Are there precedents where phone calls qualify as oral publications if done to a targeted group?


texts: Does a state Department of Revenue typically have access to your property / home?

texts:
Here's an interesting one, the Department of Revenue (Montana) shows up on your property. They seem nice, and they want to measure your house / walk around in it etc. It's still under construction. This happens several times when I'm not around and I hear from my contractors; "some guy is here measuring, should we make him leave?"
I validated the individual. He is from the state department of revenue. I'm not trying to avoid taxes, but I guess I would have expected the typical process to be a bit different. When I called and asked, they claimed that because there are no building codes in my area, and thus no filing of permits etc., they have field agents who simply drive around and check out material changes. I let them know it is private property and they blatantly stated they would enter without my permission, anytime they see something of note. Now, I live where I live for a reason: Privacy being a very big chunk of the reasoning.
My question: I realize this might be state constitution specific, but can I deny entry to the State Revenue Department? Mainly, I would prefer that they work a time out. I can even send them building plans and pictures. However, being told that they have unfettered access and rights to my private property seems insane. When this individual was here last, there were crews working over-head setting trusses. I cannot guarantee their safety and I see no reason I should have to.
Is this just one of the many areas where our property rights no longer apply and we have zero expectation of privacy?


texts: Does an increase in Tax Exemptions mean I will pay less in Tax for each paycheck? (USA)

texts:
I get too big of a refund each year, so I want to get that closer to 0. Not owing and not getting a refund, in tax.

Should I increase "exemptions"?

Also is "Allowance" and "Witholdings" and "Exemptions" all mean the same thing?


texts: In a rear-ending traffic violation, is the ticket dropped if the other party does not show up but the officer does?

texts: I rear-ended someone and received a "failure to maintain safe distance" citation. I don't believe I'm at fault and am considering challenging it in court. I don't want to get an attorney or deal with any of that, so I'm partially counting on the other guy not showing up. At the scene of the accident, the officer told me that if the other guy does not show when subpoenaed that it would be "a no-go". Am I correct in interpreting this to mean that the ticket will be dropped?


texts: Will I be let into the US if I request a passport from a country in the Trump travel ban?

texts:
I currently hold a permanent resident status in the US and planned on traveling internationally in next couple of months. Since I need a visa to enter to the country I am traveling to, I would have to request my passport from my country (listed in the travel ban.) I am NOT traveling to my country but rather using my passport from my country as an entry to another country (since I don't hold a US passport yet).

Will this effect my permanent resident status in the US?


texts: Is it possible to license only parts of a derivative work?

texts:
This is kind of a follow-up question to one I asked earlier. I thought that if I generalize it, it would be better to ask it separately.

I want to create a derivative work of another work, which is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (CC-BY-SA). This means that I need to release my work under a license compatible with CC-BY-SA.

The problem is that in my work, I also have other elements (e.g. fonts and images), which I have no right to license.

So, is it in some way possible for me to be compatible with CC-BY-SA? For example by licensing only the parts I made under CC-BY-SA and making it clear that those other elements are not licensed under CC-BY-SA?


texts:
how much would a hacker be fined for using others online money? (according to international law)

Let's say for using $10,000, $1,000, $100, or $10.


texts: Why is it the case that contractual liability is usually defined by basis of foreseeability rather than negligence (like in tort law)? I am looking a good explanation for that from economics. I understand that contract breach can be seen itself as negligent act. I also understand the economic reasons behind foreseeability doctrine (or Hadley-Baxendale).


texts: What recourse do I have against commercial use of my image?

texts:
Somebody took photos of my wife on a treadmill at a gym without her permission.

One of those photos appeared a week later in the local paper in an advertisement for a car dealership.

Subsequently my wife feels humiliated as co-workers have started becoming pervy towards her, hitting on her, making crude jokes about her etc.  Consquently, she has become stressed about it and doesn't really want to go to work.

What rights and claims does she have against the entities that used her image commercially without her permission, and how are they pursued?


texts:
In tort law there is a SPLIT amongst jurisdictions regarding whether someone may consent to an illegal activity.

Some say consent is not valid (meaning plaintiff can recover)

Some say consent is valid (meaning plaintiff cannot recover) UNLESS if plaintiff is a member of a class of people a law was designed to protect from that very illegal activity (ex: a minor cannot consent to sex with an adult because they are a member of a protected class).

What I want to know is which is the majority in the US?


texts: Contests and Promotions: Is a ticket to a convention where a contest is held "consideration"?

texts:
Various game shows and other contests have a rules clause like this within their official rules:

  NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS PROMOTION. PURCHASE OF A TICKET WILL NOT IMPROVE YOUR ODDS OF
  (i) BEING SELECTED AS A CONTESTANT OR (ii) WINNING A PRIZE. FOR FREE METHOD OF ENTRY, PLEASE SEE REGISTRATION
  SECTION BELOW.

I know that clauses like this exists mostly due to US rules as well as state laws regarding lotteries/sweepstakes and the like. My question is on how this relates to traveling game shows as well as contests at conventions and other like events. Traveling game shows being the stage productions that are replications of the actual television game show (but unaired). Conventions being events like trade shows, theme conventions (anime, Star Trek, etc.). (I noticed that at these events there are always some kind of game show or similar event open to only those who are paid attendees to the convention.)

Using a real-life situation, while looking at an official rules sheet for Family Feud, they list a certain set of people who are both eligible to participate and ineligible. But never mention that buying a ticket counts. (In fact, according to their rules page, if a person without a ticket somehow walks in and registers for a chance to play, and is selected, that person would receive a complimentary ticket.)

The question is this: Does requiring a possible participant to buy a ticket (either to the event or convention in question), make such a contest/game illegal? For example: If the event is held at a trade show and the only way to enter said trade show is with a ticket, and at that event someone is holding a contest or the like and makes it only available for attendees with valid badges, does the fact that a compulsory badge/ticket purchase make this a violation of the law regarding lotteries/sweepstakes? (To answer a question: The intended audience for these shows would be those particularly in attendance of said conference/convention.)

I noticed a similar question had an answer here on the law exchange: What, if any, consequences exist in practice for "purchase required" sweepstakes & drawings?. The answer to that question is in the area of this however unlike that question, these are all games of skill and not chance. (ie. You would be asked a set of questions to make progress in the game and the more questions you get correct determines your prize.)


texts: I am in a rental through a realtor in the state of MD (Wicomico county). My step dad just won a court case against this property management group because there is a section in the lease agreement that is illegal to have tenants sign under MD code. Being that the landlord is not responsible for property damaged due to landlord being out of control for happenings not caused by the tenant. Does this then mean that the entire contract is invalid/void? I am under the same contract with this property just in a different building. Does this void the contract because what they did is against public policy in the one section?


texts: Is there a default copyright license on programming scripts released publicly on the internet without it's own license or one used by the website?

texts:
So i've been building a game and one of the scripts which does a major overhaul on the battle system has a Non-Commercial Creative Commons license on it but it does say that the Non-Commercial aspect of it can be waived by the author which i hope to get done.

there are some other scripts which i hope to use in my game. unlike this battle system overhaul i am confident i can rebuild these myself and add some feature to make using them easier for me to use (ie. one which records map status like chests opened, enemy types killed, etc, uses really long function name which i could shorten down. also i have to use a hack to get it to work with a disk change system) but time wise this would take me quite a while to rebuild.

these scripts however don't come with something like the Creative Commons within the script and the website i got them from didn't have an implied license for anything on the site (unlike say this site which says in the footer "user contributions licensed under cc by-sa 3.0 with attribution required")

now when i make the credits i will surely include the name they released the script under to show they're work was used however i don't want to be in violation of a default copyright license that i am unaware of if i am able to sell my game.

So is there a default copyright license on programming scripts released publicly on the internet without it's own license or one used by the website?


texts: Can i legally claim to own a derivative Open Source project?

texts:
The Apache license states the following:

  You must cause any modified files to carry prominent notices
            stating that You changed the files.

However if i rewrote the original source can i claim it as my own and therefore relicense it?


texts: Is "including but not limited to" dangerous?

texts:
I am looking for opinions about the phrase, "including but not limited to". Yes, I know that it's commonly used, but is it dangerous to the person signing the contract.

For example, consider "You may not say including but not limited to the words 'cat', 'dog', and 'human'". In this case, it is explicitly stated that if I said cat, dog, or human, I'd be in breach of this contract. However, since there is "including but not limited to", let's say I said "fish". If the party that created the agreement didn't like that I said fish, could they sue me for breach of contract as they never specified what words I could say?

Thanks.


texts: US citizen incorporating a company where he won't work and hiring an H1B as the CEO

texts: Can a US citizen incorporate a company where he won't work and hire an H1B visa holder as the CEO?


texts: What is the geographic extent of attorney-client privilege?

texts:
I noticed that a lot of American discussions about law include a disclaimer (I am not your lawyer). A recent article mentioned that this is the case because otherwise there may be an attorney-client privilege.

This (EDIT: automatic pairing) does not exist in France (you will not find any disclaimers in discussions and a lawyer is your lawyer when you hire him or her) so I was wondering about the geographical extent of this privilege.

Specifically, could it be in place when:

two Americans citizens discuss over a non-US portal?
the discussion is on an American site, between a US citizen and non US one?
two Americans citizens discuss outside the US?


texts: What protections exist in the European Union against discrimination in an educational institution?

texts:
For those who aren't familiar with it, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act ("504" for short) is the U.S. law that protects the civil rights of students with disabilities at institutions that receive federal funds for any part of their budget.

Section 504 is important in its own right, and it was also an important towards passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Section 504 spelled the beginning of the end of "separate but equal" for people with disabilities.

Who is protected under 504? "Any person who (1) has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, (2) has a record of such an impairment or (3) is regarded as having such an impairment. Major life activities include walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, working, caring for oneself, and performing manual tasks."

For a fascinating and inspiring account of the history of 504, see the article Short History of the 504 Sit-In and the video Power of 504.

504 is made up of two parts -- a law ("No otherwise qualified handicapped individual in the United States shall, solely by reason of his handicap, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance") and a set of regulations.

Question: What is the equivalent of Section 504 in non-U.S. parts of the world?


texts: Can the President of the United States legally discredit or promote mass media organizations?

texts:
Whereas freedom of the press and freedom of speech are both inalienable rights in our country, the same might not be said of every citizen--particularly members of the military per 10 U.S. Code § 888:

  "Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the
  President, the Vice President, Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the
  Secretary of a military department, the Secretary of Homeland
  Security, or the Governor or legislature of any State, Commonwealth,
  or possession in which he is on duty or present shall be punished as a
  court-martial may direct." (See the answer to Is there a law that requires allegiance or respect to the Office of the President of the United States?)

Such measures have been put in place to maintain military cohesiveness. But the same does not apply to the general public and the media.

Now we are all well aware of how presidential administrations in the past have fought a very public political battle of words with the media in the United States. The media is a very powerful entity with the power to sway public opinion--not just inform! To the public, these political battles between the media and the President may seem divisive--but to be fair, the media does seem to take political sides, downplaying one party and promoting another.

I'm not talking about an opposing political candidate taking swipes at the President and using the media as a vehicle--something for which I understand we already have political campaign regulations in place. No, I'm talking about the perfectly plausible case in which a media outlet itself (without outright endorsement from a specific political party or candidate) makes hostile reporting against the President a constant theme. Please, I'm not pointing fingers--I'm just pointing out that it can and has happened in order to set up the basis of my question.

With that in mind, and for our education, how is the President--as Commander In Chief of our armed forces--legally permitted to handle disagreements with the media? Is s/he also in fact fully entitled to defensively or preemptively discredit or promote media organizations publicly, despite holding office?

I am not asking for opinions on whether it's been done the right way or the wrong way by any present or previous administration. I am not at this time pushing for, nor asking for anyone to get on a bandwagon to push for, any changes in policy. My question is also NOT seeking to incite political debate. I just want to deal with the facts of what is legal today in terms of White House communications.

I want to understand what legally entitles a President to discredit or promote media organizations as s/he sees fit. And maybe the answer to that is simply that someone in the office of President keeps his/her full rights to free speech and free press as a citizen. If so, then just please confirm and point out to me how that's protected, whether by a Constitutional amendment, some simple article in the Bill of Rights, or whatever. That's all! Thanks.


texts: I am making a game, and I have a worries is it legal to use the Trademark Symbol in the logo of the game?


texts: Can I use a modfied copy of the Android OS in a commercial application?

texts:
I have a question regarding the use of Android.

We want to sell devices, that are equipped with a modified Android-System.

Some things are restricted
Some apps are preinstalled
We use the company logo when booting the system.

Is there something we need to consider in this case?


texts: What to do when utility that needs to be paid for is listed as N/A on lease?

texts:
I recently signed a lease to rent a house for 1 year and in the lease there is a section that assigns who will pay for the utilities, either my landlord or I.  This house has an oil heating system and as such, oil needs to be ordered for the winter.  However, in the lease in the utilities section next to the Oil row it says N/A, implying that there is no oil heating in the unit so no one has to pay for it.  Obviously this was a mistake but regardless we both signed the lease, my question is: who is responsible to pay for this utility, me or my landlord?

EDIT:  I have brought this up to my landlord and he claims that it is still my responsibility.  Yes, it does work.  I had a service man come yesterday to check it an we got it running, there is just not enough oil to keep it on for longer than a few minutes.  There is no other mention of the heating system or oil in the lease.  This is in the United States.


texts: What will happen if many people commit one crime?

texts:
For example, if 100 or 1000 participants plan and murder someone in such a manner that they are equally guilty for example, they mutually came with the idea and willingly participated and so on, you get the idea.

Will all be convicted of murder?


texts: Mother living with felonious ex-convicts; precedent for removal of children

texts:
A mother decides to move into a house owned and occupied by people with a criminal background including felony convictions for drugs and violent crimes. What precedent is there in law to have the children removed from her care as a result?

Clarifying facts:

The petitioner is the father. The felon is not on parole.


texts:
Is it legal to have an "anti-exclusive" contract?
By anti-exclusive, I mean a contract that says, for example:
"This software can be used on any platform EXCEPT for X"
For a real life example, would it be legal to create software and say it is available for any platform EXCEPT for, say, a specific Linux distribution?
In a broader sense, can somebody sell a product/service to everybody except for a particular person/group of people? I'm thinking this would be illegal due to discrimination laws, so wouldn't this be the case for the above example too?


texts: Does a non-competition clause bond me to a minimum term of employment?

texts:
I am an IT instructor in a private educational institution in British Columbia, Canada. They gave me a agreement which includes a section “non-competition clause” with these lines:

  He or she agrees that they will not, either directly or indirectly, either as a partner or as an officer, director, shareholder, employee or agent or servant of any corporation or partnership, for a period of two (2) years after leaving the said employment, solicit orders from any customers, clients or agents of the employer for such products as are sold by the employer in any area of the world.

Is it a bond for 2 years for that institution? If I signed, will I have to work for 2 years with them? If I signed and later leave the institution and join another one, will this clause cause problems for me?


texts:
In Los Angeles, California, if apparent police show up at my door with an apparent search warrant in their hands at 3am, how can I independently verify this?
I don't want to be tricked into opening the door.
One option is to call the local police department, and ask...is this the best?  Will the police wait the 10 minutes this might require?  Can I really trust my phone line?  I feel like internet security is better and would prefer to use a secure government website.


texts:
We are trying to log the location of our visitors, without storing their actual IP address on our servers.

To geolocate the IP address, we use an external service, to which we make an API request with the user's IP, and the service returns the approximate geolocation we store in our database.

The service is not 100% accurate, more than often it just points to the provider's exchange location
For us this is enough since it is usually in the same city as the original ip address.

Is passing the user's IP address to the external service for processing considered okay without the user's explicit consent under the GDPR?


texts: Hypothetical Complex Litigation appeal and discovery

texts:
Single plaintiff sues 4 defendants in federal court for federal rights, federal statutes and related state claims.
Defendant 1 is federal and state claims.
Defendant 2 is federal and state claims.
Defendant 3 is related but only state claims.
Defendant 4 is related but only state claims.

Judge orders;
Defendant 1, federal claims can proceed state claims dismissed.
Defendant 2, federal and state claims dismissed.
Defendant 3, state claims dismissed with prejudice.
Defendant 4, state claims dismissed.

Question;
Would a plaintiff have to wait until the final judgment on defendant 1 takes place, which could conceivably take years, before pursuing an appeal on order dismissing the other defendants?

Question;
What if anything must or should a plaintiff in such a scenario do to preserve their right to appeal a judge's order dismissing claims against defendants 2, 3 and 4?  Timely file an objection, or ...?

Question;
How would the dismissal of defendants 2, 3 and 4 affect plaintiff's discovery on those defendants?

Question;
What if discovery on defendants 2, 3 and 4 was necessary for prosecution of defendant 1?

Question;
What if discovery on defendants 2, 3 and 4 was necessary to support an appeal on those defendants?

Question;
Would parties dismissed by court order still to be served copies of all discovery sent to the party or parties still active in lawsuit?

Question;
If the federal claims go to final judgment in plaintiff's favor and plaintiff appeals judge's decision to dismiss the state claims; what would happen with supplemental jurisdiction over those state claims?


texts: Why are pro se litigants allowed to practice law?

texts:
I see a lot about why people aren't allowed to practice law on behalf of another person, but I do not see any positive justification for allowing a pro se litigant to practice law on behalf of himself.

Is there a court case that decided pro se's are allowed to practice law on behalf of themselves?  Because I would like to see the exact reasoning.  I wonder if it is constitutional or based in common law or what exactly.


texts: Can I sell antique guns within the UK to UK residents - while being resident in the USA?

texts:
Context

I am a British citizen and for a little while have been collecting antique (section 58) firearms in the UK. I will shortly be marrying my American fiancée and emigrating to the USA to do so, applying for permanent resident status (Green Card).

I have been selling my collection in the UK to British citizens to try and get rid of it before I emigrate. I am not a registered business, I am a private collector who buys and sells in small amounts (approx. £600 annually).

I know UK firearms law for sales within the UK well. I Have read the antique definitions in US law and know my items are antiques in both countries, (although as both countries have poorly-informed customs and law enforcement, it is always useful to know what would happen if antiquity was disputed). I do not know any US law about international sales inside other countries such as registration or citizenship.

Intention

I will be leaving the antique guns with my parents in the UK (who will continue to treat them as curios/ornaments under section 58). The guns would remain advertised on a UK website for UK sales only. They would be boxed and wrapped and my parents would arrange a courier or royal mail them (my parents will not require any UK license to transfer antiques as a curio or ornament).

Said guns would not be leaving the UK because then I might need a USA Export License. (I know the reverse is true - if I stood in the UK causing guns to leave the USA and go to anywhere else - for example, there was an RFD dealer prosecuted for negotiating a gun sale exported from China to Nigeria, without having a UK Export License)

Requests

Is there any US or UK law which stops me continuing to advertise my guns for sale on a UK website, in the UK, within the UK, to UK citizens?

Additionally, I wish to know: If they were NOT antique guns, what US requirements would I need to be negotiating UK-UK sales while living in the USA? I am aware I would need to be an RFD or have other certification as a UK citizen, I ask regarding US law. (If there is any dispute as to antique status, it would be useful to know if, for example, the USA don't care if they're AK47s as long as they don't touch the US border.)

Many thanks in advance

(I understand answers and comments cannot be taken as true legal advice, however, any specific legislation sections or legal cases that you can point me to I can then read for myself.)


texts: When purchasing with excess cash in a shop, is the sale completed when I pay, or only when I receive change

texts:
I'm asking purely out of curiosity, and would be happy with answers relating to any jurisdiction(s).

As an example, Ben wants to buy a banana from Sam's shop. Bananas are priced at £0.50 each. Ben puts the banana on the counter and (a) hands Sam a £1 coin. Sam then puts the coin in the till and (b) gives Ben a 50 pence coin.

Was the contract made and completed at point (a) or (b)? Or is the time of sale not legally defined so precisely?

Presumably if it was not made until (b), then Ben might not be entitled to walk away with (or eat) the banana without waiting for change.

But if it was made at (a), then Ben might not be entitled to change his mind and get his £1 coin back if Sam was out of change and asked him to wait for five minutes.


texts: What kind of lawyer would our company need to file criminal charges against a customer?

texts:
About Us

I work for a company and our company sells very popular electronic products to consumers in the automotive industry.

Our Problem

We have one particular customer that has ordered one of our products legitemately and about 30 other orders of the same product with stolen credit cards. While we have tracked down this customer and have all of his contact information and support details; no law enforcement agency has cooperated with us in terms of opening a case and helping us. We've tried local, FBI, Treasury, Secret Service. We are a very small business with very few employees and as a result are struggling.

The Damages

result to $10,000+ in products and $3000 in mitigation and recovery.

Advise Us

Is it possible to hire a lawyer to help us and what kind of lawyer would we seek out?


texts: Can child support be settled out of court, and can that settlement be challenged in court? I am wondering if settlement of child support out of court has any bearing on the legal proceedings and if they're recognized at all by the court even if a contract was signed. Is this the case in North America, what about Europe?


texts: how can a citizen change a law that is fundamentally flawed?

texts:
Supposedly governments exist to serve their people; to enhance the well-being of their communities; to make things better - not worse.
If it becomes apparent to an ordinary, upstanding citizen that certain actions or policies of a government are in fact unethical, making something worse, doing a wrong, or infringing on rights or freedoms, etc. whether intentionally, accidentally, negligent, corrupt, malicious, or even in good faith..
And that citizen feels it's his duty (to himself, to others, or both) to do something about it; to change some law or policy (whether big or small, old or new) for the betterment of his society, or simply because he feels it's fundamentally the good and right thing to do..
What can he do to instigate this kind of change?


texts: UK Magistrate's court - appeal against revocation of child performance license

texts:
I am the father of a 14 year old girl. She is trying to find work as a professional child actor. She has been offered a role, but is currently not able to accept as Hampshire County Council initially issued her with a performance license, but subsequently revoked it.

I understand that I am entitled to appeal against Hampshire County Council’s revocation of my daughter's performance license, under sec 39(6) of the Children and Young Person’s Act, 1963:

  (6) Where a local authority refuse an application for a licence under
  section 37 of this Act or revoke or, otherwise than on the application
  of the holder, vary such a licence they shall state their grounds for
  doing so in writing to the applicant or, as the case may be, the
  holder of the licence ; and the applicant or holder may appeal to a
  magistrates' court or, in Scotland, the sheriff, against the refusal,
  revocation or variation, and against any condition subject to which
  the licence is granted or any approval is given, not being a condition
  which the local authority are required to impose.

My daughter’s application was granted, then revoked, based on a council employee’s view on the appropriateness of the project’s subject matter, even though Hampshire County Council admit that the conditions required for the license to be issued are complied with. I believe this represents a form of censorship, and that the council are exceeding their authority. I would like to request the magistrate’s court to consider overturning this revocation, as it is entitled to do.

Here is the email I received from the council:

  Thank you for your email.    I have no cause for concern regarding the
  safeguarding procedures the production company have put in place.
  However, owing to the recent, very tragic events  Hampshire County
  Council does not feel that it is appropriate to support the content of
  the production. Therefore  a decision has been made by my line manager
  to revoke the licence and Tilly will no longer be able to take part in
  the filming.   I am going to inform the production company, the agency
  and the authority where the filming is taking place.   I apologise for
  any inconvenience this may cause you or Tilly but I hope you will
  appreciate this was not a decision that was taken lightly but we felt
  there was no alternative under the current circumstances   Regards

I don't see why the plot should be relevant to the license application, but for completeness here is a summary of the plot:

... plot removed as I realised it's copyright. The plot features some violence, but not glorified, trivialised or comedic, or even 'stylised'. It's about the dangers of social media and how we are unconsciously manipulated by what we see on youtube. It's even more important to do this stuff post-Manchester than pre.

The license is required for Thursday 1st June. Can you please tell me how I can bring this case in front of a magistrate on Tuesday 30th or Wednesday 31st? Can I just turn up at the court with my papers and wait for a slot?


texts: Do scans of signed documents have the same legal power as the original document?

texts: It is quite common for various parties online to exchange signed documents in signed form (such as contracts for remote work). Would these documents have any power in a court of law? Is it necessary to use the original documents for them to have any legal value?


texts: What stops Chinese companies from printing “Made in US” on their products?

texts: I was wondering if manufacturers of any country are legally bound to print the true origin of the product while exporting to other country? If yes, who makes sure they are printing the real origin of the product?


texts: How to refer to Supreme Court cases by just one name

texts: I'm writing a paper for my high school U.S. History class, and I want to refer to certain Supreme Court cases by just one name after my first naming of the case (for example, I want to refer to Rucho v. Common Cause as Rucho or as Common Cause), but I'm not certain about whether the proper name to use is that of the appellant or that of the appellee, or even whether such a standard exists. I've seen it done before in news sources covering Supreme Court cases, so I know it can be done, but I have seen both used at times. I've tried to search for a solution to my problem online, but have found only references on how to cite decisions in full, at the end of a paper. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.


texts: Practicing Law without a License over the Internet

texts:
John Smith is a US citizen who is ordinarily a resident of California who is not and never has been admitted to the bar in any jurisdiction. He is travelling in the UK, and gives legal advice on British law over the Internet to Jane Doe, another US citizen, who is in California.

Under the Legal Services Act 2007, giving legal advice is not a reserved activity and thus no crime is committed by Smith in the UK.

In California, however, practicing law without a license is an offence under sections 6125-6133 of the California Business and Professions Code. The relevant statute states:

  No person shall practice law in California unless the person is an active member of the State Bar.

Smith is not physically in California. However, does giving advice over the Internet to a person in California amount to being punishable under this statute? Furthermore, do any of the following variations, or combinations thereof, substantially change the answer?

Smith gives legal advice on California law, not British law.

As a variation on this, Smith gives legal advice on California law to Doe, who is in Nevada, not California.

Smith is a US citizen who is ordinarily a resident of Massachusetts, and has never been to California.
Smith uses a different method of communication (e.g. a phone).

I suggest California as a jurisdiction for purely arbitrary reasons; if a different state is easier to answer for (or is unusual compared to the rest of the US), that would also be interesting to know.


texts: EU fines Google $2.7B, based on which laws?

texts:
Yesterday the news came out that the European Union fined Google for $2.7B because they, according to the EU, place their own services higher in the result than competitors.

  Google suffered a major blow on Tuesday after European antitrust
  officials fined the search giant a record $2.7 billion for unfairly
  favoring some of its own services over those of rivals.

I wonder what this is based on though. Does Google actually have any (legal) obligation to provide an objective search result? It seems to me that they offer a service and it is up to the users to decide whether they want to make use of that or not.

If I make a search query on Amazon, I wouldn't demand of them to also show Google Shopping's results. So what is different the other way around?


texts: Would what happened in South Park (human centipede) be legal?

texts:
There's an episode of South Park where buried in the terms and agreement of iTunes, you agreed that Apple could forcibly make you into a human centipede. See:

In the real world could this happen? They did agree to the terms and conditions which did include that.


texts: Selling old DVD-burned porno movies for less

texts:
Normally DVD movies involve a license with rights to the actresses and other people.

In the late 80s a license was heavily protected mostly by stakeholders like Brazzers. So I bought a porn movie for $22.99 can i now sell it for $3?


texts: When can I reapply for US Citizenship after denial?

texts:
I moved to another state and then applied for US citizenship without waiting 3 months residence restriction (I am permanent resident for more than 5 years). For the reason that I filed before 3 months, my application was denied after fingerprints and passing the interview/test.

When can I re-apply for the citizenship, there is no date mentioned on the letter received.


texts: Fair use of hardware/software configuration data

texts:
I’ve searched through the questions/answers here and after reading several, I’m still confused about this situation.

Wile E. Coyote has purchased the latest and greatest Road Runner Acquisition and Tracking System (RRATS) from ACME.  This product is configured from the front panel using dials, switches and displays on the device.  The device also comes with a USB port, the proper cable and software that allows the configuration information to be loaded/saved from/to files on Mr. Coyote’s computer.  ACME provides a considerable number of sample configurations on their website for end users to use directly or use as a starting point for their own configurations.  There is an online user group that shares configuration files.  (ACME does not run the user group, but does provide links to it from their website).  Configuration files can also be purchased from independent companies online.  ACME’s provided software only displays limited configuration information and is not designed to allow editing of the files.

Mr. Coyote is very much aware of inadvertent property damage, so he wants to have a hard copy backup of his configuration files in case something happens to his computer.  Since the provided software does not have that capability, Mr. Coyote takes the time to create multiple configuration files with known settings, then analyzes them and creates his own program to interpret the files so that the configuration could be re-created manually instead of uploading it from the computer.  He also prefers to work at his computer in his den instead of in the hot sun at the device, so his program also gives him the ability to modify the configuration files.

Mr. Coyote’s arm-chair understanding of the law makes him think that his actions are allowed based on fair-use.

Questions:

Is Mr. Coyote’s understanding of the law correct?
Are there limits on what Mr. Coyote could do with his program – i.e.:
Could Mr. Coyote release his program as an open-source project without ACME’s permission?
Could Mr. Coyote sell his program without ACME’s permission?
Do the answers of the above questions change if ACME is an EU based company and the device is purchased through an authorized distributor.

Obviously, Mr. Coyote will consult with a lawyer before he tries this in real life……

Additional keywords for searches: reverse engineer


texts: Data Privacy: Should a user be allowed to change another users profile information?

texts:
In a SaaS platform, should users be allowed to change other users profile information (things like Name, Gender, Company they work for etc)?

What laws (US & EU) would give guidance either way?  Where can resources be found on topics like this before consulting with a lawyer?

Should active consent be granted to do so if even considered?