texts: Should I refuse to vote in my condo association after the President published lies about me?

texts:
The woman who lives below my condominium is the Association President. About two years ago, my bathroom sink overflowed, and flooded her bathroom below it and part of her kitchen. I helped to clean up the mess, and agreed to pay for damages, which consisted of damage to the drywall, because it had gotten wet. I got estimates from contractors, but did not schedule the work, because, at the time, I didn't have the money to pay them. In an association meeting last year, I brought up the fact that water enters the basement when it rains, and that we should get estimates to have the foundation repaired. She fronted me off, and said to take care of her condo drywall first. Actually, she did not want to deal with the foundation issues because of the expense. So, I got another estimate, and scheduled the work, with plans to pay them after the project was completed. She agreed to have the work done. A couple of weeks before the work was to be done, I emailed her a release form and explained that I would need her to sign it if the work was done satisfactorily, and that it would release me from all liability regarding the flooding. She said she couldn't sign it, and that she would go through her homeowner's insurance. So, I cancelled the appointment with the contractor.

She said that her homeowner's insurance reviewed the bylaws and that any damages caused by a unit owner that is not covered by insurance needs to be paid by the unit owner who caused the damages. Her deductible is $500, so she said I owe her $500. Much of the conversation was via email, and I requested the repair bill, to which she never responded.

She's also the Treasurer, so every month I submit my association dues to her. Every month, she would scream at me about paying the $500, and would not let me say anything, but would slam her door in my face, after she gave me the receipt for the association dues. One time, she did let me respond, and I said, "As soon as I receive a repair bill," to which she screamed, "You don't get a repair bill!!! You're not paying for the whole project, you're only paying $500..."

Fast forward to this week's association meeting, which was over a year from the last one, even though we're supposed to have at least four meetings a year. She distributed minutes that she typed up from the last association meeting, in which she wrote lies about me regarding the flooding, and that were not discussed in the association meeting last year. She also said that I caused damage to her bathroom in another flooding incident, but never mentioned anything to me about it until several years after she had tile replaced, and said it costed her $1800. There are only six condo units, so to have a quorum to vote on anything, at least four voting members would have to agree. Only three showed up to the meeting, the President, another condo owner, and I. So, we just talked about what was going on, and she suggested raising the association dues, because expenses were going up. Both the other condo owner and I were in agreement, but since we couldn't vote, she planned to type up something and have at least four sign off on it later.

Her spreading lies about me is fine. What goes around comes around, so someone else will treat her the same way. But should I not sign for my vote for the association dues to be raised, because she published lies about me?


texts: How to avoid copyright infringement when quoting/sourcing a reference work?

texts:
If I was engaging in a for-profit activity (writing a book that will be sold or starting a monetized blog, for example) that required the use of many scientific facts, how would I go about collecting that information in a way so as to avoid a copyright issue?

To illustrate, suppose I was starting a blog on jewelry making and I needed to add informative descriptions on the various types of precious metals/gems a novice jeweler can use (like the various types of topaz that exist and their properties, etc). Where would I obtain such information without infringing on a copyright? From the little I know about U.S. copyright law, I can't just copy information straight from an encyclopedia and then place my resultant work for sale. Wikipedia IS open, but requires anyone using it to make their work open as well, if I'm correct.

Are there any free and open sources I can quote without having to make my content be under an open license (perhaps like from a college or the government)? If not, would it violate copyright to use information from an encyclopedia on my blog if the information was completely re-written using my own words?


texts:
From the about page:

  In 2013, we suspended service to protect our global customers when the
  U.S. government ordered us to release our Transport Layer Security
  private keys. To protect your digital privacy and freedom, we said no.

  In 2014, we began development of the Dark Internet Mail Environment
  —DIME—a revolutionary end-to-end encrypted global standard...

Do they imply that 2013 can't happen again? Are there less risks now (regarding government orders)?


texts: Someone forged my signature in the bill of sales

texts:
I brought a used car from Mr. A. However it was not his car. He went with Mr. B, the real owner, to an office dealing with auto registration and sign the paper together without me being there. I did not know anything about Mr B at all.  I did not give Mr A permission to sign my name.  Faking somebody's signature is a crime, correct?

Mr A said that it was his car and a good car. However it turned out to be a bad car.  I want to report Mr. A to the DMV that he forged my signature, and I want to return the car to Mr. A and get my money back.  What right do I have?  Since he submitted the bill of sale to DMV with the fake signature, I want to report to the DMV that the bill of sale is invalid because I did not sign it, and I want to return the car to Mr A. What do I have to do?

This was in the State of California.

At first,  Mr A said he has a car to sell to me.  He get a car from Mr B, that I did not know anything about Mr B.  Mr A brought  Mr B to an  office dealing with auto registration to fill the paper for sale.  I did not know what happen in that office.  Now I know that Mr A fake my signature to be a buyer.  The car is bad,  and I paid money to Mr A.  I would like to return the car to Mr A.  If I did not sign any paper to be a buyer, this bill of sale should be invalid.  I did not receive the title after 4 months.  I went to the DMV and they said that the title now is under my name.  Almost all the time, Mr A has the car trying fix the problems of the car,  I don't have the car right now.  He is still keeping it to fix.  My point is I would like to return it to him and get my money back.  What can I do ?


texts: Does my claimant have a right to copyright audio from a popular reciter?

texts:
I got plenty of copyright claims on my YouTube channel from Qanawat Audio because I uploaded videos with Abdullah Al-Juhani's recitations in them. I wonder, were they right in copyrighting my video?
 For your information, this is my channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJv0STX-xSkapow54orIJ6g/videos?disable_polymer=1


texts: Does absence of profit guarantee no violation of anti-squatting laws is the US?

texts:
I recently bought a celebrity website for $400 on godaddy. It was a "sale" auction. I did it just for fun without any profit motives. In addition I was not aware of the anti-squatting laws.

Today I read an article about anti-squatting. That's rough.  Regret i bought it in the first place. So now I want to get rid of this burden and return my money.

Can I sell it for $420? Godaddy will charge a commission. I'll end up with my $400.

Here is the extract from the law:

Under the newly enacted section 43(d) of the Lanham Act, trademark holders now have a cause of action against anyone who, with a bad faith intent to profit from the goodwill of another's trademark, registers, traffics in, or uses a domain name that is identical to, or confusingly similar to a distinctive mark, or dilutive of a famous mark, without regard to the goods or services of the parties.

If there is no profit, then it's okay right?


texts:
Article 1 section 10 paragraph 1 of the US constitution says

  No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

, yet the the US prints money.

I heard that it is attempted to interpret laws the ways they were meant, especially old laws. To me, it seems obvious that it was meant like this: "There shall be no fiat money legitimized by a government (in the US [As the US constitution only applies within the US.])."

So why can they legally print money?

Basically: If it's illegal for all states to print money, why is it legal for the collection of all states?

Or is it possibly that they wanted to prevent there to be several currencies within the US? But then, what would stop a county or town from establishing its own currency? Before you say something like "A county or town typically was too small for that, back then.": How about a union of counties?

I'd like to know what problem they intended to solve by including the paragraph quoted above in the US constitution.


texts: Do you have to be engaged to be married to enter into prenup?

texts:
To enter into prenuptial agreement, do you have to be engaged to be married?

If jurisdiction matters, USA.


texts:
If a license is issued to the US Government to build and operate a patented measurement system, is it violation of the license if the government hires a contractor to build and operate the system?

Any questions to confine the scope of the question are appreciated.


texts: does infraction for drugs possession by french custom, without criminal records prevents to enter USA for working

texts:
So context,

I am high level educated and I get an opportunity for a dream job in USA, preliminary contact are good so I would say I got a 50/50 to get the job if I officially apply.

But I mess things up, I am occasional smoker of illegal product in my country and I get caught by internal french customs (not police) for detention of illegal product (1g if its matter) some month ago. They proposed me two things either a legal matter which implies going to a tribunal or "a friendly resolution" which implies to paid a fine and sign a paper saying that I recognize being caught in possession of illegal product but I will not have a criminal record, but a fine for infraction by the customs, so I take option 2. In France employer can only see criminal record so in a way I am lucky and still able to find a job in my country.

I wonder if even without criminal records this infraction can forbid me the entry to USA for work.

If yes can I do anything? does a specialize lawyer will be able to help me?


texts: Does legitimate interest need to be justified in response to a GDPR DSAR?

texts:
In the response to a GDPR Data Subject Access Request, in describing the lawful basis under which the data controller is processing my data, I got this:
We process your personal data for our legitimate interests including:

to enforce compliance with our Terms of Use and applicable law.
to protect the rights and safety of our Members and third parties.
to meet legal requirements.
to provide information to representatives and advisors to help us comply with legal, accounting or security requirements.
to prosecute and defend legal proceedings.
to respond to lawful requests by public authorities.
to provide, support and improve our Services.
for our data analytics projects.

Is this a complete answer to the question, or can I require them to detail exactly what justifies them gaining this legitimate interest?  There is nothing in anything else they have sent that would indicate a justification to my non-lawyer eyes.


texts: Term for reviewing a legal document describing procedures to see if they match those procedures implemented in a computer system?

texts: I was just reviewing some legal documents which need updated to describe procedures implemented in a computer system to see if they match. Is there a legal term to describe this action?


texts: Does a software developer have a fiduciary duty to the user?

texts:
I've recently had to learn about fiduciary duty, and it struck me that this seems to apply to software developers. So my questions are

Am I right in thinking that a developer has a fiduciary duty to the user?
If so, what does this mean for a lot of software development organisations with business models that depend on software that does not entirely respect the interests of its users. For instance, would the developer of an ad-blocker who takes money from advertisers for allowing their adverts to bypass his block be considered in breach of this duty?

The rest of this post will explain my reasoning that this fiduciary relationship exists. Suppose that Alice writes some software and sells it to Bob to use. I happen to live in the UK, but from what I have read the same legal framework exists in many countries.

The Wex legal dicationary says:

  Fiduciary duty is imposed whenever confidence is reposed on one side
  in a contractual relationship, so as to allow that side to exert
  influence and dominance over the other.

Bob is clearly reposing confidence in Alice here. Alice could have included hidden functionality in the program which would work to Bob's detriment. Bob has no practical way of finding out if Alice has done so. In effect Alice has been given control of a part of Bob's computer. In addition to the physical resources, Alice also has indirect access to information stored on the computer that Bob may wish to keep confidential. Alice has "influence and dominance" over those parts of the computer that her program can access.

The Free Dictionary says:

  Courts have neither defined the particular circumstances of fiduciary
  relationships nor set any limitations on circumstances from which such
  an alliance may arise. [...]

  A fiduciary relationship extends to every possible case in which one
  side places confidence in the other and such confidence is accepted;
  this causes dependence by the one individual and influence by the
  other.

I've seen lists of fiduciary relationships, but it is plain that all of these are illustrative rather than complete. It may be that a court has never found that a software developer has a fiduciary duty (Google hasn't turned up any), but there doesn't seem to be an obstacle to such a finding.

Looking at the second paragraph, it is clear that Bob has placed confidence in Alice. It is not necessarily clear that Alice has accepted such a relationship with Bob in particular, but it seems to me that

By offering her program for sale, Alice has accepted a duty to her customers, and
That this duty is a fiduciary one by the nature of the trust placed in her by her customers.

When Alice wrote the program she was unaware that Bob in particular was going to run it, so it would not be possible for Alice to know exactly what the interests of Bob are under all circumstances. However she will still have a clear understanding of the general interests of her users as a class, and she has a duty to act in those interests rather than her own.


texts: Adaptations of partially expired copyright in some countries

texts:
Let's say that there are 2 (hypothetical) countries with different copyright durations:

Country A has a copyright duration of Life + 70 years.
Country B has a copyright duration of Life + 50 years.

Country A does not apply the rule of the shorter term.
A work was published in Country B by an author who died 65 years ago. Let's call this the "original work." An adaptation (known as "derivative work" in the United States) of the original work was later published in Country B since the work is in the public domain. The author of this adaptation chose to license their work with a public-domain equivalent license (perhaps CC0).
My understanding of copyright is that it grants the author an exclusive right to distribute their work in whatever manner they'd like for some amount of time (determined by the copyright duration in a country).
Can a person in Country A legally use the adapted work? I'm assuming no, but then does that mean that the author of the work created in Country B does not technically have all the rights to the work they created, since they have no control over whether their work can be distributed in Country A? If that is the case, then would these rights be "granted" to the author of the adaptation when the copyright finally expires in Country A?
I am a bit confused. Am I misunderstanding something about international copyright law as enacted by treaties such as Berne or the UCC?


texts: Can grand juries indict people without the prosecutor asking?

texts:
According to this article about Bridgegate:

Then, in a dramatic twist, Brennan called for any New Jersey citizen currently serving on a grand jury to exercise their legal right to summon him to testify before them and indict the governor.
"If anybody in the state of New Jersey is currently sitting on a grand jury, I implore you: Summon me before you," urged Brennan. "I will come before you with the transcripts and the evidence and you can get an indictment. Any grand jury, without prodding from the prosecutor, can call witnesses and demand evidence and demand this case be prosecuted...without the prosecutor's help."
Dennis Kearney, a former assistant prosecutor in Essex County who's now a partner in the criminal defense firm of Day Pitney, said such a move, while technically possible, would be unprecedented, and "very unlikely" to happen.
"The idea that a grand jury would 'go rogue'?" asked Kearney. "I've never seen it, and I go before grand juries for a living."

The phrase "demand this case be prosecuted" is rather ambiguous, and I'm not sure whether they mean that the jury could air Christie's dirty laundry in public until the prosecutor agreed to formally ask for an indictment, or that the jury could actually perform the indictment on its own.
Do grand juries have the power to indict people all by themselves, or does the prosecutor have to initiate the process?  Are there any known examples of a grand jury "going rogue" as they describe?


texts: How to enforce GPL if the copyright holder doesn't have access to the source code of violating software?

texts:
I'd like to publish a C library project that I have written on GitHub and license it under GPL, so I am doing some research on open source licenses and some confusion comes to mind.

Let's say Evil Corps uses and modifies my code in a commercial software without disclosing their source. I have come across their software, and realized that one feature it has is very similar to what my library does. Upon my inquiry, they deny that they have used my code but also refuse to show me their source.

How would I have to proceed in order to enforce the GPL? How is it done in the past to prove that the GPL is violated?


texts: Do US coastal waters belong to specific states?

texts:
Do US coastal waters belong to the state adjacent to those waters? Ditto for the county, the city, and the school district.
Here are some examples; assume for each of them that I am moored in Pacific off California coast, 100 feet away from a dock in Los Angeles.

Do I have to pay California taxes?

Can I have on the boat a rifle that's allowed in US but banned in California?

My doctor is license to practice medicine in the state of California. Is it legal for him to treat me on board?

Can LAPD enforce LA city ordinances on my boat?

Can my kids, whose primary residence is my boat, attend public schools in LA school district?


texts: Is a list of the most common English words copyrightable under US law?

texts:
I am currently interested in doing some research performing various measurements and algorithms on the most common words in the English language. I have found a few  good word lists online that would be suitable, but I am concerned that they may be subject to copyright and would like to be sure about their status before I use them. The lists are in the form of a simple text file with one word per line.

I understand that collections of words such as dictionaries are subject to copyright because they contain a large amount of words and their definitions which can be considered to require original work and creativity, but what about just words without any definitions or additional information?

I have seen this other Law Stack Exchange question, which mentions lists of words, but the author seems to have been interested in also using some short definitions, and I am not certain the answer refers to plain word lists.

Is a list of common words copyrightable? If so, would it still be considered fair use to use the word list to generate data not related to the words themselves?


texts: Dissolve a corporation as a minor stakeholder in New York

texts:
I am a minor shareholder (control less than 20% of the shares) at a startup that never did any business. It is a C-Corp incorporated in New York under my name. Right now I want to dissolve the corporation, but I cannot locate one of the stakeholders who controls a significant part of the corporation.

I then read an article on smallbusiness.chron.com which I cannot find anymore. The article suggests that dissolving the corporation only requires to form a majority to vote on dissolution. However, according to the New York State Certificate of Dissolution, dissolution can only be done after one of the following conditions is met:

The dissolution was authorized at a meeting of shareholders by
two-thirds of the votes of all outstanding shares entitled to vote.
The dissolution was authorized at a meeting of shareholders by a
majority of the votes of all outstanding shares entitled to vote.
The dissolution was authorized by the unanimous written consent of the
holders of all outstanding shares entitled to vote without a meeting.

To my understanding, that implies that I have to have a meeting with all of the shareholders, which is difficult since the difference in geographical locations. Also the corporation has some unallocated shares. So can I still simply form a majority to dissolve the corporation?


texts: Exactly which individuals born in the United States are not subject to its jurisdiction?

texts:
According to federal regulations, individuals born to foreign diplomats who are on the Blue List are not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and thus are not US citizens at birth.

But what would happen in the case of a child born in the US if

One parent is a foreign diplomat, and the other is a US citizen?
One parent is a foreign diplomat, and the other is a lawful permanent resident?
One parent is a foreign diplomat, and the other has some non-diplomatic status such as F-1 student?

(Aside: The Canadian Citizenship Act is much more explicit. A person born in Canada to a foreign diplomat parent will acquire Canadian citizenship at birth if the other parent is either a Canadian citizen or permanent resident [link].)


texts: How does the Bank Secrecy Act affect normal law-abiding citizens?

texts:
The Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 was designed to detect money laundering by organized criminals.  Among other things, it requires banks to report large currency transactions in excess of $10,000 to the Justice Department.

In 1970, $10,000 was a lot of money -- enough to buy a house in some parts of the country.  In 2017, however, an average financially disciplined middle-class family could easily have that much in savings.  This is tempered somewhat by the fact that in our modern age most large transactions are now done electronically rather than with giant bags of money.

Recently, I came into a windfall.  A fat tax return, combined with money from a legal settlement, a cashout of PTO at work, a lot of overtime on my last paycheck, plus the amount I already had in savings has netted more money in my bank account than I've ever had at one time in my life.  I'd like to take pictures of this event, since it's all going to pay off debt very shortly :-)

What I would like to do is withdraw all of this money in $20 bills, carry it out of the bank in a big bag with a '$' sign on it, spread it all out on my bed, and roll around in it Scrooge McDuck style.  I would of course take it back to the bank promptly, because you really shouldn't have that much cash just laying around.

My question is, what kind of harassment, if any, could I expect from the government or the bank about that?  Would it put me on some kind of watch list or start a covert investigation on me?  Do I have to fill out any special forms (the Wikipedia article I linked to above suggests a CTR would be needed but doesn't say if the bank or the customer files it)?


texts:
Having some tangential experience with Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIF) and how seriously they are taken, I was shocked to hear that one was stormed in Congress by people carrying cell-phones.

Wikipedia defines a SCIF thusly:

  A Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF; pronounced "skiff"), in British and United States military, national security/national defense and intelligence parlance, is an enclosed area within a building that is used to process Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) types of classified information.

As noted in this article "... bringing phones into the secure area was a potential felony."

Is it correct that is it a felony to bring cell phones into such a secure area in the normal case?

I have found this document which describes standards around SCIF construction and management: TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS FOR CONSTRUCTION AND MANAGEMENT OF SENSITIVE COMPARTMENTED INFORMATION FACILITIES

I've not, as of yet, been able to find anything that explains what laws apply to these facilities and what ramifications there are for violators.

According this article:

  ...while there are criminal statutes that would otherwise come into play here, it is not useful to discuss them here because, under the Speech or Debate Clause of the U.S. Constitution, a member of Congress cannot be criminally prosecuted for an action he or she takes as part of the individual’s legislative work.

There is no reference to which criminal statutes would apply, however.

Is this assessment correct that such actions could not be criminally prosecuted were they illegal?

The above image is purported to be from the incident.

Alex Mooney made a recording inside the SCIF that he then published on Twitter here.


texts: Medical. Is it legal to treat someone without reporting it to the US government?

texts:
I have a friend that wants to treat me, but is highly concerned about doing so "off the clock" if you will. He's an oncologist for a large Hospital and is forbidden from doing work outside of the hospital as it could damage their reputation if a doctor were to "damage" someone outside of work hours.

My main question is aside from his employer, could he legally treat me without reporting back or keeping it off the books? I don't want to get him in legal trouble, but I also don't really know the legalities and procedure of this. He's only been working for the hospital for 2 years and they apparently don't go over legal matters in school. If anyone could point me in the right direction or link me to anything I would highly appreciate it.

"To add to this, he is a fully licensed and certified M.D. / D.O." I didn't want it to sound shady or anything, I just want him to be my private doctor, rather than someone I don't know.


texts: If I have posted my own "homebrew" content on RPG.SE, and plan to publish it (after revising based on feedback), what credits am I required to give?

texts:
I have posted numerous homebrew features on Role-playing Games Stack Exchange, and I have used advice gotten from that site to balance most of them. If, one day, I publish the subclass, would I be required to give any or all of the following credits?

To the RPG.SE website as a whole

To the individual users that gave feedback

Just to the users whose feedback I used

Or would I not be required to give any credit?


texts: What ways are there to put pressure on the assurance delaying payments of death benefits?

texts:
How can I put negotiation pressure on the UK assurance company to persuade them to pay death benefits to the entitled widow, that they have been delaying for over 3 years from the death of her husband?

The assurance in question declined the complaint, giving as reason that more time is required to contact "other entitled parties" from the husband's former marriage. The widow has no contact with them, so feels absolutely helpless in that respect. She is also seriously sick and in serious need of funds to pay for her medical treatment.

I am looking for any strong negotiation statement that would a pressure on the assurance company to regard the parties as separate, and issue the payment of the part to which the widow is entitled without waiting for the other parties reaction?


texts: Is there a minimum speed limit on US hwy 60 in OK? Are bicycles legal on US hwy 60 in OK?

texts:
I had this experience about 4 years ago (which actually culminated a series of many similar experiences) where I was cycling my way back home (Missouri) from a bicycle trip to Cancun MX.

In Washington county of Oklahoma, just east of Bartlesville on US hwy 60, while observing  (and respecting) all applicable laws, hwy patrol officer stops me because I am "obstructing the traffic". He then asks for my ID.

I respectfully asked "did I break any law?"
Officer: "in Oklahoma bicycles have the same rights as the cars and also same responsabilities. That means you need to have the same speed as the cars"

Thinking that he was just mocking the law, I refused to hand him the ID. He could not articulate any reasonable suspicion. He then took me to jail for obstructing an investigation (where the cops stole/took some of my most treasued memories from my bag because they found some Tylenol and Ibuprofen
in the same jar) and the next day I posted bail (about $300 in full, cash) I was notified that I had to come back to Oklahoma for a court appearance. Seing that things get more complicated I decided to just pay them to get them off my back, go home and never return to that state. They would not accept my payment as it had been decided I had to come back. I came back, full of hope that the judge would listen and dismiss the case as it was based on a lie. Instead, he said that if I wanted to plead not guilty, I'd have to come back for a new court date to argue my case.  At this point I found myself back at square one, so I decided I'd pay them and get it over with (with a "no contest plea") as the trips back and forth to OK would have cost me more that the ticket.

Later in the hallway I told the judge the cop's reasoning and his reply was: "He may have been wrong on the bicycle law, but you still should have handed him your ID"

Needless to say, I have not taken my bike on any trips ever since.

Now after 4 years I still can't get it off my mind and it's consuming me thinking that I was fooled into believing that the rule of law was the norm in this country (not the jungle law) and the beautiful constitution we have is not there just to look pretty, but something we can rely on.

My questions are:
1 - Is making up a law on the spot an acceptable alternative to the requirement that the cops have to have a reasonable suspicion in order to detain a civilian?
Remember, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere"
2 - Was the cop right? Does anyone know of a "minimum speed limit" on US hwy 60 ? (there were no signs about minimum speed limit or any signs regulating bicycle trafic on that road)
3 - Was the judge right to make me come back to OK (under threat of arrest warrant) just to tell me that he can not dismiss the case (in case I was to plead not guilty) ?

This is a screenshot of US hwy 60 (Limestone). It is clearly not a "controlled access highway"


texts: Facebook vs GDPR - Is Facebook never deleting the Searches you do?

texts:
I frequently delete the Search History from my account's Activity Log.

However, every time I start typing in Search, Facebook seems to remember perfectly searches I've done in the past.

Suggestions include names with and without diacritics (e.g. with "a" or with "á"), names of people who are not in my friends list (nor added me) and I have never chatted with them, names of pages I never 'Liked', etc...
It's definitely from past searches, and not suggestions based on close friends, chats or anything.

Is Facebook holding this information forever and are they allowed to do that?

I use Chrome. I've just opened Opera with VPN enabled, log into Facebook with my account, and the exact same results appear. It's definitely saved on Facebook servers. They are NOT deleting my searches when I ask to.


texts: How does one federal appellate court's decision affect other circuits?

texts: I'm just learning how the court system works, and I'm trying to figure out the scope of influence of each appellate court. If a decision is handed down by, for example, the 9th Circuit court, does that decision affect the other 12 circuits, too,  or only the region adjudicated by the 9th Circuit?


texts: Can a sibling contest a life insurance policy?

texts:
My step father had several insurance policies in some of which he listed his daughter as the beneficiary and on the rest he listed his son, who is my younger brother. Can his sister from a different mother contest these policies and how they are divided?

Please, I need help understanding the laws so that I can assist my brother in this battle.


texts: Is it a real legal principle that any ambiguity in a contract is interpreted to the benefit of the side that did not write the contract?

texts: I have heard that there is a legal principle where any ambiguity in the contract is interpreted to the benefit of the side that did not draw up or suggest the contract text. This was presented to me somewhat anecdotally, but sounded reasonable - so I'm not sure what to make of it. Is there any such or similar thing, formalized to any degree? I'd prefer an answer in the context of both Common and Continental law.


texts: Can forwarding address be provided by e-mail for landlord to return security deposit?

texts:
If a landlord does not return a tenant's damage deposit in 15 days from the later of the move out date or receiving a forwarding address, tenant may go after him for double. If the forwarding address for mail is provided in e-mail or by a messaging app (such as Whatsapp, which has read receipts) is this enough? Or must the tenant use registered mail and then wait 15 days?
Relevant Sections of the tenancy Act:
https://www.bclaws.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/02078_01#section38
https://www.bclaws.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/02078_01#section88


texts: German legal prostitution and sexual harassment laws?

texts:
How do laws against sexual harassment look like in places like Germany where prostitution was not only decriminalized, but legalized, and brought to a level of a professional occupation?

could a job opening be for secretary with sporadic sexual services?
could they ask a potential employee to send naked pictures of herself, or even to strip naked at a job interview?
could a business owner require that all female employees wear revealing attire?

How can both things (legal prostitution and protecting women against sexual harassment) be compatible at all?


texts: Non-consensual sex leading to statutory rape

texts: In Texas (U.S.) if person A who is a 12-year old male overpowers and has penetrative sex with person B who is a 30-year old female, is person B guilty of statutory rape? Assuming neither person was intoxicated and person B had clearly verbally stated to person A that they do not wish to engage in sexual activities with them.


texts: Is using method below against the eula of pubg?

texts:
I made a generic tool/application to terminate the foreground window on windows systems.
It is written in c++. It uses functions from windows.h:

HWND foo = GetForegroundWindow();
GetWindowText(foo,title,sizeof(title)); // never used.
DWORD pid;
GetWindowThreadProcessId( foo, &pid );
HANDLE handle = OpenProcess( PROCESS_TERMINATE, FALSE, pid);
TerminateProcess( handle, -5 );
...
CloseHandle( handle );

I bought a PUBG software gaming license while it was on early access. It kept crashing and freezing – and sometimes the most latest frame would be staying on top (while the game is crashed/frozen) making task manager dangerous.

So I wrote that tool to listen to a certain key-combination which would then terminate the foreground window in case it's stuck. It worked like a charm.

However I got banned from PUBG 20 days ago and haven't really been given any clear reason besides that I violated the terms and services and that they have proof of it.

Now the PUBG EULA states following:

  You agree to only use the Game Software, or any part of it, in a
  manner that is consistent with this License and you SHALL NOT:

  ...

  (f) reverse engineer, derive source code, modify, decompile,
  disassemble, or create derivative works of the Game Software, in whole
  or in part (except as the applicable law expressly permits, in which
  case all and any lawful modifications, adaptations, improvements,
  etc., and all copyrights and morale rights therein, shall be deemed
  assigned to, and shall belong to, vest in and be the exclusive
  property of Bluehole and/or its licensors on creation, in any event);

  (g) remove, disable or circumvent any security protections or any
  technical measures that control access to the Game Software;

  (h) remove, modify, deface or circumvent any proprietary notices or
  labels contained on or within the Game Software;

  (i) export or re-export the Game Software or any copy or adaptation
  in violation of any applicable laws or regulations; or

  (j) create data or executable programs that mimic data or
  functionality in the Game Software.

Does the software tool I describe above violate the letter of the EULA?

E.g., I'm curious on whether I did "modify" the game software?  I believe asking windows to shut the application down isn't really modifying it.

Or did I "remove, modify or circumvent any security protections or any technical measures that control access to the game software?"  That seems pretty vague since an end user doesn't really know anything about their security protections, etc.


texts: Is there a precedent or contingency to re-do an election disrupted by war, natural disaster, epidemic, terrorism or fraud?

texts:
I'm wondering about a situation where the election process clearly failed or was disrupted, leaving multiple people claiming to have won, and nobody confident in the result. Is there any plan in place, with any legal force, about how to handle that? To be clear I'm talking about an election so botched it will basically need a re-do for anyone to agree on who the President is. I don't mean re-count of the ballots, I mean scrapping the previous ballots and re-opening polling places on another day.

Examples of situations that might cause this include wartime, uncontrolled disease outbreak, terrorism, major fraud being uncovered, 8.9 earthquake, etc.

Is there any, any at all, precedent or statute or contingency for re-doing or extending an election process in whole or in part? What happens if multiple candidates claim to have won the election?


texts:
This is a second attempt at this question.
Does Chile have a homesteading law?
If so, does the Atacama Desert contain land where this could be used; i.e. not owned by anyone and not under other legal constraints (such as being a national park or tribal lands) that would prevent anyone building a homestead?


texts: What rights do second lienholders have in foreclosure actions by primary lienholder?

texts:
It is common for real property to have multiple liens against it.  The primary or "senior" lien is typically a mortgage lender.  Subordinate liens may have attached to a property through loans or judgments awarded to other parties unrelated to the primary lienholder.

Foreclosure is a move by a lienholder to recoup its equity by compelling the sale of the property.  My understanding is that once approved by a court, foreclosed property is typically sold at auction, and the proceeds awarded to the lienholders in order of lien seniority.  Any liens not satisfied by the sale are removed from the property.

My question is: Do subordinate lienholders have any rights or means, either in law or in practice, to object to a foreclosure in which they fail (or might reasonably expect to fail) to recoup their lien?

For example, suppose a mortgage company has a $400k lien on a house and a creditor has a subordinate $100k lien.  If the mortgage company forecloses it is only looking to recoup $400k.  So it has no incentive to try to sell the property for more than $400k, and it may put the house to auction with a reserve of just $400k.  The second lienholder in that case might argue that it should have a $500k reserve, or not be sold at auction because of a temporarily weak market.


texts: Partially Paid by US entity under B1/B2 Visa or Visa waiver. Is it legal?

texts:
My EU employer is an affiliate company of a US company.
Whenever the EU company’s employees are required to travel to US (under B1/B2 visa or a Visa waiver program) for some meetings with some US clients (up to 3 days each time, and up to 6 times annually), the EU company pays their regular monthly salary.
They are additionally paid a standard per diem amount (or compensated exactly to what they have spent in US with receipts) and an additional compensation (as a bonus) that corresponds to the number of days spent overseas (US mainly).

The per diem and the additional bonus compensation is paid directly from the US company (affiliated with the EU company), as every individual EU employee (of the Eu company) has signed a separate contract (as a contractor) with the US entity. So several days later after they return, an overseas (from US to EU) transaction takes place.

I am really worried that the way the additional bonus compensation (for overseas travelling) is paid violates the terms of the B1/B2 VISA (or Visa waiver program) whenever travel to US takes place.
Is there a real issue here?

Just to add that this applies to some employees of the EU company (as it depends on the negotiations on hiring).


texts: What recourse is there if opposing lawyer refuses to respond?

texts:
I am owed some money by former employer (which I discussed in another thread). I got some of the funds back but there are other issues that need to be resolved. The other guy has a lawyer and I have decided not to get a lawyer on my side, yet. Now the opposing lawyer is not responding to my calls or emails. What are my options in this circumstance?

He has said "have your lawyer contact me." I told him I would handle it until I felt it necessary to get a lawyer. I don't think I should be forced to get one. Is there any bar association or other authority that I can contact? Is his behavior unethical? What could I do to compel him to respond to me.


texts: Are there any laws preventing overuse of rights?

texts:
As cited here in Do Indian companies need a written letter before registering a user?
there seems to be a requirement for companies to appoint a grievance officer to handle grievances of users and answer within one month . What if a company faces so many grievance requests ( most of them being fake ) that it goes beyond their capacity to respond is there any statute to protect them ? Is there any law that governs what happens if it goes beyond a corporations financial capacity to respond ?


texts: Can you be convicted of both first- and second-degree murder?

texts:
A TV show reported a case where a man killed two teenagers and was convicted of both two counts of first degree murder and two counts of second degree murder.

Is this possible? I know that you can be accused of both first degree and second degree murder for killing the same person, but I thought the jury would have to pick the strongest accusation that they believe is proven beyond reasonable doubt (or declare the accused not guilty), so for each killing the outcome would be exactly one of "first degree murder", "second degree murder", and "not guilty" – not a double conviction for the same crime.


texts: Why did Judge Bazile issue a ruling on the Loving case years after the case was closed and appeal deadlines had passed?

texts:
Everything in Hollywood's historical movies is true, right?

OK, There are known counterexamples.....

The recent film Loving is about the case in which Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter, who resided in Caroline County, Virginia, married in the District of Columbia and resided in Virginia in violation of that state's Racial Integrity Act of 1924, which forbade marriage between a white person and a colored person (apparently "colored" included everyone not considered white).

The defendants pled guilty and were sentenced to one year in prison and the sentence was suspended on condition that for 25 years they would never both be in the state of Virginia at the same time. Several years later, the ACLU took up their case.

As nearly as I understood the situation from the film: Their lawyer, Bernard Cohen, asked the judge to change his mind and the judge stonewalled him for a while. Since the deadline for appeal had passed and the case was closed, nothing compelled the judge to answer or to do anything. But then for some reason the judge wrote an opinion defending the statute. He wrote that God put different races on different continents and that that showed he intended no mixing of races. The judge's opinion created a new opportunity for appeal. Cohen then took the case to the highest court in Virginia and lost, and then to the U.S. Supreme Court.

So what I wondered is: Why did the judge not just continue stonewalling?

Wikipedia's article about the case says:

  On October 28, 1964, after waiting almost a year for a response to their motion, the ACLU attorneys brought a class action suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. This prompted the county court judge in the case, Leon M. Bazile, to issue a ruling on the long-pending motion to vacate.

If the class action was in the film I missed it somehow. So now my questions are:

Am I right that the case that reached the U.S. Supreme Court was the one from Caroline County and not the class action in federal court?
What became of the class action?
Did the class action in federal court somehow make the county judge decide to issue a ruling that he otherwise would not have had a reason to issue? How does that work?


texts: GDPR: Do I have to mention MailChimp in the privacy policy of a website if the registration form is only linked?

texts: If I use MailChimp to send out newsletters and on my website I link to the registration form hosted on the MailChimp server, but don't embed it, do I need a MailChimp section in the privacy policy of my website to comply with the GDPR?


texts: Is it lawful to keep a user from updating one's own content on Stack Exchange?

texts: I have been banned for asking to many questions on Physics Stack Exchange for 1 year. During this time I am not allowed to revise or update my published work. I have asked that my work be invisible with my ban unless I am allowed to refine my questions and answers. Are they legally allowed to display my Q & A and comments against my will?


texts: Is asking someone to take photos of houses illegal without permission?

texts:
For private purposes, would it be illegal if someone asked/paid a person to take photos of the outside of houses and send them to the person from which the photos are never publicly advertised or used for any commercial/monetary purposes -- but no express consent of any kind is established.

Mind that this is only the outside front of houses and contains no other identifying information.

One reason this might be for is eventually considering uploading them for Google/public maps.


texts: Northern Ireland: Is Homicide an offence in common law or is it an offence in statute?

texts:
In one of the episodes of the British-Irish television series The Fall, a person is charged by PSNI, in Northern Ireland, with multiple counts of murder. The police officer reads out the charges in full, one by one, stating the actual offence and each time using the phrase contrary to common law to describe the offence.
I searched online a bit and the Wikipedia page on common law offence says

Common law offences are crimes under English criminal law and the
related criminal law of other Commonwealth countries. They are
offences under the common law, developed entirely by the law courts,
and therefore have no specific basis in statute.

However, it seems that there is indeed a statute, Offences against the Person Act 1861, currently in effect in England and partially in effect in Northern Ireland as well which makes homicide of the type covered in that series an offence.
My questions therefore are:

Is my interepreation of the phrase contrary to common law correct in that it implies that the offence mentioned in the charges were common law offences and not statutory offences? If not then what does that phrase actually mean?
Did the writers of that episode make an error or is it that homicide is indeed a common law offence and not a statutory offence?


texts: Can I say which companies use my open source software?

texts:
I have written some open source (MIT License) software. I wrote the software for my own company Company A, that is legally registered with myself as the only employee. I only registered it so I could contract between jobs.

Recently I began a new full-time job in a senior position Company B, and we build software, as an agency, for some very large global companies Company X.

If I build software in Company B and use some of the open source libraries I built in Company A, can Company A say the open source software is used by Company X?

Essentially I want to create a public web page about the open source software, and I want to know if I can say it's used by Company X?

or something like: used in Company X's Product X?


texts: Does my employer own code I write at home using the Visual Studio license from work?

texts:
Simple question, maybe not an easy answer: my employer gave me an MSDN subscription linked to my home hotmail account.

Can I download Visual Studio and write code at home with this license? I would be working after business hours on my own personal projects.. Would my company own the personal project because I used their Visual Studio license?

edit: just to be clear: my personal project is a video game, and my company does not make games, and in fact is in a completely different industry


texts: Can an American sue their own state directly in the federal Supreme Court?

texts:
According to Article III, Section 2 of the constitution,

The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;—to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls;—to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;—to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party;—to Controversies between two or more States;—between a State and Citizens of another State;—between Citizens of different States;—between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.

This defines the jurisdiction of the federal judiciary. For example, the federal judiciary has jurisdiction to hear cases where a citizen alleges that their own state is violating one of their rights granted by the federal constitution and seeks injunctive relief, since that falls under "arising under this Constitution".
Furthermore,

In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction.

My understanding of "original jurisdiction" is that it basically means "you can file this kind of case in this court". And since this is in the constitution, Congress can't take it away.
However, as far as I can tell, it's not actually allowed for an American to sue their own state directly in the Supreme Court. They have to file in a federal district court and then appeal the decision if they don't like it. Legally speaking, why is that?


texts: Does section 230 protect users who distribute pirated content?

texts:
From my non-lawyer reading, it seems the prime protection in section 230 is clause (c)(1):

(1)Treatment of publisher or speaker
No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be
treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by
another information content provider.

From section (f)(2) it would seem that youtube and spotify are interactive computer services.  If say spotify provides me with a file containing music, and I use youtube or bittorrent to distribute it am I not considered publisher or speaker of the result, therefore am not liable for copyright infringement?  It would also seem that I avoid the obligations that are put on the providers of these systems, as the obligations section only specifies provider not user, unlike this section.


texts: If I ask my doctor to order a blood test, can they refuse?

texts: In New York, USA, If I go to my doctor's office and request that they order a specific blood test for me, can they refuse? Is there anything in HIPAA (or other laws) that compels a medical professional to order a test that has been requested by their patient?


texts: Is "No, I got your IDs" a valid reason to hold individuals during a voluntary stop?

texts:
Last Friday night me and some friends were in the process of exiting a park (walking, not driving) in our neighborhood (in North Carolina). We were stopped and questioned by a cop. We (not quite knowingly voluntarily) surrendered our IDs. Immediately after handing them over, I asked if we were free to leave. The officer responded with "no, I got your IDs."

We did not realize that the encounter was a voluntary exchange until after we resolved the encounter because we were unsure whether we were trespassing or not and I was too nervous and scatter-brained to ask. We were unsure when the park closed. The incident occurred about half an hour before the park closed, but we were not sure when the park closed at the time and assumed the worst. The cop repeatedly told us that the park was closed, but I know that they can say anything they want in these scenarios.

Was the officer's reason valid to refuse my request to leave?


texts: Who regulates wireless radio communication in North America and Europe?

texts:
Wireless technologies, such as Wi-Fi, cellular 4G networks and satellite communication are all radio-based under the hood. Meaning that they all send and receive radio signals, inside of regulated bandwidths, as their underlying form of communication. For instance, to be "Wi-Fi", the device must send-and-receive radio signals around the 2.4GHz bandwidth. For satellite, the signals must be inside the 136-138 MHz band range, etc.

I'm wondering what internationally-recognized agencies/bodies regulate these radio-based wireless technologies, both in North America as well as in Europe.

In the United States, I would imagine it would be either the FCC, the FAA, or both, but I can't tell where there regulatory boundaries are. So I ask: what official bodies regulate radio-based communications in these jurisdictions? I'm mostly interested in US, Canada and UK, but would love to be informed about other European (even Asian) countries as well.

Update: Here's a quick useful link for any future-comers that have a similar question: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_telecommunications_regulatory_bodies


texts: GDPR: What is the legal situation on documenting cases of "Right to be forgotten" claims?

texts:
I wasnt able to find an explanation inside the GDPR whether a data privacy officer (or similar responsible) is allowed or required to document cases where individuals claimed the right to be forgotten.

Is it against the law to document the individual cases?
edit for clarification: Such as "on Feb 26th Mr. John Doe inquired via e-Mail and requested to purge all his data". Now there is another data set about John Doe, documenting his deletion request, whereas he initially inquired to have his data erased. Instead of being forgotten, he is now remembered in one extra data collection. /edit

On one hand documenting the process allows a company to prove they obeyed the law and the request, should this be questioned later on by the individual.

I can even imagine a former employee first claiming his right to be forgotten, and then - a week after getting the confirmation - claiming his right to receive a resumee (a right in existense in Germany), which a company would not be able to fulfill as it hasnt got any data to base the resumee on. In case they do not have documentation, that the former employee requested to be forgotten, they cannot tell this.

On the other hand documenting such cases is 180 degree against the original request to be forgotten, as the individual ends up being stored in yet another data processing process.


texts: What are the liabilities of inadvertently copying and storing illegal pornography?

texts:
I'm a software developer who has been working on a yet-to-be released content filtering application. One of the filtering categories is of course pornography, and once upon a time I decided I was going to develop a pornographic image detector/classifier. That is to say, the program would load the image, perform some analysis of the image and classify it accordingly.

Anyone who has ever developed anything like this knows that you need a significant base of source material from which to derive your original classification models. So, I installed DownloadThemAll into Firefox and started punching in some nasty terms plus the words "Tumblr". Material collected.

I ended up having thousands of images, both pornographic and non-pornographic so that the algorithm could extract features to make accurate classifications. However, after some time of developing and having never actually personally analyzed these thousands of images, my wife and I discussed the very real potential that something unspeakable may have been on one of these sites that I scripted to have all images dragged down from. So, I ceased development destroyed everything I had collected, deciding the risk of inadvertently having such filth was definitely not worth it.

So my question is, would I be liable if something had of been there? How can I go about such research while protecting myself (if at all)? The last thing on earth I'd want in life is being thrown in a headline next to Jared Fogle, with the only excuse being "I didn't know! It was for science!"

Google actually copies and stores image results on their own servers. So they can and do have instances where illegal explicit material is copied and stored on private servers. How are they covered from liability or possession?


texts: Is it legal to leave small children without parents' supervision?

texts:
My wife and I went to check out an art studio (NJ, USA) for children to see if we can send our 4-year old son there  to learn some drawings.

It came to my attention that there were a bunch of 5,6-year-old boys and girls sitting in the studio drawing pictures but their parents (at least not all) weren't there in the waiting room.

While there was a teacher in the room looking after the children, I am not sure: Is it legal to leave children of that age alone without parents' being nearby?
What if a child needs a bathroom break?

After all this is not a daycare and I don't think teachers there have license that entitles them to look after children in the parents' absence.


texts: Can shareholders compel a company to not pay taxes?

texts:
Can shareholders compel a company to evade taxes? Logically, if they think it is in their interest the company has to do it. The charter of a corporation is to make money for shareholders, I don't think most charters require the company to follow the law of a specific federal government.
And, they are not aiding or abetting anything. They are just exercising shareholder rights.


texts: Is cruel and usual punishment constitutional?

texts: The U.S. Constitution’s bill of rights prohibits “cruel and unusual punishment”. I am asking about a catch: cruel and usual punishment. If a punishment were determined to be cruel but is commonplace would it be constitutional?


texts: Changing the name of one of the United States

texts:
Does the law have anything clear to say about changing the name of a state in the United States? What I know is:

Maybe a couple of decades ago there was discussion in North Dakota of changing the name of the state to Dakota, which before 1889 was the name of the territory that in that year was split into two states.

I think it was in 1780 that the name of the state called Massachusetts Bay was changed to Massachusetts by means of the adoption of a new constitution of the state. This was before the Constitution of the U.S. was written, and before the Articles of Confederation went into effect. But when the Constitution was drafted in 1787, it still calls that state "Massachusetts Bay".

The federal statute admitting the state of Vermont to the Union in 1791 says it is to be called the State of Vermont, which is exactly what the petition for admission called it.

Under the present constitution,

Would a state statute suffice?
Would a state constitutional amendment suffice?
Would a federal statute suffice without a state statute or a state referendum?
Would a federal constitutional amendment be needed?
Might a federal statute be needed for some states (e.g. Vermont, because of what is noted above) but not for others, because of differences in the federal statutes that admitted the state, or because of the lack of any need for admission by Congress in the case of the original thirteen states?
Are there any consequences of the fact that the Constitution of Massachusetts and the Constitution of the United States use two different names for that state?

(In Canada a constitutional amendment changed the name of a province in 2001, but since it affected only that one province, that was the only one that needed to ratify it. Of course, it doesn't work that way in the U.S.)
Update: Since the time when this was posted, the name of the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was changed to the abbreviated form Rhode Island (so that's no longer an abbreviated form) by a referendum changing the state's constitution.


texts: Is Including a Watermark in Content a Form of Copyright Infringement?

texts:
About 10 years ago, I uploaded a video to Youtube that I presume was created with a presumably free video editor that left a Watermark in the video.
I know a copyright claim being filed is unlikely, but I wanted to know for my soundness of mind if (and if specifics can't be given, then a general answer will suffice) this was a form of copyright infringement and if I'm technically at risk of losing access to/permission to use the multiple google/youtube accounts that I have and access due to copyright claims/ToS violation?
Thank you.


texts: How the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) impacts a non-Californian business?

texts:
January 1, 2020, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) goes into effect.

The CCPA applies to any business anywhere in the U.S. or the world that does business in the state of California.
Could you please explain what does the term “in the state” mean in this context?

How will this impact non-California and non-US companies that are selling to consumers from California traveling and shopping outside of the US?


texts: I Paid $600 to a pet transportation company and after some talks in which due to some wrong information we were asked to pay an additional $300 i asked to cancel and was told that they would withhold 50%. A contract was Written but not signed by either party prior to payment is there any way i can get my money back?


texts: Is there somewhere a list of all countries in the world that have death penalty and of when someone can/must be punished by death penalty?


texts: Court Decisions where Ethereum Blockchain was used to determine a verdict

texts:
I asked on https://ethereum.stackexchange.com/, and was directed here.

Where can I find actual cases where Blockchain (particularly Ethereum Blockchain) was used in a case, or better yet, decided the verdict of a case.

Blockchain technology can be used to create "smart contracts".

So far, I searched findlaw.com, and I get articles on the promise of Blockchain.


texts: GDPR and forums: "Lawfulness of processing" email addresses used only for providing the service

texts:
I run a small hobby message board that is entirely non-commercial.
People need to provide an email address to register and use that for logging in.

I do not use their email address for anything else (unless they set their profile so that they receive notifications on topic replies or private messages, or if they want to reset their password), and I describe this clearly before registration. Email addresses are never transferred to any third parties, nor are they used for sending any unsolicited messages.

Is this considered a "lawful basis for processing data"? Or is consent required?

It would be important to not require additional consent as I would like the forum to be friendly for teenagers as well, and asking them to print a form and get it signed by their parents is just plain ridiculous and it would turn most of them away (or just cause them to lie about their age instead).


texts: Why is secrecy of correspondence treated differently than telephone or electronic surveillance

texts:
According to wikipedia "secrecy of correspondence" "Paper letters have, in most jurisdictions, remained outside the legal scope of law enforcement surveillance, even in cases of "reasonable searches and seizures". "
Why is communication with letters treated differently than communication by other means?


texts:
You’re driving the speed limit in a U.S. state with an absolute speed limit (e.g., Florida). You need to change lanes. A vehicle behind you in that lane is exceeding the speed limit. Who has the right of way?

(Note: No vehicles were harmed in the making of this question. No one hit anything.)


texts:
In a business contract, does the following statement :

  "This provision survives the termination of this Agreement."

Means that the provision survives for a unlimited amount of time? Is there a legal limit to this? Isn't it abusive? If yes, can this be legally enforced?


texts: Can I use a trademarked name in a project, if I don't own the trademark?

texts:
I'm currently making a game, based on Pokémon.

I do not own the trademark, copyright, or anything legally related to Pokémon (just some rando on the net).

In my code, I use Pokemon to describe a specific idea; that a Pokemon is a unique member of a Species (Pokemon:Species as Human:Homo sapiens sapiens).

Examples:

PokemonService: Holds a universally-unique identifier for a Pokemon (ie. 87628491-1246-4bc1-90cd-8b358f7a4f1c)
PokemonStatService: Holds any "stat" value associated with a Pokemon (ie. {pokemon_id:87628491-1246-4bc1-90cd-8b358f7a4f1c,stat=Attack,value=10})
PokemonMoveService: Holds any "move" associated with a Pokemon (ie. {pokemon_id:87628491-1246-4bc1-90cd-8b358f7a4f1c,move=Tackle})

Would I be violating trademark, copyright, or something else if I have different constructs in my code that use the characters "Pokemon" to describe that construct?


texts: Can apartment switch to month-to-month and refuse Lease without consent?

texts:
I'm in dire straights atm regarding my apartment.

I reside in Washington State, and for two years now I've been leased to an apartment. We renewed the first year without issue. However, during the lease the ownership changed hands. This wasn't a problem until a few months ago when we awaited the new lease agreement. They told us they were experiencing "system issues" (as a Technician myself, that's lay-terminology for "we have no idea"), and we would receive a new lease shortly. Over the last few months we made several attempts to get the new lease, in the meantime they decided to switch to the Month-to-Month rate without telling us. This new rate is $4,000/month. This is just your standard two-bedroom apartment, it's most luxurious feature is that is isn't falling apart. Now they're demanding back-pay of up to $7,000 for the months they charged us the new rate.

Some quick facts:
We were under a lease.
The lease was in for renewal.
We never received the lease agreement or notice of change to the rate or agreement.
They didn't change the online bill pay bill amount, it remained showing the original rate.
They have served us a 14-day notice to vacate, and still no lease.
We have documented proof that we requested and waited for a lease and had no notice of denial for a new lease, or change of any kind.

I'm not sure what I can do, law is entirely out of my professional and personal purview. I would greatly appreciate any help in the right direction, any indication that I have a way to fight this sudden dire situation. I recognize that any assistance rendered does not count as legal advice as a service rendered, in part or in whole.

Thank you for your time and effort.


texts: How long is a manufacturer liable for a product

texts:
Background:

I'm an electronics engineer thats considering designing and selling guitar effects pedals in the UK only. This is only intended as a side hobby (unless it becomes financially viable). As part of my research into starting a (very) Small business I've been looking at liability insurance

Question:

How long is someone liable for their product. For example, if I design and sell a pedal, in 20 years time if someone gets electrocuted by it am I still liable? Given that in the time frame components will have degraded the product could have been re-sold etc. Or is the manufacturer only liable in the warranty period? (for UK minimum 12 months). This effectively leads to me asking, how long do I need liability insurance for? If I find that selling these pedals makes little money and decide to stop making them or close down the business , how long do I need to have liability cover for?

Sidenote:

Please provide sources for any answer as I'm keen to read around the topic


texts: When making a decision, can a judge use the bible or must he go strictly by the statutes?


texts: If a company never invoices me, am I obligated to do anything?

texts:
I hired a driving school to help me get my driver's license. My test was cancelled due to COVID and my last lesson was about a week before the test. The driving school and testing facility are two entirely separate entities but both closed down due to COVID.

How or when payment was to be made was never discussed with the driving school. They haven't contacted me despite my last lesson being over a month ago. I had tried discussing it with the teacher but he sort of deflected the questions saying collecting pay wasn't really his department.

I found the teacher did a bad job and I lost my job due to COVID. If they don't ask me to pay should I take any action? Is their a time limit they have to ask or I have to pay?


texts:
We have a fully executed lease which states the landlords responsibilities. This is essentially a chart which "checks" what the landlord pays vs. what the tenant pays.

Water, sewer and electricity are all "checked" as "landlord pays". We have operated under this assumption, and have even begun getting "electricity" charges on our rent, as we expected.

That being said - we came home yesterday and found the lights off. We called our service provider and they essentially said that the leasing company has the apartment in their name, but they haven't paid it, and to get it in our name to get the service back on we would need to wait 72+ hours while they investigate. We went back to our leasing company going WTF and they're saying "they made a typo" and this is our problem to deal with.

We were given no indication at any point that we would need to set up electric service in our name, and especially given that they have had multiple contacts with us in recent months over unrelated issues, we have never been told it was our responsibility to do something beyond pay them through our rent.

We are now getting  a lot of flack from them, saying that they are not responsible for it, won't help and don't care. Our electricity service provider is requiring the leasing company to pay the charges which are in arrears to get our service back on (at such time we can put it in our name).

I'm looking to see what kind of ground they have to stand on to behave this way, as they have signed a legally binding, fully executed lease which we had no indication was not correct in its entirety.

Additional info - we live in Maryland


texts: Using a tractor/4 wheeler/mower or like as a means of travel with out a drivers license

texts: I find myself in a part of the US (NY Adirondacks) where travelling anywhere requires a vehicle of some kind and yet it is prohibitively expensive to buy, register, insure and maintain a vehicle and get a drivers license.  My question is that if I can't use a vehicle (car, truck, and/or the like), what can I use to get around where walking or biking is not a viable nor practical solution?  Before it is mentioned there is no public transit of any kind and the distances are at least 30 minutes or more by car.


texts: Under GDPR right of access, do I have the right to receive a copy of scoring sheets / evaluation forms after a structured job interview?

texts:
Under the GDPR right of access, what rights do I have to employer assessment of myself in the role of a job applicant after a structured job interview?  Presumably, in a structured job interview process, the recruitment panel makes some sort of quantified assessment of each candidate after the interviews have been completed.  Do I have the right of access to such assessments relating to myself?

In case it matters, this relates to job interviews at national and supranational governmental organisations within Germany, after the candidate has been formally notified that she/he has been unsuccessful.


texts: Speed Zone Studies and 85th Percentile Speed in Texas

texts:
If you have a speeding ticket in Texas, how exactly could a Speed Zone Study help to defend against the citation?

If the ticket says, for example, 80 mph in a 70 on an interstate (which is the lowest possible citation in a 70 zone, according to an officer), what information from a traffic study would be sufficient to overrule such citation in Texas?  (And assume that the flow of traffic already contradicted the posted limit at the time of the citation.)

Obviously, if the study were to say 80 mph, it'd be all clear, but it's more statistically likely that a study would find an 85th percentile speed to be some number between 72 and 77 mph, then what?


texts: If a thief breaks in, gets hit on the head in a struggle and dies - is it involuntary manslaughter?

texts:
I have been reading and seeing some fiction where it was shown that a thief breaks into a house, steals, he is caught in the act, in the struggle, there is a blow to the head and the thief dies. The thief had knife and there were woman and children present.

Ignoring self-defense, does this situation have the elements of involuntary manslaughter?


texts: What Travel Expenses are Allowed in a Civil Suit?

texts:
In a civil suit involving repossession of a car in a remote city in California,
it seems obvious that I can sue for the airfare to that remote city.  But, what
about hotel and meal expenses (or other "travel expenses" in normal business
operations)?

If I spend 5 days in the remote city, could I just claim a standardized per diem?
Or, will I need exact receipts for every hotel night and every meal?  Can I even
claim meals?

To be clear, I needed to be in that remote California city to first repo the car, and to then fix it (so that it was drivable back to my original California city).  That all took 5 days.


texts:
I know that a W9 is required when paying over $600 to a US individual or company that is your vendor. What I'm confused about is why you don't need to request a W9 if you walk into best buy and have Geek Squad fix a computer for $650. However, you do need to request a W9 if you hire someone to come paint your office.

What's the difference between these two things?


texts: Can gateways be added to public information?

texts:
Archive.org is a repository that has millions of papers, books and archives that are in the public domain, and are freely available. No registration whatsoever is needed.
Conversely, Academia.edu, is a for-profit company aiming to become a platform for academics. They have collected many works in the public domain, but to access any of them, it is necessary to register, or to "connect" using social media (by which you give consent to share your contacts). This is, in my opinion, nothing more than a facebook-type business model. In fact, their advertisment website says it plainly:

Advertise on the largest platform for Academics
Target 62 million registered users and over 25 million monthly impressions

My question is: is it legal to add a barrier ("free" in  money terms, but not in information terms, which has value) to information already in the public domain?


texts: misdemeanor complaint, state requested release conditions, discovery evidence

texts:
I was charged with a misdemeanor, but the court messed up and sent the misdemeanor complaint to a wrong address.  Never receiving it, never appearing at the court, they then created a warrant for my arrest, which they sent to my correct address, and I did receive, with $1000 bail amount.  I then appeared in court, showed the judge the court messed up (the court found their letters to a wrong address), and she quashed the warrant and removed any bail payment.  However she gave me various release conditions, removing various rights (e.g. no firearms).  I then asked the judge, if you remove these rights, can you show me the basis for the charges, the discovery evidence against me.  She could not, and had no idea of how to get it, even stating this is an unusual request.  Perhaps this is because of the way their address mess-up resulted in a warrant for my arrest.  To me this is wrong -- my rights should not be removed in a situation like this, alleged harassment, without providing me any evidence against me.

My question is, how would it have gone differently if they sent the misdemeanor complaint to my correct address, and I appeared, and the state had requested certain release conditions while filing the complaint (which they did, at time of filing the complaint).  What typically happens at the first appearance of a complaint?  Are they allowed to remove your rights, without providing you any discovery evidence?

--- I added two comments, that ideally help advance the discussion ---


texts: Can a CDL driver take on a second job driving a 10k or lower transport job during hometime?

texts:
im looking for a second job (non forced dispatch) for when im on hometime (which is 2 days a week maybe more). i drive a tractor trailer for 5 days a week doing regional. im looking to see if i can do this other job which is a type of job where Hours of Service isnt applied while im on a 34 hour reset on my main job.
the second job im talking about has a truck with a gvwr of 6,000 lbs, no trailer involved.
Google the Youtube channel "The Gator Chronicles", he does the truck bed style hotshot trucking.
im going to be an owner operator for this second job. im an employee at the CDL job.
Sooo, i hoping since the hotshot job i want to do doesnt have an ELD requirement by itself that it wont interfere with my HOS of CDL job.
Any thoughts?


texts: How do plaintiffs get emails relating to companies they are suing?

texts:
For example in the case of IBM getting sued over age discrimination, the plaintiff somehow got emails showing that upper management instructed his director manager not to transfer him but to fire him. Out of curiosity how is this possible? I'm guessing a subpoena is involved.But what would the requirements for a subpoena be? What's preventing someone from just making up a random accusation and subpoenaing a company?

  Emails establish that after Brown notified Langley in December 2015 that
  he was likely going to lose his job as part of a layoff Langley attempted
  to apply to other positions within IBM, and another group agreed to
  hire him in January, while other managers also expressed interest in
  him. Despite this, all of the moves were blocked by Human Resources...

https://regmedia.co.uk/2020/01/10/langley_v_ibm_dec_order.pdf

How would they know all this?

This article talks about the battle to get evidence in the discovery phase, under what circumstances and conditions must a defendant produce documents?


texts: Recovery for loss of employee: Actio per quod servitium amisit?

texts:
I have a course question that involves an employer whose employee is injured by a third person. Knowing that some businesses can suffer great losses with the injury or death of an employee, I Google searched (excuse me, I have not taken a legal research course yet) for cases in which employers sought recovery for the loss of an employee. I found the latin phrase from common law "Actio per quod servitium amisit" which means something like "whereby he lost the service" (of a servant, for example), but this does not appear to be used in U.S. law. There are some casemine cases that reference it, but they are a bit too much for me to pick apart right now.

My question is whether or not there is a current action similar to this one or whether, in general or under what circumstances, an employer can recover for the loss of an employee, under U.S. law.


texts: Do I still have to include data owner in privacy policy if I do not collect any data?

texts:
I have an iPhone app and need to write a privacy policy for it (Apple requires it for this type of apps).

I know that privacy policy should include data owner's contact information (name, address), it is required in some countries. Is it still required if I collect no data at all? My privacy policy could be very short:

  We do not collect any kind of data from you. Apple Inc might collect some data and provide it to us as stated in your device's Pivacy Policy.

Do I still have to add my contact info to that?


texts: Is truth the ultimate defense to defamation in the USA?

texts:
Is truth the ultimate defense to a defamation lawsuit in the USA?
Does a defamation defense vary between states?
Even if the release of truthful information results in permanent career damage (i.e. loss of job, reputation, etc.) to someone, the truth would protect the author from a defamation lawsuit, correct?


texts: How to handle Traffic Court ignoring basic rights

texts:
I requested a trial by jury in WA state for a traffic ticket (I know not a standard or suggested move as I understand, but I figured if I was going to court, I might as well have the satisfaction of at least seeing my rights in action.)

However, the judge denied my request for jury, and even went so far as to say that no such right to trial by jury existed for civil cases. (which appears to be a direct violation of Washington State code http://www.courts.wa.gov/court_rules/?fa=court_rules.display&group=sup&set=CR&ruleid=supcr38 in addition to being unconstitutional claim.)

That said, I have no idea how to go about appealing the ticket & penalty payment, or if I even should, and instead directly sue the court for ignoring my rights (and how to go about that).


texts: Why is it just "lazy and non-falsifiable" thinking to believe judicial review is just politics or values in a different guise?

texts:
Does non-falsifiable mean this and this?
Please see subject.

        Fifth, and finally, always remember that legal reasoning matters. It is true that normative
  outlooks on a variety of matters shape approaches to judicial review. It is also true that different
  judges may approach the same ground of review in different ways. There is also no doubt
  that many decisions will have important political implications. But none of this is to say that
  judicial review is just politics or values in a different guise—to say that is just to engage in lazy
  and non-falsifiable thinking. The point of all of the above is that the key in getting to grips with
  this case law is to get to grips with the legal detail and see how that detail shapes the grounds
  of review of their application.

Mark Elliott. Public Law (3 ed 2017). p 554.


texts: Is it legal in Denmark to deface religious scriptures?

texts:
This piece from the New York times got my attention: https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/02/23/world/europe/denmark-quran-burning.html

Apparently some Danish guy got convicted of burning the Quran.

Q. What rights do the Danish people have in terms of burning other religious artifacts like the Bible?


texts: Is incriminating evidence in plain sight if a computer mouse had to be bumped to reveal it?

texts:
Let's say I have willingly invited the police into my living room.  Earlier I had been planning some highly illegal activities on my computer, located in the living room, and thus had incriminating evidence on the screen.  However, my computer is currently in hibernate mode, and so nothing is showing on the screen.  If anyone were to move the mouse, to wake my computer up, it would then display the evidence.  I'm wondering, if the computer were to be awaken, if the evidence could be deemed to be in plain sight.
I assume that if I was the one to accidentally bump my mouse, then yes, the evidence is in plain sight.  I also assume that if an officer walks over to my computer and, clearly and intentionally, moves the mouse to wake up the computer, that likely would not count as being in plain sight?
However, what if an officer claims to have accidentally bumped the mouse without intent?  Would the evidence on my computer then be in plain sight? What if they ask my minor son to show him the cool new wallpaper on the computer with the intent of getting the son to wake the computer so he can view its content?


texts: Customer wants $2400 for minor stain on driveway, how to calculate what we actually owe them?

texts:
Have a situation with a customer that I`m not exactly sure how to handle. (We are located in Maryland but this job was done in Virginia)

We cleaned a vehicle on a new white concrete driveway. In the process of cleaning the vehicle, we left a minor stain on the driveway.

The customer wants us to pay $2400 to get the driveway resurfaced (and threatening to sue if we don't pay). This seems extreme considering that the discoloration is minor and looks like what would naturally happen to the driveway after a few months of weathering.

I would like to get an idea of how things like this are normally resolved for when I talk to the customer again and attempt to work things out. I don't know much about law, but it seems like we might be liable for the extra wear on the driveway, like if we left it in a state similar to what it would look like after a year, we'd liable for a year of the wear?

How is liability normally calculated in this type of scenario, basically assuming that the damage is very minor but the cost of completely undoing it is the the cost of replacing the whole thing?


texts: How is value of intellectual property decided?

texts: This question is with respect to tax law in India(you may also answer with respect to USA).If someone makes a software then popularizes it .The person has invested RS 100000 in making tghe software and RS 10000 on popularizing it.Now a person buys the software for Rs 10000000.The software developer files an income tax return for Rs 0 stating that because of popularization the price of it has increased to Rs 10000000.Will it be legal?How is the value determined?


texts: Is there an alternative to a purchase order that sellers can use?

texts:
The only thing I can find is a sales order, but the problem with that is it isn't legally binding. To be more specific on what I mean:

Say that we want to sell someone business cards that includes a specific amount of time for graphic design.  And we want to get paid after the graphic design, but before printing.  Is there a way before graphic design starts to have a client binded to an agreement that they'll pay us for work done, and if/when design is approved, printing?

I know a contract would work, but for something as common as business cards - it seems like overkill and would put people off.  Purchase orders from customers would be great, but most of them are too small to use them.  Are there any options that are simple like a PO, can state a list of terms, and be very easy for customers to get through?

Every contract we've had written has been so long that customers don't fully understand the terms.  Simple is better for a quick job like this so they DO get the terms clearly.


texts: How do I keep my elderly mother from being driven by an alcoholic sibling?

texts: My brother is an alcoholic and proof of this has been accepted by the court system.  The Judge issured a “No Alcohol” prohibition in my mother's home and a stipulation that my mother not be given alcohol due to previous injuries/falls when drinking.  There is a new Guardian of my elderly mother that was appointed by the Judge.  No one is checking to see if my brother drinks when he visits and he drinks all the time, all involved purposely have a blind eye.  Although the Guardian stated she would not allow my brother to drive my mother, he has done so anyway and no one is stops him.  In fact, this Guardian just told my attorney that she feels certain my brother is not drinking based on no evidence at all.  What can I do to keep my mother safe?  Attempting to have police locate my brother for a DUI check never works, they never catch up with him.


texts: Is there a standard end of lease time in Washington?

texts:
I live in Seattle, and my lease is up soon, however it doesn't specify what time of day we have to be out of the unit, as my previous leases have.

I reviewed the RCW and local law, but could find no default time that a lease ends. I am curious to know before we talk with our landlord about it.


texts: Who has jurisdiction over civilian crimes on a US military base overseas?

texts:
A friend of mine works for the US military, and their family was living on a base in an allied nation.  While they were there, a person known to them did some terrible things to their family, the kind of things that would be considered horrific crimes in every civilized nation, and get him summarily put down like the rabid dog he is in the uncivilized ones.

Unfortunately, no one is doing anything about it.  There's no question about what was done or who did it, but there appears to be a jurisdictional mess: the host country won't prosecute because everyone involved, on both the victim and perpetrator sides, is a US citizen and it took place on a US military base, and the military can't prosecute because the perpetrator is a civilian who is not subject to the UCMJ.

My friend and their family have been transferred, but they hear that this monster is openly boasting about what he did and is planning to hunt them down, and they are looking very seriously at possibly going into hiding because no one will do anything to stop him.

I'm having a difficult time accepting the concept of "no valid jurisdiction."  It seems to me that if nothing else, a US citizen on US territory would be subject to Federal law, but apparently things aren't quite that simple.  Even so, I don't believe in "no jurisdiction."  Whose jurisdiction would this fall under?


texts: Can police tow my car out of my driveway?

texts:
I have a car in working condition. The license plates expired a few months ago, and I have only driven it since then to move it around in my driveway.

The local police department placed a sticker on it declaring it a "nuisance" and giving me 7 days before it was towed. I moved deeper into my driveway since the notice was given.

Yesterday it got towed from a spot deep in my driveway.

Further details:

I live in Illinois.
My neighborhood doesn't have a Homeowners
association, or anything of that nature.
Illinois law
says vehicles cannot be removed from private property without written
consent from the property owner.
The 4th Amendment protects me
from unreasonable seizures of my property.
In Miranda vs the City of Cornelius, the Ninth Circuit
determined their car impound, which was towed from their driveway, was an
unreasonable seizure.

What allowed this seizure? What are my options here? I'm only asking here, because I'm sure there's other stuff I'm not aware of. I don't want to bring in a lawyer yet, but obviously that is an option, if it comes down to it.

Edit 3 years later: I ended up hiring a lawyer, and while it took close to 3 years for everything to get done, we sued the city and the tow yard for warrant-less search and seizure, therefore violating my 4th amendment rights. I'm not allowed to discuss the settlement, but my car was returned to me, without me paying any fees. For reference, in the lawsuit, my lawyer mentioned Collins v. Virginia multiple times.


texts: Am I Infringing copyright by posting a bunch of (verbatim) quotes from books?

texts:
I run a self-improvement oriented community. I continuously read books, some of them quite famous, and provide a summary along with textual quotations from each of the books reviewed.

Now here's the thing:

I do charge for access to this and there is no other content in the site aside from the reviews of all these books for whom I, obviously, haven't acquired an explicit license to reproduce them.

I do not know if what I'm doing falls under a fair use doctrine.

The content of the review usually contains no more than 4 or 5 sentences which are quoted verbatim from the book. Aside from that is pretty much "what the book is all about" in my own words.


texts: Am i allowed to share a photo of Apple Maps

texts:
I am developing a iphone application, and I want to know if I am allowed to share a map screenshot (photo) of a area that has my custom draings on it. I am using Apple Maps, and I want the user to be able to share this photo via sms,facebook...etc. Am I allowed to do this or is in violation of some terms of agreement of apple maps?

I looked over "Apple Maps Terms of Use", and I'm not sure what to make of the following:

  You must not:
  (b) access or use the Service in any manner that attempts to copy, extract, scrape or reutilize any portions of the data or content provided by the Service, including bulk downloads or feeds of map data or imagery, or the creation of any databases based upon results from the Service;
  (c) reproduce, modify, translate, or create derivative works of the Service or any portion thereof;

Isn't my screenshot a modified or derivate copy/reproduction of their map?


texts: Why'd the 1st Amendment (US Constitution) 'become a weaker shield' if it 'is an all-purpose shield for journalists'?

texts:
Original: Dworkin. A Matter of Principle. p. 385 Middle.
First Slighted: Legal Writing in Plain English (2nd edn, 2013). p. 85 Middle.

    But this strategy of automatic appeal to the First Amendment is, I think,
  a poor strategy, even if the press is concerned only to expand its legal
  powers as far as possible. For if the idea becomes popular that the Amendment is an all-purpose shield for journalists, warding off libel suits, deposi-
  tions, and searches as well as censorship, then it must become a weaker
  shield [bold mine], because it will seem obvious that so broad a power in the press must
  be balanced against other private and social interests in the community.
  What will then suffer is the historically central function of the First
  Amendment, which is simply to ensure that those who wish to speak on
  matters of political and social controversy are free to do so. Perhaps the
  surprising weakness of the First Amendment in protecting the defendants in
  The Progressive and Snepp cases, for example, is partly a consequence of the
  very effectiveness of the press in persuading the courts, in an earlier day,
  that the power of the First Amendment extends well beyond straight cen-sorship cases.

I don't understand how the greyed phrase explains the bolded.


texts: What are the license restrictions on opencv-contrib-python, 'ximgproc' module to be specific?

texts:
I am not able to find solid licensing details for opencv-contrib-python, I am aware that it uses non-free algorithms.
https://github.com/opencv/opencv_contrib
However, I am not sure if I can use the 'ximgproc' module commercially? I am not sure if it uses Piotr Dollar's edges (https://github.com/pdollar/edges)
To be further specific, I want to use trained models, with ximgproc for edge detection.


texts: Using a public domain opera, recorded by someone else, in a parody

texts: I found a YouTube video of a public domain opera, and I want to use the sound portion in a musical parody.  I will only use parts of it, alter it dramatically, and wish to claim "Fair Use."  Is it indeed, Fair Use under these circumstances?  Do I have any legal obligation to the creator of the sound piece? He used public domain arrangements, and placed it on YouTube.    I would be happy to give him credit for his work though.   Thank you!


texts:
Suppose Alice commits arson, setting fire to a store which is completely empty of people (and which she verifies at the time she sets the fire).  Suppose Bob happens to be running past the store, which is visibly engulfed in flames.  Suppose further that Charlie sees Bob, runs towards him from the side, and body-slams him into the burning store.  At this point, Bob hits his head on something, knocking him unconscious.  Nobody renders aid, and Bob dies in the fire.

Clearly, Alice is guilty of arson.
Clearly, Charlie is guilty of murder.
By the doctrine of transferred intent, is Alice also guilty of murder?