texts: Is it illegal for my landlord to lie to me?

texts:
My landlord has lied to me multiple times and I have proof that he has lied. Is that illegal? I live in Utah.
If so, could you please direct me to the law that says it is illegal?


texts: Is it illegal to challenge a voter’s registration based on the knowledge that they are a member of the opposing party?

texts: I watched a documentary about modern voter suppression. It said that in every state except for four it is legal for a civilian to challenge another voter’s registration. Let’s say that for example someone who supports Trump tries to challenge the registration of an acquaintance in the same town because he/she knows based on past interactions (they actually said this) that they are a Democrat. (Of course the situation could be reversed this is just an example.) Is challenging voter registrations for this reason illegal? (I think it should be and probably is but I want to maje sure.)


texts: A US-based wine company created a slogan.  Later it found a Canadian wine company had already been using the same slogan.  Could the U.S. company's used violate copyright or trademark?


texts: Is the use of language other than English 'Reasonable Suspicion' for detention?

texts:
The ACLU indicates:

Generally, an immigration officer cannot detain you without “reasonable suspicion.”
An immigration officer also cannot search you or your belongings without either “probable cause” or your consent.
An immigration officer cannot arrest you without “probable cause.”

Media outlets (Time Magazine) reports two women, who were born in the U.S. and are citizens,  were speaking to one another in Spanish while standing in line to buy eggs and milk in a convenience store in Havre. The agent, Paul O’Neill, entered the store, overheard them and kept them in the parking lot for approximately 40 minutes while he checked their identifications.

“Ma’am, the reason I asked you for your ID is because I came in here and I saw that you guys are speaking Spanish, which is very unheard of up here,” O’Neill said in the video.

Did the agent have "reasonable suspicion" to detain the women based on language (assume he did not understand Spanish for this exercise)?

What precedent, if any, is there to justify such a lengthy detention?


texts: What does 'public performances required of a barrister' mean?

texts:
[ Source : ] He [UK Solicitor Tom Giles] thought about becoming a teacher before taking a conversion course and going into legal aid. “It’s a cliche, isn’t it – growing up in a lesbian household in the 80s, in Stoke Newington – what are you going to do? Join Ukip and end up an estate agent?” As a shy child who nevertheless “would not give a point up”, he could not imagine undertaking [1.] the public performances required of a barrister, and so trained as a solicitor. He came to Oxford because his wife had got a job at the council, and he admits he “stalked” Philip Turpin, one of the firm’s partners, until he was hired.

I do not understand the meaning of 1, which appears to subdue a more direct, open reason.
Does 1 refer to the more public acts of advocacy and public speaking and verbal argument?


texts: Is it considered breach of contract or advertising laws if a developer markets their game as releasing on digital store A, but then chooses store B?

texts:
Recently, there's a lot of commotion in the PC gaming market over the Epic Game Store, a new digital-only PC games store and platform which is trying to break into the market. A lot of PC gamers are criticising Epic, the store owner, for being anti-consumer, because instead of providing some kind of benefit over competing platforms, Epic is simply using the large amounts of money they earn with their cash cow game (Fortnite) to bribe 3rd party developers to release their games as timed exclusives on the objectively inferior Epic platform, so they release first on the Epic store and then a year later on other platforms.

Now, some of these games have been marketed as releasing on Steam, the biggest gaming platform right now, as well as other PC gaming platforms, either through marketing material or through statements made on crowdfunding platforms used to fund the development of the game. For example, a game called The Outer Worlds, was clearly marked as releasing on Steam in promotional material. and as another example, the game Phoenix Point explicitly stated in the launch FAQ for the crowdfunding campaign on Fig(https://www.fig.co/campaigns/phoenix-point/about) that the game would be releasing on Steam and GOG.

To me as a non-lawyer, this seems fishy and maybe even breach of contract and/or advertising laws. Phoenix Point backers could have based their decision on whether to back the game based on the promised Steam release.

Does a situation like this constitute breach of contract and/or a violation of advertising laws? Note that while this is tagged United States, I also welcome legal responses from other jurisdictions given the international nature of the Internet.


texts: Is it legal to forge a employee's signautre

texts: I have recently been fired from my company. Filling out my unemployment information, I realized that my employer signed my W-4, and Direct Deposit Authorization as me (Forged). I am worried they may have done this with other forms I am not aware of. What can I do?


texts: Is there a loophole in the GPL allowing binary-only distribution?

texts:
I asked this question a long time ago here, which was the wrong place, and got a bunch of conflicting answers from a bunch of non-lawyers.

I'm hoping for a more definitive answer here, ideally from some actual lawyers. To be clear, I'm interested in understanding the legal truth - what would likely happen in a dispute that went to court, where a judgement would have to be based on the actual wording in the license - not what the goal of the GPL is, the meaning of software freedom, what's morally correct, etc.

To be clear, I'm not intending to exploit any such loophole, if it exists. My goal is to understand if the GPL could have a specific weakness in the face of a determined adversary, so that weakness could possibly be addressed.

Original question follows:

========================

I have two "dumb questions" but their combination is somewhat surprising ...

Suppose I create some new program from scratch by writing source code S, which I keep private, and then compiling S into a binary object X. Then I publicly release X (but not S) on my website under the GPLv3 license.

Dumb Question #1: am I in any way required to make S public?

Seems like here the answer is "no": the GPLv3 is a license, with restrictions, that is granted to, and applies to, the recipients of some work (in this case the work is X). The license does not apply to me because I'm the one offering the license, not accepting it.

So it appears there is absolutely no obligation for me to ever provide source code S to anyone. Of course, any recipient of X is still free to copy and distribute the binary X to anyone they want: the GPLv3 only requires them to also provide whatever source came with it, which is none.

So far so good... next consider this clause in the Affero GPLv3 (section 13):

  Notwithstanding any other provision of this License, you have
  permission to link or combine any covered work with a work licensed
  under version 3 of the GNU General Public License into a single
  combined work, and to convey the resulting work. The terms of this
  License will continue to apply to the part which is the covered work,
  but the work with which it is combined will remain governed by version
  3 of the GNU General Public License.

So that sounds like I can take my binary file X, which is licensed under GPLv3, link it with an unmodified, third-party, AGPLv3 licensed library Y, creating a combined binary Z, and distribute Z under this clause.

When distributing Z, I will have to provide the source that came with Y of course per the AGPLv3, but by the above exception, the part of Z that is X is still under the GPLv3, and by the answer to Dumb Question #1, its source code can remain private.

Note that the GPLv3 has a symmetrical clause as well, this works with both GPLv3 or AGPLv3 third-party libraries:

  Notwithstanding any other provision of this License, you have
  permission to link or combine any covered work with a work licensed
  under version 3 of the GNU Affero General Public License into a single
  combined work, and to convey the resulting work. The terms of this
  License will continue to apply to the part which is the covered work,
  but the special requirements of the GNU Affero General Public License,
  section 13, concerning interaction through a network will apply to the
  combination as such.

Dumb Question #2: Does this logic not mean that there is a simple, legal way to combine (i.e., compile and link together) and distribute proprietary code with GPLv3 or AGPLv3 third-party libraries, without having to disclose the proprietary source code, as long as you are willing to allow your proprietary binary to be distributed freely?

Do any companies already do this, e.g., for binary firmware that can be incorporated into Linux?


texts: Can two LLCs use the same name if they're incorporated in different states?

texts:
I want to incorporate an LLC in a state. (From what I understand, that happens on a state level, not federal).

If I incorporate in state A, someone else in state A can't create a company with the same name. However, someone in state B can (at least that's how I thought it worked).

So if I incorporate in a state that's not my home state, someone else can start their own company in my home state, but incorporate it there, and then we'd have two companies in a state operating under the same name.

Is that correct? If it is, I'm guessing there's not much I can do about it, besides maybe trademark the company name.


texts:
Mary and Joe had a child. Mary owns a fast food franchise.  Joe works as a service manager. Mary has residential custody of the child (New York). Joe sought to have child support reduced, arguing that Mary should have made more from the fast food franchise.  Figures shown in court were that a typical franchise made $600,000/yr, and Mary's made $40,000. Joe sought to have Mary's contribution upped to $600K/yr.

Note that Mary had the franchise prior to their having a child, and during the 7 year history, the franchise never exceeded $60,000 in net proceeds to Mary.

The court has temporarily granted Joe's request, and the net effect is that Mary now receives about $300/yr in child support. She cannot support her child on her existing income and the reduced child support.

What is the practical application of imputed income in New York? Is it appropriately applied when there is no earning history to back it up?

What options in support court, should Mary be considering?


texts: Was (is?) pre-marital sex illegal anywhere in the United States?

texts:
I read this summary of laws banning adultery in the United States.

Now, the wording of some of these laws made me wonder if any of them are remnants from a time when pre-marital sex (not just adultery) was banned. For example, maybe the pre-marital parts were removed, and the adultery parts were retained. Or maybe they are just interpreted differently now.

I certainly know that it was once illegal in certain European countries.

Has pre-marital sex ever been illegal anywhere in the United States?


texts: Legality of Embedding Games From Other Websites On My Website

texts:
Is it legal to embed flash games from other websites on my website? So far I've only embedded open-source games with MIT or similar licenses.
What if a game on another website doesn't have any license shown?
The way it works is their game is not "hosted" or "stored" on my website, it's just embedded directly from their website in a frame on my website. Exactly the same process as embedding a YouTube video on your website.
I've googled and read everything I could, but it seems fairly open ended.
Thank you.


texts: Can the Thai government legally ban Thai citizens from entering Thailand?

texts: I read on https://bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1891790/govt-temporarily-blocks-all-travel that the Thai government will temporarily block all inbound travel. Can the Thai government legally ban Thais from entering Thailand?


texts: Is it legal to distribute a modded free application on your website?

texts:
There is a free Android app called Google Camera intended for Google Pixel smartphones, and there's a huge online community of people modifying the application so it can run on more different devices.

My question is, is it legal to distribute such modded apps? Popular sites like XDA and ApkMirror seems to do it.


texts: Respecting MIT license in JavaScript files

texts:
In my website I am using some JavaScript libraries, released under the MIT license.

One of them is:
https://github.com/olado/doT

Now, the MIT license states:

  The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

Though, the source code of the minified library only contains:

/* Laura Doktorova https://github.com/olado/doT */

So, my question is: since using the library I am, in a way, "distributing" it (the client is getting a copy of it), do I have to replace the comment with the full text of the MIT license? Am I even allowed to do that?

And what about when the comment is something like:

// doT.js
// 2011-2014, Laura Doktorova, https://github.com/olado/doT
// Licensed under the MIT license.

(In this case, the comment references the MIT license).

There are many many libraries with comments like this instead of the full MIT license (which is distributed with the library, but in a separate file) including, for instance, jQuery.

Here, I am interested in what I am required to do, not in wht I should do (for a better understanding of the MIT license).

Thank you very much in advance!


texts: HOA building a Community pool which I don’t want

texts:
I’ve lived in my neighborhood for 9 years And pay HOA dues
I have a pool
The HOA is now wanting to build a Community pool and raise our fees.
I would not have built here if they had had a Community pool because I planned my own pool.  Can they make me pay for a pool I will never use. Or do they have to let me opt out because pool dues were not in my Original restrictions and fees


texts: Do arrestees have the right to private communication with a lawyer?

texts:
One of the foundational rights of an arrestee in US criminal law, as stated in the Miranda warning, is “the right to an attorney”. But if all communication with an attorney is monitored, it can be exceedingly difficult to share information relevant to the case or even construct a case at all without implicating oneself or giving away vital information to the prosecutor. If one can’t afford to post bail, this would potentially mean that the prosecutor can observe all otherwise privileged communication between attorney and client for the entire duration of the case.

Do arrestees have the right to private conversation with an attorney?


texts: In property law what is the difference between Title and Possession? They basically sound like the same thing to me.


texts: Do any English legal terms lack clear translations into other languages?

texts:
I am looking for correct translations of English legal terms. Any language is welcome as target language, but let me ask just for French. (Maybe somebody from Canada knows very well and can help easily).

I wish to know which English legal terms are such that it is indeed difficult to translate them into French because the French legal system does not include a piece of institution that is analogous to whatever the English term denotes.

Terms of interest:

trial,

process,

due process,

proceedings,

fair trial,

bar,

attorney,

lawyer,

prosecutor,

court,

jury,

jurors,

judge,

evidence,

burden of proof,

crime,

plaintiff,

defendant,

claimant and respondent,

to sue,

redress,

punishment,

compensation,

restitution,

civil vs. criminal

right

law


texts: Can one rely on copyright holder's vague language?

texts:
The author of the Code2000 font stated:

Users are required to register the font after a “reasonable”
evaluation period if they like the font and continue to use it.
However, determining what is “reasonable” is left for the user to
decide. The Code2000 download doesn’t degrade or expire and there are
no annoying pop-up screens. This has been left open-ended
intentionally. In some cases, members of minority script user
communites — those who need a font like Code2000 the most — can least
afford it. Clearly, if registering the font means your family doesn’t
get enough food on the table, even for one meal, then it is not
reasonable to register the font.
But, if you can afford the small fee, and you like the font and
continue to use it after a reasonable evaluation period, then register
your shareware! After all, I need food on my plate, too.

Now, since the author has disappeared (the PayPal account specified for payments is part of a domain registration that expired and was later repurposed), one could argue that,

no amount of time is “reasonable”,
tracking down the copyright holder would entail enormous costs (having to contact hundreds of people), so that that one's “family doesn’t get enough food on the table”,
one cannot “afford the small fee” (though it is only USD 5.00),

but could these be enough grounds for continuous free usage without risk?


texts: Having a registered home address in the UK without living there

texts:
My situation is the follwing. I am a student in the UK and my girlfriend is a working professional. I am eligible for a "residential assistant" position at one of the university's student halls where I contribute some of my time and help out with students who may have issues and in return, they provide free accommodation. They are also happy for my girlfriend (who is not a student) to move in with me.

The catch is that she cannot have her official address there because accommodations with only students don't have to pay council tax. So they don't let non-students be registered as residents. However, they have told me explicitly that they're happy to let her live there provided she has another registered address.

My questions are

1) Is it legal to have a registered address somewhere without living there e.g. a friend's place?

2) Does the UK let you use a PO box address as your registered address?

She is a Swiss national and while free rent is great to have, we don't want to do anything illegal either. Is there a solution to my problem? Thank you!


texts: Are USA private sector employees entitled to federal holidays?

texts:
I was raised to believe that federal holidays are to some degree sacrosanct, namely, that even private employers can't compel employees to work on them (i.e., employees are technically protected against retaliation for not working those days), and hourly employees must be paid time-and-a-half to work on those days, and so on.

Is any of that still true? Are salaried private workers in the USA entitled to any protection of federal holidays? If it helps, my jurisdiction is New York.

I would appreciate a citation if you can find one.


texts: What exactly does the law say about bias in court/does it cover unconscious biases?

texts: If possible, what is the specific wording for the law(s) about bias in court, what are the repercussions for someone who is found guilty of bias in court, and do the laws extend to unconscious bias (i.e, would a trial be redone if it was found that unconscious bias had played a role in the final decision). This is for a research project lasting one year with the question to what extent does cognitive bias play a role in court/businesses?


texts: Does a defendant in a criminal misdemeanor trial have to show up for announcement?

texts:
I noticed that for speeding tickets and class C misdemeanors in our county court in Texas, the court will many times schedule an announcement repeatedly.

If a defendant shows up for the announcement and announces ready for trial, the court will then set another announcement for a month away. And the process will sometimes repeat itself for month after month for years.

My first thoughts were that those courts are very crowded and a minor offense like that just doesn't always get scheduled for trial due to other more important offenses taking the place in line. But the end result seems as if the court is trying to get the defendants who sometimes are Pro Se to just 'give up' because of spending so much time in court but not actually getting a trial.

What would be the worst that could happen if the defendant doesn't show up? Would the court just take it as a default announcement of 'ready for trial' or would it issue a warrant for the arrest of the defendant?

This is a trial 'de novo' and was tried in a municipal court prior to this one.
For some strange reason, one of the trials I'm interested in also wound up in a court that normally only hears civil cases. I am also wondering why it was placed into a civil court being heard by a judge that normally only does civil trials.


texts: GDPR rights of person who moves into the EU

texts:
Suppose that a person not resident in the EU, say in Mexico, obtains services from a provider located in the US, and provides personal information in connection with those services, including filling out a "public profile" giving permission to list specified personal information publicly. Let us further suppose that there was no continuing exchange of information and no continuing provision of services. There was no continuing monitoring of the Data Subject by the provider. Consent was freely given by the person at the time of the original transaction. The only continuing processing of this person's data is to store it, and to make the items previously consented to as public available on the relevant web page.
The provider specifies policies and purposes, and also stores an manipulates the information, and thus it would be both a Controller and a Processor in GDPR terms. The provider does provide services to EU residents, although it is primarily targeted on the US market.
Several years later, the person moves to the EU, say to Spain. Subsequently, the person sends either a data access request fort all information that the provider has on the person, or a "right to be forgotten" request to have all personal information deleted from the provider's records. The person has clearly established that s/he is the same pron who provided PI from Mexico years before.
Under these circumstances, does the GDPR require the provider to provide the requested information, or to delete information from its records, given that the information was not collected from a person present in the EU at the time of collection?


texts: What damage can police cause during a search?

texts:
Consider the following hypothetical: police in California raid a home (with a warrant) to search for drugs.
The home in question has a security system in place which includes CCTV cameras. Wanting to avoid being filmed, the police disable the cameras.
Can they legally do this? Does it matter whether they cause permanent damage, such as spraying over lenses or removing components?
Jurisdiction is California.


texts: Terminating an employment agreement with non existing "statutory notice period"

texts:
I received an employment contract for a definite term of six months.

One of the articles in this agreement states (literally):

  The Agreement can be terminated prematurely by each of the Parties
  with due observance of the statutory notice period.

According to the Dutch law, there is only a statutory notice period defined for indefinite term contracts. To terminate a definite term contract, the law requires mutual written agreement of both parties (besides cantonal court, urgent dismissal or after consent of the employee insurance agency).

The contract itself does not determine any notice period, neither does the law, so what (if anything) does this article effectively mean? Would it automatically fall back to the law applicable to indefinite term contracts?


texts: Can my work force me to pay for their compulsory in-house training?

texts:
My contract with work states if I leave within 18 months I must pay for the mandatory training they sent me on of £1800. I am already qualified in my field and this course was just to learn their way of doing things no actually qualification was gained. Also I worked in this role previously so had some experience of what to do.

As I had no choice to attend the course as they would not of hired me if I had refused to go on it, are they legally allowed to make me to pay for it now?


texts: My rental contract states that I need to give notice 'in writing' to my landlord prior to ending my tenancy. I'm new to legal terms and the country, does this phrase imply the notice needs to be filled in by hand and signed manually, or would an electronic copy of the notice with electronic signatures suffice?


texts: How does a pro se defendant subpoena digital evidence for the defense?

texts:
In specific, if partial evidence of blackmail and witness intimidation, (death threats), were to be made public on the web and in direct text, how would the defense go about gaining access to the perpatrators personal digital activity?

Additionally, if there is a way, can further efforts in this vein produce admissible evidence of criminal conspiracy under Canadian law?

If you have any insight, please review my other questions, as they are all part and parcel of one exceptionally surreal matter.


texts: Are legal records usually fragmented in countries other than the U.S.?

texts:
In the U.S., lawsuits can be brought in federal courts, state courts, local courts, etc. Each court keeps its own records, making it hard to do legal due diligence on a single entity (firm or individual).
Is this commonly the case in other countries with well developed legal systems, such as UK, Germany, etc.?


texts: How is "use" of software typically meant in EULAs?

texts:
You may not do any of the following with respect to the Licensed Materials or any of its parts:
(a) use it commercially or for a promotional purpose; (b) use it on more than one device at a time; (c) use Content with or in connection to any games, projects, products, or services other than the Software, (d) copy, reproduce, distribute, display, or use it in a way that is not expressly authorized in this Agreement;

The use of "use" here really baffles me, as I understand "using software" to mean making use of it (user interface and functions) as the owner intended or repurposing/reverse-engineering its code for something else.
As described above, does that blanket both of these scenarios?
I'm wondering more specifically, if gameplay streams fall under this scenario.
The goal is to use a service similar to Twitch for streaming gameplay to viewers/players who can place bets in their respective locations. This game has player communities in various chat rooms that coordinate and play organized matches. Within these communities, I'm wondering whether "using [...] Content with or in connection to any games, projects, products, or services other" bars such activity. I understand "Content" here to mean game components, player models, etc.
"Use it commercially or for a promotional purpose" still makes me wonder whether I'm doing something wrong if no advertising to the public is being done with game material, but with video of people playing (like Twitch).


texts: What options do I have for getting back a refund?

texts:
I accidentally overpaid my electric company $55 for the month of August but it turned out that I was moving that month so I cancelled their service. I was told by the electric company that I would get a refund check in the mail. However, it's been 2 months now and they still have not sent me anything.

I tried reaching out to the company (which is located in Texas) but they keep hanging up on me. I paid them the amount using a check so I have proof that they owe me the money. But what legal options would I have to get back my money? Is it worth it to file a small claims lawsuit or is it not worth it since I will have to pay legal fees even if I win the case?


texts: How can Edward Snowden be denied a jury trial?

texts:
Is the US right to a trial by jury a conditional right which can be revoked preemptively?

It was my understanding the US Constitution allowed anyone accused of a crime to be judged by a peer jury.  However, Edward Snowden would not be allowed to have a jury trial (judge only trial instead).

https://www.thenation.com/article/snowden-espionage-civil-disobedience/

Also, when are US trials only allowed to occur in secret?  Apparently Snowden's trial would not be open to the public, despite the defendants desire to do so.


texts: What happens if a builder doesn't fully fix a problem, and then the home warranty runs out?

texts: I (US citizen living in the US) have a home warranty on my property. This warranty, like all warranties, expires eventually. I have recently identified an issue that is covered by the warranty. What happens if the builder comes in, assesses the issue, determines it is covered by the warranty, does a subpar job, and then either 1. the issue resurfaces or 2. issues associated with the subpar fix spring up later, after the warranty has expired? Is there any defense for this? Or would I be stuck with needing to pay the repairs at that point?


texts: Does indemnity insurance (for a house) become void if a 3rd party is told about it?

texts:
Indemnity insurance is bought if a home's deeds contain a fault, e.g. no access to the property, modifications made by previous owners that are not up to building standards etc.

The insurance would cover loss in the value of the house and some legal fees.

I've heard that indemnity insurance becomes void if a third party is told about the policy. My questions is this claim true for all indemnity policies in the UK, or has the claim been made because it is true for only some policies?


texts: Meaning of "costs throughout to" in a court case?

texts:
A judge said, "I would therefore dismiss the appeal with costs throughout to the respondent."

Excuse my simple post here. I looked for an answer on google, but could not find any. I would like to confirm my assumption of the meaning being all costs to be covered by the respondent.


texts: Giving Someone Money Because of a Criminal Act?

texts:
I was wondering what laws, if any, restrict donating money to criminals who have committed crimes which you support and want to encourage (lets assume the motivations are not necessarily so explicitly stated).

Musings:
On the one hand this seems basically the same as paying someone to commit a crime.
But on the other hand, accused criminals get donated money all the time to fight the ensuing court battle. Which seems like something that is clearly legal.

This is in response to the recent flurry of donations and 100K bail given to the man who assaulted Dylann Roof. And was just wondering how exactly the law applies to such unique situations.


texts: How do users / members have to be notified of a change in terms and conditions?

texts:
However, I'm wondering what sort of due process a company has to go through before they assume that I've read an email regarding a change to their terms and conditions. it. For example, a bank will send letters and multiple emails. Most websites send a single email (which you cannot opt out of). Some will send an email which you can unsubscribe from.

For context, my University sent a "Welcome back" to the new term email, from a mailing address which you can unsubscribe from. About halfway down the email was the statement "We've made some updates to our student Code of Discipline and have added a policy on sexual misconduct".

Aside from the (questionable) contents of this new policy, has my University does everything required of it for me to be aware of this new policy? If anecdotal experience matters, I've told around 30 people that this new policy is in place - nobody I've told had even read the email.


texts:
If I am an owner of a site, I can place restrictions on its usage even if the site software is licensed under an open source license such as GPL or AGPL, right? Which law allows me to place such restrictions? For example, I can disallow uploading porn to my site, right? I can forbid circumventing site payment system, such as by distributing site passwords to other users or by modifying (I think, it's called "hacking") the site scripts, right?
Do I have similar rights for an open source smart contract created and uploaded to public servers by me? Can I legally disallow certain usages of smart contract (such as retrieving data from it directly to download a paid file for free bypassing my user interface software)?
Note that I realize I have no rights to restrict usage of my source code of a smart contract, because it is open source. I ask about a particular instance of smart contract running (similarly to a particular site running on a particular domain not to its underlying open source software).
Smart contract is a computer program that runs on servers (you can assume they are third-party servers) with the purpose to controls possible actions (such as money transfers) and disallow certain kinds of actions (like uncompensated money transfers).
I suspect it is something related to "terms of service". Can I apply terms of service to a running instance of a smart contact? I think, the main question is whether I am considered a service provider for the services provided by a smart contract: I spin it once and then the smart contract runs without my intervention (it is even not possible for me to stop my smart contract running, but I can for example change the amount of the monetary fee for its usage) on third-party servers.
There is a thing (securing a public file) that I cannot restrict with logic of a smart contact. So I am seeking a legal ("if you violate, I can sue") way to disallow these actions.


texts:
Some wealthy and famous individuals have the power to influence the stock market simply by posting on social media. For example, a famous billionaire tweets "I'm excited to see what ACME develops this year", and the Acme Corporation's stock price (at least temporarily) goes through the roof.
Now imagine that the billionaire capitalizes on the inflated stock price and sells for a big profit. Is this illegal, and if so what type of fraud would it be classified as? It feels like a pump & dump, but doesn't meet some of the typical criteria for a pump & dump:

There is no orchestrated campaign, merely a single social media post
The individual in question hasn't made any false / misleading claims
The individual in question hasn't advised anyone else to buy the stock


texts: In Canada, is there an individual cause of action against a perjurer or police?

texts:
Consider the situation where a person commits perjury by falsely asserting a material fact in court that goes against your case.1

In Canada, could you sue the perjurer? Suppose you lost your job, ostensibly due to the accusation and trial. Could you sue the perjurer?

Consider further that the police failed to uncover inconsistencies that would have impugned the credibility of that witness.

In Canada, do police officers have a duty to investigate witnesses that the prosecution will use? Could you sue the police/state if they fail to uncover inconsistencies?

1. For example, some people think this might have happened in Jian Gomeshi's trial. (Adrian Humphreys. After the Ghomeshi verdict: Could his accusers be charged? How will it affect future sex assault cases?. The National Post. March 24, 2016)


texts: Google Analytics on mobile: possible to use without consent?

texts:
I saw this thread where it's possible to use Google Analytics without consent on websites:
Is it really possible to use Google Analytics without consent, and if so, why exactly?

My question is: does this still apply to mobile applications? Are there changes to be made?


texts: Does the Limitation Act 1980 apply to criminal acts before 1980?

texts:
According to the Wikipedia page for the Limitation Act 1980, fraudulent breach of trust can be prosecuted any amount of time after the crime. However, I was wondering if this applies to crimes committed before the limitation act was passed.

In other words, if I had committed a fraudulent breach of trust in 1975; could be taken to court in 2017?


texts: Ethics question when a possible crime is involved in litigation

texts:
The simple background is that someone has misspent some money that they weren't really authorized for. We are gearing up and may soon be plaintiffs and this person will become a defendant.

The question concerns what our attorney is obligated to do or not do if he/she draws an educated and experienced conclusion that the behavior of the defendant in relation to what they did, is criminal. (we will say non-violent and nobody is in danger of harm). Does our attorney have an obligation to contact law enforcement, or is the attorney obligated not to legally? Or is there an ethics rule about what an attorney should do in this type of situation?

The likely venue is California.

Bonus question if you might be so inclined, same question, replace attorney with a judge. Hopefully, we will never hit court but you never know.


texts:
A friend tells me it's not worth it to get a patent on a web application because they are not useful.

Either:

the USPTO has stopped granting patents on "process" improvements (i.e. web apps) or
they are not useful once granted.

Take, for example, the fact that Amazon technically owns the patent for selling stuff over the internet.

So, I ask this community:

  Are technology patents useful?


texts:
Say police place someone under house arrest. They are negligent and allow the person to leave and attack people.
Are police liable for damages, since they are required to protect people in their custody, and presumably also have to protect people attacked by people in custody? Otherwise, bizarre situation where police can only defend criminals.


texts: Leased apartment changed management. Is requiring in-person payment unreasonable?

texts:
I live in a college town in California with a leased apartment. On June 26th, a noticed (in paper) was posted on our doors that the apartment complexes have been sold, effective immediately.

Part of the notice says, "Rent payments are to be made to the onsite management office." My single housemate currently in the apartment has confirmed that this means we must pay in-person at the office.

Given that we only got 5 days notice (rent is due at the end of the month), is it unreasonable to require us to pay in-person? Our other housemates are all 100+ miles away and expected to be able to pay online. Our request for an extension until the online payment system comes up (estimated sometime next month) was denied.

Basically, has the new management broken any laws (or reasonable expectations or such) by requiring in-person payment with 5 days notice?

Hypothetically, none of the people on the lease could have been onsite and we would have not known about the ownership change. Moreover, we would have expected to be able to pay online.


texts: Standard of proof required to prevent dismissal of criminal charge before trial

texts:
In New Zealand, a judge may dismiss a criminal charge before trial if "the Judge is satisfied that, as a matter of law, a properly directed jury could not reasonably convict the defendant" (CPA s147(4)(c)).

That is, if a Crown prosecutor (e.g. the Police) files a charge and fails to present convincing evidence, the judge may dismiss the charge and the case will not proceed to trial. The same applies to private prosecutions with the extra obstacle that charges may not be even accepted for filing because of the evidence being "insufficient to justify a trial" as per CPA s26(3)(a). In this case the same test as with Crown prosecutions applies (Mitchell v Porirua District Court [2017] NZHC 1331 at [31]):

  The two grounds for exercising the discretion under s 26(3) are
  analogous to dismissing a charge under s 147 of the Act and guidance
  can be taken from case law decided under that section.

To what standard does the evidence need to be convincing so that the judge is satisfied that a jury could "reasonably convict" the defendant? Can circumstantial/cumulative evidence be sufficient? One might immediately think of the almighty "beyond reasonable doubt" standard for criminal cases, but would this be necessary for justifying trials? If so, how could it be up to the judge alone to decide whether the standard is met if this is what trials exist for?

Real use-case scenario:

It is alleged that the defendant intentionally set his dog on a couple of pet animals, and/or recklessly let the dog attack them. One was killed, other seriously injured. The charges are under the Animal Welfare Act (s28 and s28A) and Dog Control Act (s57(2)).

Evidence:

A formal statement from a neighbour who:

a) From outside his house, saw the defendant and his vehicle near the pets (alive / non-injured);

b) Went into his house from where he soon heard an unusual noise;

c) Went out again and saw the defendant with a dog on the ground;

d) Saw the defendant put the dog in the vehicle and drive off;

e) Saw the killed and injured pets at the scene with injures looking like made by a dog.
Photos taken by myself soon after the incident, showing the dead pet with internal organs poking out of its ripped back, blood, some of the internal organs and external tissue on the ground.

Does this evidence meet the standard asked about above? (Note: this is not the main question; the main one is about the standard — in the bold above).

The charges were not accepted for filing with this "justification":

  ... the witnesses did not actually witness any attack .. They heard an
  unusual noise ... There is no other evidence that the dog caused the
  injures... While it may be suspicious that the dog caused the death or
  injures, there is no evidence it did so, nor any evidence to discount
  another cause of the injury or death ... Neither of the ...
  [witnesses]  ... saw the defendant doing anything other than being
  near the scene.


texts:
Other than good sense, what would stop (if anything) the US Congress from passing a law making all sex illegal?
Obviously this is a hypothetical.  But it's only somewhat tongue-in-cheek.  I am curious about the boundaries on the government power in this area.


texts: Mississippi lawsuit against Police that dont want to uphold a particular law on the books

texts: If I attempt to press charges on an individual or individuals due to criminal activity and the officers or dispatch says they will not act on said violation what award could be awarded through a lawsuit brought against the agency?


texts: Signing a contract where some agreement is mentioned but not disclosed?

texts:
I got a termination contract that should be signed by 3 parties - me and 2 others. Basically, it is about the termination of initial contract. Thing is some specific agreement with id number is mentioned within the termination contract as follows:

  The Contract is carried out within the Cooperation Agreement No X-XX/AA/XXXX, dated 01.10.2018

When I asked where I can access this agreement, I was told that the agreement is solely meant for other 2 parties and cannot be disclosed because of its confidentiality.

Do I have a right or should I demand to disclose this agreement? In the end, I have to put my sign. That is why I think I should know what is inside but not sure about legal side of it. Will be very thankful for your advice!


texts: GDPR: Local encrypted database of non-identifiable information

texts:
There is a piece of software that has a database on my local computer. This database does not contain personally identifiable information but the contents are created by the user. However, this database is encrypted and the software company in question does not want anyone else to open this database.
There is no other way to retrieve data out of this database other than using the software provided by the company (which provides no way to export the data in bulk).

My question is regarding the GDPR. Does this company have to provide a method to exercise your right to obtain a copy of your data? Article 15.3 says that it should however this might only be concerning personally identifiable data. That part is unclear to me.
Article 12.1 says that the company should provide this data in a concise, transparent, intelligible and easily accessible form. A database (encrypted or not) does not comply with this.

Does this database of non-identifiable data apply to these GDPR articles? Or any other relevant articles?


texts: Gambling law in VA, raffles, lotteries and door prizes

texts:
I wish to run an event within the state of Virginia.

The event requires that participants bring the equipment necessary to compete and pay an entry fee. Each participant is given a number for both the event and prize draw. Everyone attending this event has an equal chance to win the door prizes.

I want to randomly award prizes, but I a having trouble narrowing this down. Laws and rules for door prizes appear few and far between. Changing the prizes to a gift card or store credit does not seem to solve the issue, but I could be wrong. I am not selling tickets/entry for the prizes, anyone that enters the event is eligible for said prize drawing at the end of the event.

Is there no legal way to distribute prizes by drawing or chance within the state of Virginia?

Relevant excerpt regarding raffle tickets and drawings in the state

  "Raffle" means a lottery in which the prize is won by (i) a random
  drawing of the name or prearranged number of one or more persons
  purchasing chances or (ii) a random contest in which the winning name
  or preassigned number of one or more persons purchasing chances is
  determined by a race involving inanimate objects floating on a body of
  water, commonly referred to as a "duck race."

And further info

  § 18.2-340.26 Sale of raffle tickets; drawings

  A. Except as provided in subsection B, a qualified organization may
  sell raffle tickets both in and out of the jurisdiction designated in
  its permit and shall conduct the drawing within the Commonwealth.

  B. A qualified organization may sell raffle tickets for a raffle
  drawing which will be held outside the Commonwealth, provided the
  raffle is conducted in accordance with (i) the regulations of the
  Board and (ii) the laws and regulations of the jurisdiction in which
  the raffle drawing will be held.

  C. Before a prize drawing, each stub or other detachable section of
  each ticket sold or won through some other authorized charitable game
  conducted by the same organization holding the raffle, shall be placed
  into a receptacle from which the winning tickets are drawn. The
  receptacle shall be designed so that each ticket placed in it has an
  equal chance of being drawn.


texts:
This sounds like an obvious question, but I’m unsure of the answer.

I understand there are rules for participating in democratic campaigning. Are these rules part of the body of UK law?

If so, if I fail to follow these rules to the letter and overspend by £1 am I breaking the law?

The electoral commission found fault with both sides in the EU referendum, does this mean that both sides technically broke the law?

Or does the breach of the rules have to be reported to the police and go through the criminal justice system to meet this criterion?


texts: Can you be charged for obstruction for refusing to answer questions?

texts:
In the following video; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrgVYPkkqX0

An individual is sitting in front of a home when a service call about a "suspicious" person/vehicle is made. The police respond and begin to ask the person a few questions which the person refuses to answer. The individual lets them know that he has a legal reason for being where he is. Unbeknownst to the cops, he is an insurance adjuster. They arrest him for "obstruction" for not answering questions.

Is it legal to arrest someone for obstruction for refusing to answer questions?


texts: How can a game publisher legally "pull their game off" of geforce now?

texts:
I do not know exactly what category this question should be under.
So this is what geforce now basically is:

GeForce Now lets users access a virtual computer, where they can install their existing games from existing digital distribution platforms, and play them remotely. As with the original Shield version, the virtual desktop is also streamed from Nvidia servers. An Android client was also introduced in 2019.

How can somebody disallow their games from this platform, when all geforce now is actually doing, is streaming the games you already own from another digital platform like steam, to your device?
If there was a lawsuit for this, would there be any chance for geforce to actually lose?
Now I obviously don't know the laws, but how can a game publisher stop me, for example, from using a virtual machine in the cloud to download steam (the games platform), log in with my credentials, download the games that I already own on steam and stream the gameplay to my device at home?
Is there any law or agreement that would make any of this illegal?
And if there isn't, wouldn't it mean that there shouldn't be any legal issue for a third party to basically automate the above process for you? Because that's basically what geforce now is doing.


texts: How to handle an existing business' income and expenses when incorporating

texts:
I'm looking at incorporating my sole proprietorship as an S Corp. (An alternative I'm also looking into is an LLC taxed as an S Corp).

My existing company already has income and expenses in 2020. Even if I filed paperwork to incorporate today, I'd still desire to have this income and expense on the books for the year for my personal tax return.

I understand that assets can be transferred to the corporation when incorporating in exchange for shares, but how do I recognize this existing income and expense?

Do I still file a Schedule C for the portion of time that my business operated unincorporated, essentially recognizing the business in both it's states, as sole proprietor and as well as in it's incorporated state?

Please let me know where I can find reference material surrounding this.

Thank you!

Update:

The primary purpose for looking into an S Corp is to save money on my tax return and avoid the Self Employment tax and take advantage of any other potential tax opportunities that exist in these structures.


texts: USA, why the trial decision based completely on jury?

texts:
Watching the series about O.J. Simpson I was wondering “why in almost every case the decision based on jury?” and I personally think that this case is a good example to cast doubt of that legislation because the jury thought that if O.J. simpson was proven innocent then it will be a punch in racism guts. Can someone who is a lawyer answer me why the judge system is not reformed and stays like this and is more vulnerable to take a wrong decision because they do not know the law, thus the verdict depends on people’s morals?

PS. I don’t suggest eliminating the jury but I suggest a middle solution. For example, in Greece the final verdict was made at votes but 3 of the voters are judges and the 4 of the voters are the jurors.


texts:
I am wondering about the residency requirements for New Zealand. Do citizens of the Cook Islands automatically have New Zealand residency?

I know that New Zealand citizenship is not automatic and has to be applied for and meet certain criteria, but if a Cook Island's citizen wants to simply live in New Zealand without a visa and NOT be a citizen, is that automatic?


texts: Are US laws against vote buying unenforceable?

texts:
In the US, there are laws against vote buying (having people pay other people to vote for themselves or their favorite candidate). However, this law seems like it is unenforceable because of the sacrosanct nature of ballot secrecy. What I was thinking is that there was a computer program that uses Monero (or something like it) as a currency. The buyer would pay the other person a set amount to vote for Party A (the program does not allow the opposite, but it is open source so someone can reverse it). If the person receives the amount they were asking for, they would vote for the Party A candidate. But, if they don’t they sit out or vote for Party B to show that they didn’t get the money they asked for. If such a computer program existed, would using it against the law? Also, does the use of an anonymous currency make it more unenforceable because of the above reason and its anonymity?

Note: the people in this site would vote for Party A if the site did not exist.


texts: Can you legally copy curated data from a software program?

texts:
Say someone has curated a lot of data, such as molecule data, astronomical data, animal data and such like into a software program. Can you legally harvest all that data and put it in your own software program?

As an example, Wolfram Alpha has lots of data in it, so do websites like IMDB.

Can I harvest data from these sources and present it in my own way? Or is the data itself copyright?

Or is the act of harvesting the data itself illegal?

On the other hand if I curated lots of data and even gathered my own statistics and facts, is there anything to prevent someone else taking all that data and presenting it in their own software, book or film?

Edit: Just a side note. Wolfram Alpha did itself "scrape" all the data from lots of sources such as encyclopedias, books of facts, history books, and online databases. So in that sense I think its fair game! I mean why would it matter if you got planetary orbit data from Wolfram alpha as opposed to calculating it yourself. It's the same number either way!

If I curated a list of all animals starting with "A". How can that be copyright when someone else could do the same thing? Can you really copyright the idea of a list of animals starting with "A" just because you did it first?


texts: Can a developer have access to live data within GDPR?

texts:
Segregation of Duties in IT

I remember the Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) compliance rush for 10 years ago with the Segregation of Duties. I am looking for the equivalent regulation in GDPR. I find article 25 "Data protection by design and by default" and recital 78 which touches on developers roles, but I cannot really find the part that denies a developer access to live data. Is it clearly stated somewhere? May I have misunderstood something?

Why would you not want to have the development <-> production separation?

If you are a consulting company running many small client systems. Systems including development and production where the clients do not want to have their own IT staff. You would develop the system, deploy it in the cloud and thereafter occasionally administer the live system. Having many systems to develop and administer you can see the potential overhead of separation of duties.


texts: What laws prevent a company from owning itself?

texts:
There are a few places around with people asking if "a company can own itself".  However, I have not found any citations of actual law that prevents such an arrangement.

Which specific laws or combinations of laws prevent companies from owning themselves?


texts:
If a customer of yours pays you to develop a website (not to buy it, so he doesn't receive a copy of the software), the website uses GPL libraries or frameworks, and the site is installed in a server of yours, but it has been done "for the use of your customer", are you somehow forced to deliver a copy of the source code to the customer?

In my case, my website uses a GPL-licensed framework (without the linking exception), which is dynamically linked to the executable that runs the site. The code done by me is not licensed (because it's private, I'm the only one that has a copy of the software and runs it).

At which extent is the app being "used" or even "owned" for your customer in particular if he doesn't have a copy?

The GPL licenses were invented precisely to protect the rights of the user of the software, but was mainly meant for protecting the rights of the user that owns and runs a copy of the software, so they can inspect what is the software doing in his computer and also change its behaviour, because a software makes a user dependent on it.

However, a website is used for everybody with access to the Internet, is not something that users "run", and your customer is a special mention among all of these users, because him is who dictates how must that sofware behave, but has no direct control over it.


texts: U.S. - "tough love" eviction of child (non-minor, not paying rent)

texts:
I have a 22-year-old son living at home.

My wife and I presented him with a contract to sign; the contract communicated – and we also communicated this verbally – that his continued residence was contingent on his signing the contract and abiding by its terms – otherwise he had 30 days to vacate the premises.

He refused to sign the contract.  It has been more than 30 days; I told him three days ago that he had three days to vacate (if we rounded to the nearest day that grace period would be up tonight at midnight).

He is not paying rent.  (In fact, one of the stipulations on the contract was that he should kick in some money for food/household expenses on a regular basis.)

What are my rights / responsibilities in this situation?  Since there is no rental agreement in place ... do I need to serve written notice?  ... would I need to file court paperwork?

I am not looking for specific legal advice, more for a general outline of what (not) to do.  We reside in Ohio if that helps.


texts:
I am a college student in Rajasthan, and I want to know what step we can take against:

teachers scoring us according to some personal vendetta,
extremely rude language/behavior,
unnecessary targeting.


texts: Could the "Honest Thief"-deal be legally possible?

texts:
If you're planning the watch the movie Honest Thief (2020): Spoilers ahead!
The protagonist of the movie above is a thief who "robbed 12 banks in 7 [US] states" for "a little over 9 million dollars cash" during a period of "about 8 years" and wants to make a deal with the FBI:

 He is gonna "hand over all the money... in exchange for a reduced sentence, no more than 2 years in minimum security, within an hour of Boston, with full visitation rights."

Could such a deal be legally possible?
Further notes: The thief "never spent one dime" of the stolen money, and killed "no one."


texts: Roommate with no signed contract moving out without notice

texts:
Person 1 rented a room to Person 2 in NYC and collected a security deposit. There’s no lease, no contract nothing, just proof of rent and deposit payments. Now Person 1 is being very uncool, even screaming at Person 2. Person 2 is concerned about the aggressive behaviour of Person 1.
Person 2 wants to move out, but does not want to give 30 days notice. Person 2 is concerned that they may not get the security deposit back in 30 days. They also want to avoid a law suit (even just Small Claims) because they have never had problems and want to keep it like that.
Can Person 2 leave without notice and tell Person 1 to keep the security deposit to cover for next month rent?


texts: Is it legal to download progamming eBooks from GitHub?

texts:
I recently planned to buy one of the book from Microsoft Press Store online.

But browsing through one of the technical blog, I found the blog author providing link to download the same eBook for free.

I can also see some GitHub repositories have programming eBooks for free.

Is it legal to download the eBooks or can I just view them online ?


texts: Do doctors have the legal responsibility to inform the patient of services not covered by the insurance in the USA?

texts:
I wonder whether doctors have the legal responsibility to inform the patient of services not covered by the insurance in the USA.

https://craighospital.org/resources/you-and-your-doctor-rights-and-responsibilities states that:

  Your doctor has the responsibility [...] to inform you of services not covered by insurance.

However, it does not point to any law, so I don't know whether this is a legal requirement.

I am most interested in California and Massachusetts.


texts: I read this story about a physical assault. How much of it actually makes sense?

texts:
I read this story about an assault, and I'm wondering if it adds up or not.

So these two guys get into an argument, and it gets really out of hand, causing one of the guys to tackle the other guy and repeatedly punch him in the face. The attacker stops, and shortly afterward the police arrive and arrest the attacker.

The victim gets subpoenaed to court a few months later as the only other witness besides the attacker himself to the assault, as the police arrived after the attacker had already stopped beating the victim up.

The attacker is being charged with attempted murder. However, when the victim is called to the stand, he testifies that the attacker wasn't trying to kill him, the argument just got really out of hand, and the attacker was only trying to scare the victim to shut him up for a little while.

After hearing the victim's testimony, the judge reduces the charges of attempted murder to physical assault. The attacker is sentenced to six months in jail, but winds up getting out on good behavior.

Does any of that make sense?

Neither the victim nor the attacker went to a hospital after the assault. There was a lot of scurrying around after the attacker tackled the victim, so they both had scratches/bruises from that. The wounds the victim had from being punched healed on their own time, as they weren't really that serious, as it was a very messy attack.

So is it possible for the victim's testimony to reduce the charges of attempted murder all the way down to physical assault?

Is six months an appropriate amount of time for jail time for physical assault? Is it too short/long?

Also, would the attacker be able to get out of jail early on good behavior or is that not possible here?

Does everything else about the story add up or are there other things about it that are incorrect?

Thanks in advance.


texts: Do I violate a copyright law if I reconstruct the sound effect scenario, but use only my own sounds in it?

texts: By "my own sounds", I mean that I generated them or bought them.


texts: How does computer privacy law apply in Canada when program reports who's using it?

texts:
If someone is hired to make a program for someone else, of course they don't need a EULA (end user license agreement) when they give the program to them as they are the owner. Is it possible for the person receiving the program to claim that the program violates their privacy if the program transmits information back to the developer (even in the event the program is not paid for i.e. a call home feature)? In other words, if someone doesn't pay the developer for software, can they claim that the software violates it's authorized use of the computer due to a call home feature (which reports username, IP and network name)?

My last question got closed because it was too specific, but I thought some background information would be useful: someone hired me to build a program, which he never paid me for, but I know he is still using it due to a "call home" feature. He found this feature and claims it's in breach of http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/section-342.1.html


texts: What happens to 'copies' after transferring all rights associated with copyright?

texts:
Assuming I create some artwork. Now I create copies or derivatives of that artwork (which, if they were made by someone else, would infringe on my copyright) and sell some and keep others.
Now, at a later date, I transfer all rights associated with the copyright to someone else.

Does that in any way affect copies I've already sold (or their owners) in any way? Can the new owner of the rights in anyway prevent the owners of the copies from reselling their copies?

As the owner of some of the copies/derivatives that have been created before transferring the rights, am I still allowed to use/sell these copies?

Assuming all parties are US citizen located in the US.


texts: Can the need for FDA authorization of a tool to find infectious people be bypassed by labeling?

texts:
Background. OTC (over-the-counter, i.e. not requiring a prescription) rapid antigen covid-19 tests are the tests which detect pieces of viral proteins using lateral flow paper strips. Infected individuals with high viral load (i.e. individuals likely to spread the disease to others) are likely to get a positive result, while individuals without covid-19 are likely to get the negative one. The main roadblock for most companies trying to offer rapid antigen OTC at-home tests in the US is the struggle with getting FDA approval, caused by the "diagnostic" perspective of FDA. FDA has "OHT7: Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radiological Health, Office of Product Evaluation and Quality"  called IVD office for short below but no office which looks at the tests from public health perspective, i.e. at the tests which can be used to prevent the spread to others. Given the existence of that roadblock, it is interesting to see that in this video at 1:59 a box of rapid antigen "tool" is shown labeled as "NOT-A-TEST". That motivates the following question.
The question. Assume a company wants to sell or give for free rapid antigen "tools" to regular US citizens in the US. These "tools" are intended to detect individuals more likely to spread covid-19 to others. The company does not have (such as approval or EUA) from FDA IVD office to do so. Can it still legally sell or give these "tools" (possibly by the virtue of modifying the labeling of such product)?
My research. I am not a lawyer, TINLA. Below I cite 21 USC section numbers, the correspondence between them and FD&C section numbers can be found here. It appears that the requirement to obtain the approval or EUA follows from the following:

Such "tool" a device under 21 USC §321 (h) since it is intended for use in diagnosis, mitigation, or prevention of covid-19 in humans.
Such "tool" is a class III device under 21 USC §360c (a),(f), since FDA/HHS did not issue any notices to the contrary and covid-19 tests did not exist before May 28, 1976.
Such "tool" is in vitro diagnostic device, as defined in 21 CFR 809.3 (see also FDA's IVD FAQ and Congressional Research Service FAQ on covid-19 tests).

Thus, my guess is that a company intending to prove they do not need an approval / EUA from FDA's IVD office may want to do one of the following.

Argue that the "tool" is intended to warn individuals to be more cautious regarding the spread of the disease to others, and not to improve their own health outcomes. Hence the "tool" is not intended for use in diagnosis, mitigation, or prevention of covid-19, and thus does not fall under the definition of 'device' in 21 USC §321 (h) and FDA's authority.
Convince FDA to issue the De Novo classification of the "tool" as class I or class II device excepted from the requirements previously applied to covid-19 tests.
Argue that, while the "tool" is a class III device, it is not an IVD device since it is intended to reduce the spread of covid-19 to others, not for the diagnosis or treatment of the person using the "tool". Thus, it should be excepted from the requirements previously applied to covid-19 tests.

I am not sure whether one of the above is a valid legal way to bypass the requirement, or whether there is some other way I am missing.


texts:
What are the implications of reselling food? Is it legal?

What would happen, for example, if in the US I buy Little Caesar's pizzas (with no delivery service) and sell them on another place? What are the implications of restaurant delivery services as GrubHub or OrderUp?


texts:
Driver - Black's 4th

One employed in conducting or operating a coach, carriage, wagon, or other vehicle, with horses, mules, or other animals, or a bicycle, tricycle, or motor car, though not a street railroad car.  A person actually doing driving, whether employed by owner to drive or driving his own vehicle.

TRANSPORTATION CODE

TITLE 7. VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC
SUBTITLE A. CERTIFICATES OF TITLE AND REGISTRATION OF VEHICLES
CHAPTER 502. REGISTRATION OF VEHICLES

SUBCHAPTER A. GENERAL PROVISIONS

(16)   “Owner”   means a person who:
    (A) holds the legal title of a vehicle
    (B) has the legal right of possession of a vehicle: or
    (C) has the legal right of control of a vehicle.

(24)   “Vehicle”   means a device in or by which a person or property is or may be transported or drawn on a public highway, other than a device used exclusively on stationary rails or tracks.

Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 165, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1995.  Amended by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 625, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
Amended by:
Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 586, Sec. 2, eff. September 1, 2005.

A driver's license is required for all persons "driving" a vehicle.  A wagon, with horses, is considered a vehicle.  So why are Amish people not required to register their "vehicle," and to have a driver's license when driving on public roads?


texts: What is the meaning of “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof” in the 14th amendment?

texts:
In the fourteenth amendment, what does the phrase “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof” contribute? What people born in the United States would not have been subject to the jurisdiction of the United States?

  All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside.

Same question restated: would the formulation below have a different legal meaning?

  All persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside.

(Purely theoretical legal question; no relation to current events.)


texts: Must a professional services firm replace a worker at the client's request?

texts:
If a taxpayer has particularly bad "personal chemistry" with an auditor of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the IRS will replace the "agent" with another one. Now one can't make this request repeatedly, because it will be seen as "stalling," but a taxpayer can get one, possibly two replacements by request.

Suppose a client asked a professional services provider to replace a worker on the account, citing a pretty good reason; "The worker isn't on board with our strategy," or even, "The worker greatly annoys our CEO." Is the firm then under an obligation to send a new worker? (The firm has 5-10 professionals so it's not like a two person outfit whereby "The only replacement is me, and I'm otherwise engaged.") Would a law firm in this situation have a higher or lower "duty of care" in this situation than another professional firm?


texts: Charity registration requirements for on-line fundraising

texts:
I have two questions about laws regarding registering a charity in USA.

For the sake of this question the charity would be registered in Florida and assume to receive donations up to $100K.

Can the charity accept donations on their website even though those
donations may come from e.g. Texas? (or do they also have to
register in Texas and the other 48 states?)
If I am fundraising in behalf of the charity on my own website, and
I live in, say, New York, does the charity itself have to be
registered also in New York?


texts: Are tweets or Instagram posts copyrighted?

texts: There are accounts on Twitter and Instagram that make money by posting sponsored content. Let's say another account does the same thing, but it just copies the tweets/posts from the more popular accounts. Would the more popular account have a case if it were to sue the account copying its content? The smaller account being run from America.


texts: Tenancy - definition of "The Property" and exceptions

texts:
So I'm having a small issue with my landlord who has changed the lock on my garage, and says that "I never rented the garage".

Wondering if anyone is able to confirm my understanding, the below clause "the property" does this give me access to all areas of the land and buildings, that exist within the boundaries (as defined by the local council) for my address.

Thank you.

Geographic:  United Kingdom - England.

Contract: Private Tenancy

Clause in question:
The Property situated at and being ... __ ... , together with
the fixtures, fittings, furniture and effects therein and more particularly specified in the Inventory signed by the
Tenant and all grounds. It shall include the right to use, in common with others, any shared rights of access,
stairways, communal parts, paths and drives.

Attached images of the property to help visualise the situation. (Red outline of what I believe is mine)


texts: Is it legal if I ram a drone into another drone?

texts:
I am aware that I'm not allowed to shoot at someone's drone. However, what happens if my drone crashes into another drone? Is it treated like a car crash?
What is the fastest and most efficient way to get rid of a drone?

This question is partly inspired by Randall Munroe's new book. I have no idea about law.


texts: Non-molestation - undertakings - Legal Aid - is it possible to appeal?

texts:
Facts:

One thread of legal proceedings.

The second thread of legal proceedings is regarding non-molestation.

I didn’t want to dispute accusations, so much bullshit, so much drama.

I thought I saved myself effort and hassle by not disputing them but agreeing on “undertakings”.

In my version of reality, I did a settlement, agreed not to do things, without diving into details.

Unfortunately, the “undertakings” gave the other party the right to claim Legal Aid.

Question:

Can I appeal and revert non-molestation undertakings, so that the Legal Aid in other court proceedings is removed?

Solicitors compensated from Legal Aid want to keep things going.

As opposed to resolving underlying matters.

Here is a BBC article about Legal Aid: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-44628179

  The charity suspects that solicitors' firms are talking parents into seeking such orders because it enables them to qualify for legal aid, from which both the legal profession and the complainant could benefit.

It’s difficult to prove it.

(if you don’t know what's going on, simply follow the money)

But maybe we can undo?


texts: Must stores legally have lighting available and switched on?

texts:
I walked into a liquor store at 8:50PM. They turned the lights off at 8:55PM.

I repeatedly asked to have the lights turned on, and stated that it is a risk to have no lights in the store, but received an unhelpful response from the staff. The front of the store around the cashier was dimmed. Eventually I found my way out of the store.

Are there laws for stores that require them to have the lights on as long as there are customers in the store? Are there any such laws specific to liquor stores?


texts: How are social security numbers protected when someone has a judgment?

texts:
Creditor can order the debtors  1099, w2, income statements etc with a court order.

How are the debtors ssns going to be protected?


texts: Are public facilities required to adhere to the Flag Code as defined in Title 4, Chapter 1 of the United States Code?

texts:
I'm curious as to whether public facilities in the United States (i.e. federal, state, county, and/or municipal grounds) are required, by law, to adhere to the Flag Code as defined in Title 4, Chapter 1 of the United States Code. It is my understanding that the Supreme Court has upheld the unconstitutionality of enforcing the Flag Code on private citizens or organizations as it conflicts with their First Amendment rights (United States v. Eichman), but are public facilities such as a public schools or police stations required to adhere to the flag code? Are those acting in an official capacity in those facilities legally required to adhere to the Flag Code as they are operating a public facility?

For example, Section 6, Clause g states, "The flag should be displayed during school days in or near every schoolhouse." If a school were to fail to display the flag, would that be considered a crime? Who would be responsible if it were a crime?


texts:
Referring specifically to employment contracts in England, I've seen contracts that specify "one month of notice" to be given before termination of the contract.

This does not specify whether this means one calendar month or a specific number of days/weeks. So, in cases like this, what can be inferred in England?


texts: In English Law, official guidance can state "minor" matters exempt from a statutory requirement -- but on what authority?

texts:
I just noticed an oddity in some legal guidance published by the UK Government. The Party Wall Act states that certain works are covered by its requirements, including the requirement to give notice. However in apparent contradiction, official guidance documentation from gov.uk and local councils universally states that quite a wide range of minor works would be considered "so minor" as to not require this provision to be complied with. On the face of it, the statute itself doesn't make any provision for any kind of "de minimis" exception. And yet, it's black-and-white stated in the official government-published guidance.

Where does the authority for such a statement come from (its source or principle in law), and what is its standing in UK law (i.e., could it be relied on as a matter of law and if so on what basis)?

I'm sure such a strong statement wouldn't be included in official guidance without some kind of legal standing/authority, but if so, what exactly is it and how far does the underlying legal principle stretch, which underpins this statement/exception?


texts: Former organisational email address taken over after resignation [UK]

texts:
I have recently resigned (under circumstances of conflict) from a voluntary director role on the board of an organisation.  This organisation used G-Suite to manage documents and a director email list.
As is standard, upon my resignation, my account was locked and should have been archived.
However, I've just received a security alert from Google, indicating that my password has been reset by the admin (another director) and that someone has now logged in to the account.
I only used the account for professional purposes, so there is nothing untoward for them to find.  However, they are now able to receive new email as me, and impersonate me if they wish.
Recovering the account through Google is not an option, as Google directs me to "Contact your domain admin for help" if I use the "forgot password" button.
Is this covered in any way by any data protection act or digital privacy act, or is this something that an organisation who hosts email is allowed to do?


texts: Does the sixth amendment entitle me to know who called the county on me for a code violation?

texts: Is my accuser the person who petitioned the county to investigate a code violation?


texts: Can I grant and enforce specific conditions for the use of my copyrighted work?

texts:
If someone contacts me asking for permission to share my original work on their website or Facebook page, am I within my legal rights to grant permission with specific conditions? For example, "You may post on Facebook if you include a tag link to my profile in the post caption."

In the case of the example above, if they posted it without my profile in the caption (but perhaps in the comments somewhere), could I file a DCMA against them?


texts: Chrome Extensions That Inject Content On Retail Sites

texts:
I am prototyping a chrome extension that adds functionality to eCommerce sites. It injects HTML/JS/CSS into the page and adds UI elements that when clicked perform some sort of action.

i.e. Adding a button to add an item to a cart with a preconfigured setup (buy online pick up in store for a certain store in a certain size).

This application both scrapes and modifies the site (with no breaking behavior), but I am told in might infringe on copyright laws. I'm thinking that due to it being a chrome extension and the user enabling it themselves/taking action and accepting agreements we can claim fair use.

I am also wondering how this plays with something like Targets TOS.
https://www.target.com/c/terms-conditions/-/N-4sr7l


texts: "no logs" website in eu - is it illegal?

texts: As title says, am I obligated as EU citizen / owner of website hosted in EU to log some data about users which would then make them identifiable? What if I do not collect any data about users of my website, can it be "illegal" in some regions, and could I get trouble for it as website owner/admin? What if I get request from police or other government agency to disclose data about my users / certain user and tell them I don't have anything?


texts: Is it legal in the UK to 3D print a firearm design if it is made impossible to fire?

texts:
In the UK firearm regulations are very strict, but I would like to learn about them like in the other countries.
Is it okay to print 3D gun designs if I make sure none of the parts can shoot real bullets by using weak plastic that would explode in the hand if fired with a real bullet?


texts: How can I quickly make a tenant move out of a sold house?

texts:
Sold House in Germany in empty condition whitout tenants to a builder who wants to demolish and build a new house.

Handover to new owner failed because one tenant still claims to live there.

Residential lease-agreement was cancelled in written but only to Mr. instead of Mr. AND Mrs. Tenant. Therefore the cancellation is invalid. One of the two tenants never moved out.

Didn't pay rent for three years.

German law protects tenants even though they don't pay and it is not allowed to throw them out without correct cancellation letter and a specific amount of time.

Owner can file a law suit and evict the tenant but new owner can't wait and would claim indemnity while this is going on. Can take 3-6 months.

Lawyer suggests a payment to tenant and legal agreement to resolve case so the new owner can take over fast. Tenants furniture was discarded because nobody knew he still came back every now and then.

Tenant knows that he is in the way and asks for a big payment as his lawyer threatens to issue a temporary restraining order for the demolition of the house which would cause additional costs for the builder and new owner.


texts: Using handicapped plackards from one state when vehicle is registered in another

texts:
I walk past a vehicle every day parked in a handicapped spot that doesn't look usable by anyone I would consider handicapped (a very lifted jeep). I don't want to sound like the arbiter of what is handicapped, but I also consider it very rude and inconsiderate to use handicapped parking when you are not disabled.

I looked at the handicapped placard (on the dash of the jeep, not hanging from the mirror) and it is from Iowa and dosn't expire, but the jeep has Colorado tags. My question is, is that Iowa placard valid? Couldn't some unscrupulous person sell their dead grandparents "permanent" placard to someone out of state that allows them to park in the best spots all the time.


texts: Does the US Consumer Law entitle buyers to refunds for future price reductions?

texts:
I have heard that if I buy something in a store, and that price is reduced within a week or so, I am entitled to get the difference. Is that true?

Edit:
Here is an example from Apple:

  Should Apple reduce its price on any Apple-branded product within 14 calendar days from the date you receive your product, feel free to visit an Apple Retail Store or contact the Apple Contact Center at 1-800-676-2775 to request a refund or credit of the difference between the price you were charged and the current selling price. To receive the refund or credit you must contact Apple within 14 calendar days of the price change. Please note that this excludes limited-time price reductions, such as those that occur during special sales events, such as Black Friday or Cyber Monday.

From: http://www.apple.com/legal/sales-support/sales-policies/retail_us.html


texts: Does "duty to rescue" apply to a child that one has no direct responsibility for?

texts:
This appeared in a comment on another SE site:

If I am sitting by a deep swimming pool and see an unsupervised toddler child playing close to the edge - and then watch the child fall in and drown, and do absolutely nothing to prevent it - I am, certainly under English law, guilty of a crime.

Is that in fact true?
My understanding is that it would be true under the civil code, (e.g. Europe, Québec, Louisiana), but not under common law.


texts: Which country's laws should someone abide when using an app or visiting a website?

texts: When you visit a website online or use an app, which country's laws should someone abide by?what will happen if a website is selling something illegal according to their country's laws online but it is legal to buy in your country?


texts: Locate me data obtained from european register

texts: There is an entry on locatefamily.com that I know because it has certain details that were used on a European domain register in 2014. I an EU citizen living in the states. Does the GDPR apply to them in this case?


texts: Coronavirus - Exercise in a UK National Park

texts:
During the current Coronavirus lockdown in the UK (England), is it legal for me to:

  a) Drive for over one hour (alone) to reach the start of my walk.

  b) Walk for 4-5 hours (alone) keeping at least 2m away from other people.

  c) Drive home again.

The law seems to say that I am allowed to leave my house for exercise but does not stipluate how long this should take.  It also does not state that use of a car is not allowed.

Edit:

Yes, this question is against the "spirit" of the law, but that is not the question being asked, if we get into the morality of it then we have to start taking peoples rights into consideration, one of those rights is to go where they want and to do what they want, even if that means that someone else suffers in some way.  People have fought and died for our rights over hundreds of years, you cannot just ignore that.


texts: Can a company be defined as the Data Controller?

texts:
In our company training on Data Protection this statement is made

  A data controller is the person (legal or natural) who decides on the
  purpose for which data is to be collected, held or processed.  is the data controller for all the personal data held by
  us.

Is it correct that the "entire company" by name can be the Data Controller?


texts: Giving live streamed video as date stamped evidence of an event in court (UK)

texts:
I am planning on serving a notice to quit directly to my landlord soon, and the plan is to live stream putting the letter in the envelope and posting it at their address, so it's very clear that the content of the letter is what I say it is. This will also prove that I posted the letter on a particular day as well because live streamed videos (on Facebook) are time stamped.

The only issue I have is, when submitting the evidence to the court, the live streamed video will have to be made available to the public for the duration of the trial so that the court can view it, which will of course mean that the name and address of the landlord will be published online.

Are the any legal complications with this? If so, what are the workarounds?


texts: Is there a difference: "two-sided" vs "bilateral"?

texts:
Is there any real difference between "two-sided contracts" and "bilateral contracts"? (And also between "one-sided contracts" and "unilateral contracts"?)

After scouring the web, it seems that in both pairs the terms are often used as synonyms. But could there still be difference in meaning? Even a very small one?


texts: What is the difference between copyright infringment, and intellectual property violation?

texts: What is the difference between copyright infringment and intellectual property violation?


texts: traffic stop, do you have to give id if no crime was commited?

texts:
If you are involved in a traffic stop where the officer can not provide you with a crime you have committed or a ordinance you have broken is the officer allowed (legally) to ask/demand your id?

  According to RCW 46.61.020, during a traffic stop the driver of the
  car must provide license, registration and proof of insurance to an
  officer. And for those who have heard that you can keep your window up
  and press your ID against the glass, I wouldn’t recommend it. It is
  unlawful for a driver to refuse an officer’s request to take ID for
  inspection during a traffic stop.


texts: Will Florida Social Media Bill Allow Trump back Online?

texts:
Does the Florida Social Media Bill Allow Trump to Be Back on Twitter and Facebook? It prohibits internet companies from banning Politicians on social media. "SB 7072 also bars social media platforms from restricting “journalistic enterprises,” which the bill defines as entities that do business in Florida and have at least 100,000 monthly active users or 50,000 paid subscribers."
Florida set to fine social media firms up to $250,000 a day for knowingly deplatforming politicians
Florida bill would fine social media platforms for banning politicians


texts: Can an artist take away a unique character that was first visually displayed in a piece of artwork I commissioned from them and paid for?

texts: The artist did not ask me to sign any agreements and neither did I, the artwork was paid for, but after a personal conflict the artist told me they were "revoking" the character the artwork was of. They then posted the artwork on their social media and gave it away for free. Do I have any legal protections in this case? The artwork was a reference sheet for a character owned by me, but it's design was first created by the artist and there were no other pieces of artwork with the same character previously. Can an artist give away my character, if they were the first to visually express it in drawn form?


texts: Does filing for bankruptcy preclude pursuing all other legal proceedings?

texts: I have heard that if you file for bankruptcy you cannot file any other legal proceeding (in the state of Georgia, USA) until the bankruptcy filing is resolved.  Is that so?  If so, does the ban on other legal proceedings extend only to financial matters, or does the ban cover (non-financial) divorce/custody matters as well.  Thanks.


texts: Are the terms "stipulate" and "determine" interchangable in legal texts?

texts:
Are "stipulate" and "determine" interchangeable? Can I say, "the Government Regulation is determined by the Presidential Decree", for instance, or simply use "stipulated" instead?

I read on the internet that "determine" means ‘to set limits’ while "stipulate" is 'to require (something) as a condition of a contract or agreement', but I don't really get it.


texts: Labelling of exhibits in US criminal court. Why the repetition of letters?

texts:
I have been watching a series of videos of a criminal trial in the USA.
I have noticed that exhibits for the defence are labelled with four consecutive letters but often (if not always) these letters are repetitive, e.g. JJJJ and KKKK. I'm on day 5 and have only just realised this so I haven't gone back to watch all the previous videos again in order to check. I'm sure about JJJJ and KKKK.
Here's an example:

Defence lawyer: I'm going to  show you what's been marked as defendant's exhibit KKKK.
Video: Skylar Richardson Trial Day 5 Witness: Dr John White - Gynecologist Part 2

Question
Why would the labelling have repetition? For example, why might it not be KAAA? Or simply single letters, J, K, L, etc?
At whose discretion/direction are the numbers allocated? The judge's, the counsels?  Is there a standard or does each trial 'invent' its own standard for this?


texts:
I do not understand why the clause "time is of the essence" would be necessary? If a contract states that something needs to be done on a certain date, isn't it clearly a violation if that is not done? For example "the repair man will fix the alarm system by February 1st." and he hasn't, why wouldn't this be a violation of the contract?

Is it that "time is of the essence" means it's a material violation, and not a non-material violation?


texts: Difference between terms and clauses in a contract

texts:
I'm new to legal terminology used in contracts. I'm trying to understand the difference between terms of a contract and clauses of a contract. All the sites have referred so far provide no clear distinction between the two and sometimes use terms and clauses interchangeably. I'm wondering if there is any difference between the two or not.

I found a similar question asked before: What's the difference between a clause, provision, condition and term? but it doesn't answers the question in the context of purchase or legal contracts.

Also, from a conceptual point of view, does a contract contain anything other than terms, name of the signing parties and clauses?

Thanks in advance.


texts:
I understand that music concerts are copyrighted and you can't post the music online if you record it with phone or whatever, but how about sport events?
Say I attended a tennis match and recorded some of it or even fully with my camera, can i post it online ? without getting copyright flagged of course.


texts: In California, who owns buildings or soil left on a leased farm after abandonment?

texts:
If a tenant builds a building on leased land, and purchases soil deposited on the land, whose is it after the tenant abandons the property? For the purposes of this question, assume the lease did not include any provisions addressing this matter.

What statues or precedents are relevant here?


texts: Can you sign a shared physical custody contract before impregnation?

texts:
I was wondering if it exists the possibility of signing a legal agreement before impregnation that states legally that both parents compromise into offering shared physical custody of the child to each other in case of divorce or separation.
Do theses types of contract exists? are they legal? I currently live in Switzerland, but the question is meant generally.


texts: Can you legally bet online on somebody's behalf with their written consent?

texts:
Is it legal to bet on behalf of somebody else on an online bookmaker? For example, would it be legal to get written consent from a friend, use their ID, etc. to create an account with that online bookmaker and place bets? Somebody told me that I could create a Letter of Authority detailing what I would be doing and have them sign this as a form of written consent, but I am not a legal expert by any means.
I'm aware that some online bookmakers state in the T&Cs that the use of multiple accounts/account sharing is prohibited, but I'm unfamiliar with how breaking T&Cs works. From what I understand, it isn't criminal to break Terms & Conditions, but they can ban you from the site and so forth. Is this correct?
Answers are greatly appreciated, and if there are any questions I would be happy to answer.
Kind regards.


texts: Can I be charged for murder if I throw peanuts at someone who has a severe peanut allergy and they die as a result of that?

texts: Assuming I already knew that they had a peanut allergy, and my intention was to hurt them, but not necessarily to kill them.