texts:
"A port scan or portscan is a process that sends client requests to a range of server port addresses on a host, with the goal of finding an active port; this is not a nefarious process in and of itself. The majority of uses of a port scan are not attacks, but rather simple probes to determine services available on a remote machine." - Wikipedia

"Port scanning is an ideological ambiguity within the computer industry. While usually considered malicious, port scanning is often used by system administrators to diagnose problems on their own network. While most private organizations prohibit the activity, there are currently no state or federal laws that specifically address it." - The ethics and legality of port scanning.

"Court holds that plaintiff's act of conducting an unauthorized port scan and throughput test of defendant's servers does not constitute a violation of either the Georgia Computer Systems Protection Act or the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act." - VC3 vs Moulton

Lets say someone decided they wanted to port scan the entire internet. Is this port scan illegal?


texts: Is there a legal way to opt-out of submitting fingerprints for professional licensing?

texts:
I am interested in taking the CPA exam. One of the requirements to take the test is have my fingerprints taken, ostensibly to verify my identity at the testing center. (https://nasba.org/blog/2008/01/20/biometrics/)

However, my fingerprints are then kept on file in a central database and will potentially be made available to the AICPA if they want to investigate me for some reason.

I am a private person and do not want my fingerprints remaining on file (obviously I would prefer not to submit them at all). Is there any legal precedent I can use to "opt out" of this requirement? Is this fourth amendment territory?


texts: Can a US company ask prospective American employees, contractors or partners about their country of birth?

texts:
I decided recently to sign up as a seller on Amazon.com.
The first step of the registration process however, asks about the applicants "Country of Birth".
Is this legal?
That seems to completely irrelevant and an opening for discrimination. I think the country will be worse off if in the course of ordinary business, people were asked about their countries of birth. In America, we're all supposed to be American (though I can understand in certain very sensitive national security situations)
If anyone can comment on the legality of this, I would appreciate.
As a follow-up question, I would be curious to know if Amazon can in any way be sued for asking this and what the potential risk/reward of such a lawsuit would be?


texts: Can a healthcare facility keep driver licenses

texts: If a person goes to visit a resident in a Florida healthcare facility can the facility demand to hold the persons drivers license until they leave?


texts: Is it legal for me to use publicly accessible user data about a person on my website?

texts:
I run a wiki service and I was wondering if someone doxes an anonymous person in the from of a dump (pastebin, screenshots, recordings etc), can we keep that data or perhaps cite it?

For instance if someone writes an article about a famous person (or soon to be) and also proceeds to dox them in it (home address, name, and so on). Then can we use or save that data on our wiki under GDPR?


texts: Who is responsible when an image was incorrectly published under a permissive license?

texts:
Assuming the following:

Alice has drawn a painting.
Bob has somehow (legally) gotten a photo/copy of this painting, but does not have any additional rights.
Bob then goes on to publish this image on his Creative Commons Zero blog. (Not thinking about the fact the doesn't have the permission to publish the photo under CC0)
Charles finds the photo which has been clearly published under CC0 and uses it somewhere else

Obviously what Bob did was wrong. There is no question about that, but under US law, what are the consequences for Charles? And who is liable for the damages Charles' causes? Bob or Charles?

A friend of mine was 'Charles' in this type of situation and he resolved it with 'Alice' super nicely (Alice wrote him asking/questioning whether he had permission to use it, Charles explained where he got it and agreed straight away to pay Alice for her work, as Alice was nice enough to just ask for a very reasonable sum), but we ended up wondering whether if 'Charles' would've wanted to be an asshole, whether he could've just put the blame completely on Bob and just stopped any further infringements.

The more I think about it, the more I am confused by this, as I assume Charles would probably be liable no matter what, but if that were the case then a nefarious Alice could intentionally instruct an anonymous nefarious Bob to publish all her works everywhere.


texts: Does the meaning of "preliminary" rest on intent or outcome?

texts:
The Oregon Condo Act defines "negotiation" as:

  ... any activity preliminary to the execution by either developer or purchaser of a unit sales agreement, including but not limited to advertising, solicitation and promotion of the sale of a unit

Now imagine a scenario where a developer lists a condo for sale for $1M. The market value of it is really $500k, but he thinks he can get $1M. A bank gives him a loan for $900k with a lien against the property. He lists it for sale at $1M, then $915k, but it fails to sell due to a bad downturn. Then he rents it out, then he gets foreclosed on. He deeds it to the bank in lieu of foreclosure.

Can anything he did be considered a step "preliminary to the execution ... of a unit sales agreement?"

I would argue that since no one executed a unit sales agreement, then nothing this developer did could be proven to be actually preliminary to a unit sales agreement. When the developer rented it out, this was a step preliminary to foreclosure; he knew he was doomed and just tried to milk the property for whatever he could before he had to hand it over to the bank.

However, the defense will argue that his advertising the units for sale was, in fact, a "preliminary" step to the execution of a sales agreement, purely because a sale was his reasonable ultimate goal and such steps normally are preliminary to sales.

Who is right? Do particular facts and reality matter at all for what counts as "preliminary"? If not, why is this even part of the law? If facts don't matter then why do we have courts? I'm honestly curious why imagination and hope are enough to avoid violating this statute.

Another example: if a preliminary hearing does not result in trial, can it rightly be considered to have been non-preliminary in fact?


texts: Does the German federal agency Max Rubner Institute acting illegaly by the German Open Data law?

texts:
The German federal agency Max Rubner-Institut (MRI) deals with food quality control and related consumer protection.

From their studies, they have created and maintain the national food registry Bundeslebensmittelschlüssel (BLS) similar to the FoodData Central provided by the USDA.

While access to FoodData Central is free of charge, the German BLS is under a license with costs even for private persons, with a quite expensive server license.

On the other hand, there has been a so-called "Open Data law", EGovG which requires that federal agencies provide electronic public access to their data.

Ironically, your have to print out the order form for the BLS and after you have paid you can download the data.

Now, is it legal in terms of the mentioned German Open Data law that MRI charges usage of BLS?


texts: Total dollar amount of damages sought outstanding in US courts?

texts:
Is there any report that sheds some light on how much damages are sought in civil cases in total in the US (or another major jurisdiction, e.g. the EU, UK, etc.) at any given point in time in recent years? If no such statistic is available, is there a proxy we can use to estimate a ballpark figure?

Considering this figure is probably far off the actual amount settled or awarded eventually and most settlements are confidential, is there a way to guesstimate the actual amount (perhaps using some sort of rule-of-thumb ratio)?


texts: What can a loss prevention officer legally do in Australia? (NSW)

texts:
If someone is apprehended by a loss prevention officer on the way out of say, coles or woolies, what are the legal rights of the LPO and the person being apprehended?

For example, if the LPO starts making accusations that the customer has stolen a whole bunch of groceries, does the customer have to comply and walk with them to the site office for further interrogation/investigation? Or can the customer just call bullshit and walk out unhindered? Is the LPO allowed to forcefully stop the customer from leaving the premises?

Asking from the perspective of NSW state, Australian law.

also, if the LPO does use force, and this is illegal, but then it turns out that the customer did indeed commit grand theft tea-bags, does the force retroactively become legal?

Can the LPO just forcefully seize the groceries back? And if so, what are the consequences if the customer is then found to be innocent?


texts: When submitting coursework to a university does the author retain copyright?

texts: Does the author of university coursework retain copyright to it after submission?


texts:
Hypothetically speaking;

One party to a lawsuit is dismissed.

A year later Notice of Appeal if filed and service of same is sent to the dismissed party via standard mail.

Then a month later the appeal brief is served on the dismissed party via certified mail but this mail is refused.

It is learned that the dismissed party died the year before.

The deceased man's wife appeared with him in court 2 years prior and did now that her husband was being sued.

Questions;
Did the deceased's family obligate themselves by not returning the the first service, that of the Notice of Appeal?

As the next of kin are they obligated to receive the mail addressed to the deceased?

What would be a possible remedy to keeping the claim active against this defendant albeit deceased defendant?

thank you.


texts: Is the French president empowered to withdraw France from NATO without the support of parliament?

texts:
Is the President of the French Fifth Republic empowered to invoke Article 13 of the NATO treaty, thereby bringing about the cessation of French membership of NATO a year later, without the support of parliament?

The constitution of the Fifth Republic (English version here) states that the President shall negotiate and ratify treaties (Article 52) and also that for a  treaty to be ratified that relates to an international organisation there must be a law, meaning an act of parliament (Article 53). But invocation of Article 13 of the NATO treaty is not in itself the agreement of a treaty; and also note that France joined NATO before the creation of the Fifth Republic.


texts: My bank sold a local branch to another bank, including my accounts, without my permission. Is that legal?

texts:
My bank sold a local branch to another bank (in the state of Wisconsin, United States of America), including my accounts, without my permission. My first knowledge of it was that my debit card was declined. Calling my local branch during business hours only got an answering machine under the new bank's name.
I went home, checked 8 months or so of envelopes from the bank, and saw zero pertinent information.
Today I finally got through to a human at my old bank's customer service. Their position: you are no longer a customer, we don't have your accounts. Would you like the new bank's customer service number?
And, yes, I got middle-sized envelopes from my "new owner" twice over the last month. I didn't open them, just as I don't open the offers from other banks that I'm not a member of, insurance companies I have no policies with, car repair scams, etc.
So, how is any of this legal? There is another branch of my old bank about as far from me as my new one. There are branches all over the state I could have used. Why can't I keep using any of them? When I set up my accounts I had to sign papers: I have signed no papers with this new bank, why do they have a right to my accounts? Not to mention my personal information, which presumably has now been transferred without my permission to a third party that I have never seen a privacy policy for, all without my permission.


texts: What legal action can be taken to stop someone placing rubbish in my mailbox?

texts:
Over the last week I noted twice that somehow a tuft of hay appeared in my mailbox at the rural property I am living in. It could be kids, or perhaps someone wanting to play or to leave me a message with meaning I have no idea of yet.

I have setup a surveillance camera registering any movements near the mailbox and so I should know who is doing it next time they do. But once I know whodoneit, what next, apart from trying to talk to them? Can placing rubbish in mailbox be qualified as an offence and prosecuted?

The jurisdiction is New Zealand, but it would be interesting to know this for the other Five Eyes alliance countries as well (US, UK, CA, AU).


texts: What could be done if a TV show used a person's music without that person's permission?

texts:
What would happen in the scenario where a show on a TV network played a tune during the show that another person owned? Let's say that the show was broadcast a few years after the music was composed, the person could prove ownership of the tune, and the tune is fairly obscure (i.e. unlikely to be immediately recognized by the general public).
Would could be done?


texts: definition of personal data collection related to privacy policy

texts:
So I am about to publish a mobile app and I need a privacy policy, although my app doesn't really collect any type of user information, is there some kind of definition about what it means to "collect" in these cases?

Is it considered collecting if I log the user onto her social media and show her some social media api informations and I only save locally (inside her mobile) her social media authentication cookie?
My app (and I) would have practically no knowledge of anybody's personal data as soon as I don't send anything outside the device (to a remote database or else)


texts: Who has the burden of proof in a defamation case, plaintiff or defendant?

texts:
If a defamatory statement is published and the defamed person sues the person making the statement or claim for making a false and defamatory statement, who has the burden of proof, the plaintiff or defendant?

For example, a woman tells a newspaper reporter that a businessman, who is not a public figure, raped her and the newspaper publishes this claim. The businessman sues the woman for defamation. Does the woman have to prove that the man raped her, or does the plaintiff, the businessman have to prove that he did not rape her?


texts: Is there a website that describes how to (or actually does) search small claims court cases?

texts: I would like to search small claims court cases by name of defendant in several locations in the USA.  Is this possible?  How could I go about doing that?  Is there a website (free or paid) that does this?


texts: Do VPN providers really operate under single jurisdiction, even though their servers are located in many different countries?

texts:
For example, ProtonVPN claims in many places (e.g. Transparency Report, Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy) that their service operates "under Swiss law", which, among other things (based on their claims), allows them not to save connection logs.

I would understand the logic of such claims, if all their servers were physically located in Switzerland. E.g. user from USA connects to VPN server in Switzerland, then if VPN provider asked (e.g. by court order) to reveal logs it can simply state: "under Swiss law, we are not obligated to save connection logs".

But when user connects to a VPN server physically located in USA but owned by company based in Switzerland, wouldn't the US law be applied in this case (concerning saving connection logs and all the other things), regardless of where company's headquarters are?


texts: How often, if ever, has the Supreme Court cited the Natural Moral Law in a majority decision?

texts:
I think it's cited occasionally by justices like Clarence Thomas, but it seems only when he's in the minority advocating something that most people see as being inline with his Catholicism under the guise of natural law.

Has a majority opinion ever taken in to account the natural moral law (please see encyclopedic definition) that is at odds, circumvents or makes up for lapses in the constitution?  Has it ever been used to interpret the constitution?


texts: Does the part of the First Amendment about Free Speech apply to non citizens everywhere?

texts: The question is very simple: does the free speech protection provided by the First Amendment apply to non US citizens and does it apply anywhere, outside US territory, protecting these people as strongly as US citizens on US territory from US laws restricting speech?


texts: Do both parties need to explicitly agree upon price of service before doing it?

texts:
For example, when one goes to dentist, he might ask you "Do you want me to fix cavity for you?" without explicitly disclosing the price for the service at that time. Then, if you say "Yes", they do the service and disclose price only after service is already rendered.

What puts obligation to the consumer to pay for this service, if price wasn't explicitly disclosed before the service was actually rendered (e.g. when I went to the dentist for the first time, did he ask me to sign a written contract that mentions that it is my responsibility to check how much he would charge to fix cavity)?

I have encountered different dentists in my life and some of them explicitly mention the price before doing the service while others don't.


texts: At what point would a piece of educational software become classed as gambling software?

texts:
I am a Maths teacher and have had a thought about writing a web-based piece of software to simulate a horse race and the students could compete with one another by 'betting' on these horses. The software itself would not have any kind of stake/payout system, just award points based on outcomes.

If I was to make this software publicly available on the web, would I run the risk of being caught up in legal issues relating to betting or similar?

Thanks in advance.


texts: Should car sharing company explicitly notify about accident liability when advertising?

texts: On a car sharing company website, it advertises only benefits of its service but doesn't explicitly notify about insurance and liability in case of accident. Should car sharing company explicitly notify about liability before booking?


texts: Is GDPR really needed if my android app doesn't collect any personal data?

texts:
I have developed some Android applications, and they don't store any personal data, but they do some calculation about some input, for example the annual salary provided by user and return to him a result to screen without saving any information.
Should this application need any GDPR popup or page?


texts: Is it ok to assume a user has opted-in to receive emails in an application where the main purpose is sending notifications

texts:
I originally posted this on another Stack Exchange website but was advised this might be a better place for it. Original is here: https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/215300/is-it-ok-to-assume-a-user-has-opted-in-to-receive-emails-in-an-application-where/

I'm working on a web application where the main purpose/functionality is notifying users when there have been changes to regulations in a particular industry. The content of the email is always related to specific legal changes that have occurred. The users are not being "sold" anything from the content of the email, it contains factual information only.

The application is subscription based, i.e. you have to pay for an account and using it is a choice. Any email addresses for accounts we hold are active users and we do not harvest this data from anywhere. So all email addresses we have are for real users who actively use the software.

We are designing a setup wizard which allows users to set preferences on what information they receive.

One of the settings is yes or no as to whether the application should send notifications via email. This raised debate as to what the default setting should be.

The argument for "no" was that users should explicitly give their permission to receive automated emails and therefore this was the correct default.

The argument for "yes" was that the users have implied consent because they are using an application whose sole purpose is to inform them about changes, and email delivery is the primary way of doing this.

The application is still usable if the user doesn't receive emails because the data which is present in the emails is visible inside a web-based interface. The disadvantage of using the application in this way is that - unless the user logs in - they will not necessarily be aware of any updates. Therefore defaulting email opt-in is preferable.

The pre-sale marketing material for the application makes it clear that email delivery is the main delivery method for the information and getting it directly to your inbox is an advantage of using the system.

The application allows the user to change their settings at any time. So if they opt-in to receive emails today, they can opt-out tomorrow, and vice versa. They can change their preferences at any time.

What are people's thoughts on this? We are based in the UK but deal with customers worldwide. Is this covered or referred to by GDPR?


texts:
Is the proposed Brexit agreement contrary to the Human Rights Act?

May's Brexit Deal as it is currently tabled, sees EU laws continue to apply in the UK, enforced by the Commission and Adjudicated by the ECJ.  However under Article 7 the UK is excluded from

  the nomination, appointment or election of members of the institutions, bodies, offices and agencies of the Union, as well as the participation in the decision-making and the attendance in the meetings of the institutions

Theresa May envisages the transition period continuing up to 2022, but it could go on for any length of time.  Moreover, the EU would have right of veto over the UK's exit from the Northern Ireland protocol.

Immediately there would appear to be problems with the UK's Human Rights Act 1998:

  No discrimination: everyone’s rights are equal.

Yet clearly, an EU citizen living in the UK will enjoy superior rights of determination in respect of having democratic rights to determine the UK laws which govern them while UK subjects would not.

Then we have the right:

  The right to free elections: elections must be free and fair.

Again, if we take as given what goes to election and who may participate, this is not threatened.  But if we take as a premise that fairness as aright extends to the right to participate in elections, surely the deal is starting to look illegal, is it not?

Is a right to democratic determination of ones own laws a human right per se?  And if not, is it lawful to reduce the democratic rights of some subset of the polulation in favour of others?


texts: I want to translate Turkish sentences through Google Translate for the purpose of using it in a work. Is this subject to copyright?


texts: Timing of precedent setting: when exactly do precedents take "effect"?

texts: When a high court rules on a matter, when does the precedent take effect?  Say a case is in progress in a lower court which asks the same question as what was just decided on the same day in the high court.  I know most cases span months sometimes.  Do whole cases start right over from scratch when the high court sets a new precedent?  Do cases pause to wait for an answer?  What if two cases simultaneously ask the same question?


texts: Is agreeing in a pre nup to get divorced in Scotland legally binding?

texts:
Unfortunately one or both of you decide to divorce and you had agreed on a pre nup that you would get divorced in Scotland because you feel it handles divorce more fairly.

At least one of you is English but neither of you are Scottish.


texts: Are the following Terms of Service clauses valid/enforceable?

texts:
Wallhax is a website selling cheats for online games like Among Us, Apex Legends and dozens of others. Clearly what they do is in clear violation of these games' terms of services.
On their own terms of services however, they have some (superfluous if not poorly written) clauses meant to prohibit the affected game developers from buying and inspecting the cheats:

You agree you are not an employee of [...] and are not a family member or acquaintance of the aforementioned.

You agree you are not an employee of any law firm contracted with [...] and are not a family member or acquaintance of said firm.

You agree you are not an employee of any company offering an anti-cheat service including [...] and are not a family member or acquaintance of the aforementioned.

You are not an employee of any game development studio.

You are not purchasing from our site for any investigative purposes.

You agree not to impersonate another person.

You may not access the The Service, the website, forums, or software of The Service if any of the above terms apply to you.

If you violate any of the above terms you agree to pay Wallhax $30,000 USD for each login to our software and forums.

Now, imagine if a game development studio whose game's terms of services are violated thanks to Wallhax's products' assistance decides to ignore Wallhax's ToS, buys (either via a developer themselves or via a random person) the cheats, inspects how they work and updates the game to be resilient against them.
Also imagine that Wallhax discovers it and demands the studio to pay thirty thousand dollars for each time the developer logged in. The studio stonewalls Wallhax, stating that the services they provide violate the game's terms of services, and Wallhax takes them to court.
Would Wallhax manage to make the game developers pay the damages specified in the ToS?
Disclaimer: I do not belong in the group of people prohibited from accessing WallHax's products. Nor have I bought or do I intend to buy them. This question is of theoretical interest.


texts: Recreate copyright information on merged and minified files

texts:
When a web-application is finished we minify our source and combine all different CSS and JS files into one, to speed up the performance (pageload).

As I thought about it, I recognize that some tools delete all comments (from source) so that you've to  add the copyright information on the correct place afterwards.

So I came to the idea to reformat this information.

Here a example what I mean, default copyright-informations:

/*! jQuery v1.11.3 | (c) 2005, 2015 jQuery Foundation, Inc. | jquery.org/license */ {minfied source code}

/*
 * responsive-carousel ajax include extension
 * https://github.com/filamentgroup/responsive-carousel
 *
 * Copyright (c) 2012 Filament Group, Inc.
 * Licensed under the MIT, GPL licenses.
 */

/*!
    Slimbox v2.05 - The ultimate lightweight Lightbox clone for jQuery
    (c) 2007-2013 Christophe Beyls <http://www.digitalia.be>
    MIT-style license.
*/

To something like this:

/*
 * Name         Version    Licence-Type    Licence-URL       Copyright    Copyright-Owner           Source
 *
 * jQuery       1.11.3     MIT             URL-TO-LICENCE    2005-2015    jQuery Foundation, Inc    URL-TO-SOURCE
 * jQuery UI    1.11.4     MIT             URL-TO-LICENCE    2015         jQuery Foundation, Inc    URL-TO-SOURCE
 * Slimbox      2.05       MIT-style       URL-TO-LICENCE    2007-2013    Christophe Beyls          URL-TO-SOURCE
 */

But the question is... is that allowd/legal? Or is this already then a copyright/licence-issue? In the licence text I don't found informations about that.

edited: URL-TO-Phrases for URLs, because stackexchange identifys doubles as spam.


texts: Why does the 7th amendment not apply in traffic cases?

texts: In my city (Lansing, Michigan), and apparently in many other cities, you are not allowed trial by jury for traffic violations.  This seems to be in direct contradiction to the 7th amendment.  Is there a reason for this?  Is it unconstitutional?


texts: How can a community based not-for-profit be sued?

texts:
This question Is normally illegal kink legal inspired me to ask this.
The Metro Vancouver Kink Society is getting sued. In a short summary of events, one member of MVKS was accused of acting inappropriately and was officially shunned from the community. In retaliation, he sued the MVKS. Now that there's a lawsuit, many people who wanted to remain anonymous are now known to be part of the MVKS.
How can a non-profit community based group even get sued?


texts: Beneficiary's Right to Obtain Trust Agreement in Texas

texts:
In the state of Texas:
Assume a trustor creates a revocable living trust in Texas and that the trust agreement names a beneficiary to receive a sum of money on the trustors death. After trustors death, does the beneficiary have the right to demand the actual trust agreement from the trustee?


texts: Private car sale agreement with 6 months warranty

texts:
Bought a used car through Facebook market and we made a mistake.

On inspection we figured out there was something wrong with one part of car but we were not sure. We offered X amount but seller offered X + £500 with 6 month's warranty on if something major fault comes up in car. We accepted it.

On sale invoice which is on letter head of seller's company which deals with something other then cars, they wrote that car is sold for this amount and included 6 months warranty T&C. In invoice they didn't provided any T&Cs.

After 2 weeks this part started showing signs of a serious problem. On inspection from 3 garages, they all suggest it needs replacement as soon as possible.

Now spoken to seller they say warranty was only for car's tyres which obliviously not true as invoice is for car not tyres.

In advert they said car is in perfect condition and full service history, both statements were incorrect.

I read on internet private car sales, buyer don't have many rights, however I am unable to find relevant cases where seller provided written signed agreement with 6 months warranty. Is there a case for me ?


texts: Section 3A of the United Kingdom's Computer Misuse Act 1990

texts:
Section 3A of the United Kingdom's computer misuse act states you are not allowed to produce, obtain or supply articles which can be used for computer misuse.

How do UK information security bloggers and conference speakers go about this, as technically, even with non-malicious intent, there is a violation of the CMA?


texts: What does "lived together as man and wife" mean?

texts:
In a divorce complaint, there is a line that says "they separated and have not lived together as man and wife since that date." What does that mean?

Not actually living together? Living together but neither people consider themselves man and wife? They're not having sex?


texts: Does a TOS also apply for third-party resources on a website?

texts:
Let's say there is a website X, providing some kind of information or service. I am not their registered user, do not go to their webpage. I open somebody else's webpage Y which somehow incorporates content from X. For example, the site I visit has a Facebook Like button, or shows a Vimeo video, or a Google Maps interactive map.

At that point, am I a customer of Y, or both X and Y? Am I bound by the Terms of Service of X in some way? If during my browsing Y I somehow reveal data to X, are they free to use it in ways to which I never agreed consciously (but are covered in their Terms of Service which I did not read)? Also, if X has data about me from another source (say, they know my e-mail address because my best friend allowed them to scrape his contacts), can they now treat this data about me the same way as every other customer's?


texts: Has the United States ever agreed to extradite anyone to any of the EU nations for a procedural crime?

texts:
Has there ever been a case of an attempt to extradite a US citizen to any of the EU states?
I don't necessarily mean a procedural crime (like lying to the police or lying on some official form).  Tax evasion would probably be just as demonstrative.  Has there ever been a case of the US agreeing to extradite anyone for a non-violent crime after they were accused, or convicted, in any of the countries that comprise the EU?


texts: Could the federal government ban people from drinking coffee?

texts:
Which amendment does this statement violate?
The federal government refuses to allow anyone to drink coffee.


texts: Contesting a harassment injunction and university action years later

texts:
Two members of the same university are in a relationship that goes sour. She very suddenly files an injunction against harassment, requiring him not to come within 100 yards of her or try to make contact. In great shock and totally ignorant of what this would later entail, he just apologizes and complies, though he's frustrated and thinks this was totally unnecessary. But then she notifies the school, which issues him a suspension to ensure that he complies with the injunction. Devastated, angry, confused and afraid of getting in further trouble he again just apologizes, complies and returns to school the following semester, but both actions remain on his legal and academic records.

Did the school overstep their authority in the suspension? Should there have been a legal hearing of some kind with counsel ensured for both parties? Can he contest the injunction after it has expired to have it removed from his record?


texts: Is there any law limiting the extent to which one can grow brains in a lab in the United States? (e.g., max number of neurons, synapses, etc.)

texts:
Is there any law limiting the extent to which one can grow brains / brain organoids in a lab in the United States (e.g., max number of neurons, synapses, etc.)? E.g. to study brain diseases {1} or add biological neurons into traditional silicon computing device {2}.

References:

{1}  Benam, Kambez H., Stephanie Dauth, Bryan Hassell, Anna Herland, Abhishek Jain, Kyung-Jin Jang, Katia Karalis et al. "Engineered in vitro disease models." Annual Review of Pathology: Mechanisms of Disease 10 (2015): 195-262. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-pathol-012414-040418
{2} https://www.cclabs.ai/


texts: The "Weeping Angels" (statues) from Doctor Who

texts:
I haven't been able to find any clearance on this. There are these "monsters" in Doctor Who called the Weeping Angels. I love the concept and would want to use it in a VR game.

But are these copyrighted, is the actually statue itself or even the concept of having them move only when you see them claimed? I understand things like the daleks or his robot little dog can be copyrighted but an angel statue?

For reference here is one of them:


texts:
I was reading an article today where one of the victims of the Los Vegas shooting was saying that he was being harassed and threatened by people who buy into the conspiracy theory that no one died in Vegas, that crisis actors were hired.

This got me thinking, could such a victim (or all of the victims in a class actions suit) sue Alex Jones based on defamation or slander since he's the purveyor of this conspiracy (well, I suppose the most popular).

This question could also be posed of the Sandy Hook Massacre or even the 9/11 terrorist attack as Alex has said the same about those events.


texts: Speed fine in Wyoming (30mph over the limit) - What should I do now?

texts:
I am a Swiss citizen, 20 years old (yep I'm not an adult in the U.S - maybe that is important) and travelling through the U.S with a rental car.

Driving through the yellowstone national park in wyoming I made a really bad and stupid decision. There were 3 cars in front of me and I decided to pass them because there was absolutely no traffic on the other lane. Unfortunately, the first car was a U.S park ranger which pulled me over because I passed him way too fast.
The speed limit on the road was 45mph and I passed him with 78mph, so 33mph over the limit! The ranger wrote me a ticket which says that I have to appear in court in september... He also told me to call a number of an attorney of the US government who will tell me what the further steps will be.

I never got a speed fine in the U.S or in Switzerland before and I really regret what happened. I am willing to pay the fine but are not able to appear in the court because I will return to Switzerland in 2 weeks.

Has anyone got an idea what will happen to me? Any recommendations what to tell the attorney of the government on the phone?

Thanks for your help in advance! :)


texts: About government legality for pre-selling national property

texts:
The question I had is about the legality of selling oil in advance the Iranian stock market in the next mounts for the oil price of 3 years in the future.
So, due to national ownership of oil and gas companies in Iran , the stock market buyers are many of Iranian and buying something that its property of themselves, is the government have had legality to do this?
Thanks.


texts: Can I sue my appraiser from when I bought my home in Georgia a few years ago due to an egregious error on the square footage?

texts:
Both seller and buyer agreed to a purchase price with all the details agreed upon.
The financing was not an issue either.  The only issue that created a problem was the difference in the square footage.  My home appraisal from 2015 listed the property for 300 square feet more than the current appraisal.  This has resulted in my appraisal coming in $15K less than needed.  I actually agree with the new square footage #, and want to see if the previous appraiser can be held liable for misrepresenting the square footage to me.  Can I sue the appraiser for the egregious error?


texts: What is the legal term for the plea where the defendant admits the action but denies wrongdoing?

texts:
My understanding is that:

A "guilty" plea means the defendant admits that they have performed the action(s) in question and admits wrongdoing (hence "guilty"); while
A "not guilty" plea means the defendant not only denies wrongdoing, but denies having performed the action(s) in question.

What would be the name of a plea where the defendant admits to having performed the action(s) in question, but denies any wrongdoing? I thought this was nolo contendere, but turns out that means something completely different.


texts: Can I sue Apple/Dell/HTC for batteries that fail when ThinkPads live on?

texts:
It is a known fact that Li-Ion batteries will die and become useless much faster when kept fully charged 100% and always topped up 100% as compared to when they're only charged to, say, about 50% or 80%, and never topped up prior to going below 46% or some such (or at the very least, never below 96%, say).  Which is why IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad series has a very visible and apparent option which lets the user specify the exact start/stop charges (they even have the option to automatically discharge the battery to 50%), and why the batteries in ThinkPads have an overwhelmingly  much better lifespan in the stationary scenarios than the competitors.

Most laptops and mobile phones (with hotspots) by other manufacturers, however, don't have any such options, and, as a result, suffer premature battery failure when they are merely used as stationary devices.  It would not be uncommon for such batteries to fail and even deform even prior to their advertised 300 cycles or whatnot, sometimes taking back with them the whole use of the device (mobile phones may not even turn on without a battery, even if USB power is present; and what do you do if the battery has bulged so much as to no longer fit?), or individual features of the device (battery bulging in a MacBook may cause the buttons on the trackpad to stop working; or if you remove it, there goes your CMOS RTC).

It would seem that companies like Apple, Dell, HTC etc, can't possibly not know these issues that have been known to IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad designers since a long time.  Are there grounds for some sort of a class action case here, for negligence and/or fitness?  Can we sue these manufacturers for failing to provide options for shutting the charger off at 50%, and for needlessly trickle-charging the batteries ad nauseam, resulting in premature failures, including loss of capacity and bulging?

Wouldn't this be an example of negligence to know about these things (and it is widely known that batteries are best stored at 50% charge, even apple.com/batteries/maximizing-performance/ has a memo), yet not doing anything in their products to accommodate stationary laptop and phone (w/ hotspot) usage?

Some laptops are even explicitly advertised as desktop replacements – wouldn't it be a fitness issue if the manufacturer fails to provide a 50% charge option for extended desktop use?  (Wouldn't it also be fraud if they subsequently sell replacement batteries at a nice profit, after ensuring their circuitry will effectively ruin Li-Ion and Li-Polymer batteries through such trickle charging as above?)


texts: Rental Property Declared Lead Free. Do I still have to provide disclousres?

texts:
My rental property in Anne Arundel County Maryland was built in 1940. I just had it tested and it was certified as Lead Free.

Do I still need to provide my tenants with yearly copies of The EPA “Protect Your Family from Lead in Your Home” brochure and The Notice of Tenants Rights, Lead Poisoning Prevention, as published by the Maryland Department of the Environment?


texts: My uncle passed away last week. His next of kin lives out of state. Can someone else make the funeral arrangements but still have the next of kin take care of all the legal responsibility?


texts: Questions about teaching an online course about a copyrighted game

texts:
I’m trying to put together a Udemy class about playing (winning ; )) a Zynga game (Words With Friends).  I know that there are people who have written e-books about the same, but I want to make sure I’m not violating any copyright laws.

I messaged Zynga a while back, and they told me to wait but never got back to me.

I messaged again, but I’m just trying to do my own research at this point. I assume you’re allowed to talk about personal strategies and things you’ve learned about playing a copyrighted game.  It seems to be done all the time, frequently legally - I think, when it comes to video games.

I’m just not sure where the lines are with the terms you use, screenshots, links etc.

Any help would be much appreciated. I’m going to keep researching as well.


texts: Are the names of guns protected under copyright law in the US?

texts: So I am trying to create a military shooter and therefore must have guns. I would like to include some weapons from real life (Ak-47, M16, Glock, etc.) and I would like to know what legal issues I might run into by using these names. Mainly if I could be violating copyright laws.


texts: Why do small nominal amounts of money appear for specific things in large contracts?

texts:
I've seen in some contracts where if the rights to something are sold, the seller retains a license for some nominal fee, such as $1. Why is this? I think it's to show that "due consideration was given" but I'm not sure.

Here is one example, but it appears to be for some kind of receipt instead of a license. (Copied from Free legal form: Software Purchase Agreement)

  6.1. User acknowledges receipt of the sum of $1 furnished by Inserv as the mutually agreed upon purchase price as good and sufficient
  consideration of User entering into this Agreement and delivering the
  Subject Programs under Section 3, in addition to the additional
  consideration described below.

For contracts that are $1000, why do they bother having certain parts for less than $5?


texts: What does it mean when a court case is "dismissed"?

texts:
I've heard a number of conspiracy theorists say that court cases related to 2020 election fraud were "dismissed without looking at the evidence".
According to wikipedia there have been 55 court cases related to the 2020 United States presidential election and of those 33 were "dismisssed".
What does it mean when a case is dismissed?  Is evidence looked at 100% of the time in a dismissed case?  If not, how could I determine if a case related to the 2020 election had its evidence looked at before it was dismissed?


texts: In the case of selling goods on classified ads (particularly in the US on websites like Craigslist), can someone bring a lawsuit for lost time and cost of transportation if the described items are found to the potential buyer to be falsely represented in the ad? This is assuming nothing was actually purchased.


texts: The Highway Code and private land - parking and controlled parking zone (by private company)

texts:
I work in a company whose premises are located in a business park (6 buildings total, parking lots, access roads and main road connect them all). Unfortunately parking is at a premium here, so everyone tries to park wherever possible. That includes parking spots designated for use by other firms here, located on same parking lot. Some of them got tired calling us to move unauthorized vehicle from their parking and hired a Parking Control company to monitor that. So now  there is a risk of fine if parking where one is not supposed to. No complaints to that - I was wondering why it took them so long.

My question is this: can they enforce parking on the access road that leads from main road of the estate to our parking lot (which we share with others)? This access road is not wide enough to park on both sides of it, thus parking partially on pavement is necessary. Who decides if the car is parking illegally and/or in contravention of CPZ by the other company - the estate owner or that other company?
I believe that this access road is shared, so actually "fair game" for parking, and they cannot enforce parking restriction on it. Am I right?


texts: Murder by dropping 3-million bouncy balls?

texts:
What If... #52: Bouncy Balls stipulates:

If you wanted to be sure of killing someone, you'd need a lot more balls. 3,000,000 of them—enough to fill a large room—would be be enough to guarantee that the target would either be crushed to death by the impact or buried too deep to dig themselves out.
To your last question, if someone just happened to walk underneath when you dropped the bouncy balls, and they were killed by the impact, you'd most likely be guilty of some form of manslaughter.
However, by asking this question, you've shown your intent to cause harm to the victim, demonstrating clear malice aforethought. By writing in to this blog, you've probably upgraded your charge to murder.

Assume we are in Utah and repeat their Geekweek experiment with the calculated 3-million bouncy balls, set up to fall in a way that it could do what Randall calculated and lead to the death of a passerby. Did we satisfy murder by having read his calculation? What if we had sent in the question in the first place?


texts: European nexus into U.S. through Google product?

texts: I'm in the U.S. with my websites. I'm not under European Union jurisdiction unless my use of one or another Google product puts me under EU jurisdiction. I need to find out if any Google product gives me that nexus. I've asked Google several ways but no answer has appeared. Google's online information is vague. Google likely wants us to continue using its products and I'd rather do so, but I don't want the burdens of EU law. I know how to research U.S. law but hardly at all how to research foreign law. Reading the new privacy regulation doesn't help me understand how EU law applies it. We're not required to know and comply with the laws of about 190 nations and it's not possible. How do I find out if the Google product nexus is present here if Google doesn't say?


texts: Does my employer have to pay redundancy when my contract takes me over two years service?

texts:
My employer has given me notice of redundancy. I am just short of two years service so my employer is not paying me redundancy pay.

My contract specified that I am to be given 6 weeks notice. My employer has offered to pay me in lieu of notice with my last day of work being 21st June 2018.

I have consulted ACAS who told me that redundancy pay is normally calculated from the date the notice period ends (relevant date).

When I brought this to my employers attention they said that because they only had to provide statutory notice and that I am not eligible for any redundancy pay.

Section 145 of the Employment Rights Act describes how the relevant date is calculated.

  Subject to the following provisions of this section, “the relevant date”—
  (a) in relation to an employee whose contract of employment is terminated by notice, whether given by his employer or by the employee, means the date on which the notice expires,

But my employer is claiming something along the lines of what is described by XpertHR:

  If an employee is dismissed without the statutory minimum notice, including if he or she receives a payment in lieu of notice, the relevant date is the date on which the minimum notice would have expired had it been given.

Where because I am not eligible for statutory notice, the relevant date does not have to be calculated from the end of my contractual notice period.

TLDR: Does my employer have to pay me redundancy pay?

Started work 27th June 2016
Notice period 6 weeks
Notice began 14th June 2018
Last day of work 21st June 2018
Notice period ends week commencing 23rd July 2018


texts: Can the US President and Senate redefine the calendar year to extend the presidential term?

texts: I was recently watching a video about what would happen if the US president tried to cancel or postpone the election. From what I gather, the 20th amendment ensures that his term will end on January 20th unless he's reelected in some meaningful way. Is it plausible that the senate and president could work together to extend the calendar year or redefine it in such a way that extends his term?


texts: Interpreting provisions of Intellectual Property agreement with a University

texts:
I am reading an agreement that our Company is signing with a University regarding a research project. The agreement has one clause which states:

  Clause-x: Any IP generated in this Project will be jointly owned by UNIVERSITY
  and COMPANY.

Another clause says:

  Clause-y: COMPANY will be offered first the right to avail of the exclusive
  right to commercially exploit the IP generated. If COMPANY
  wishes to avail of the said offer then  both  parties
  will  enter  into  a  separate  agreement  detailing  the  terms.

  Clause-z: If COMPANY is not willing to avail of the offer then UNIVERSITY
  will be free to offer non-exclusive rights on the IP to third
  parties, based on consent from COMPANY, which shall not be
  unreasonably withheld.

The part that confuses me is this bit. Does this mean:

Company is always allowed to exploit the IP for itself (after all, it is the joint owner in this IP!) but the "separate agreement" mentioned is only if the company desires exclusivity. i.e. The ability to block University from licensing the IP to others by paying a fee. In other words, as co-owner of the IP, the right to exploit the technology for itself always existed with the Company & is not what is being offered (for sale) here via Clause-y. What is being offered by University to Company (for payment) is for the University to forfeit its licensing rights as a co-owner OR
Even for self-exploitation of the IP the company will need to sign a "separate agreement" with the University (and presumably pay it money / royalty)?

What's the right interpretation of this? I tent to think it is #1 but I'd love opinions.

PS. At some points the lawyers will come in & decide but since I saw the agreement I was curious to interpret it.


texts: Are the images pulled from the google places API allowed to be used on our website?

texts: We want to pull info and images from google’s places API for our travel website.   We are trying to figure out if these images are able to be used or will we run into copyright issues?   Thanks


texts: How does one get a Personal Violence Order against someone whose name is not known?

texts:
According to the local courts in the Northern Territory, to apply for a PVO the defendant's name and address is required.

How does one go about getting a PVO against a neighbour whose name no one in the community knows ?

Note: This question is not about a domestic violence order, but a personal violence order where violence is anticipated. The police are not authorised to give out interim PVOs (They do give out interim DVOs)


texts: Does a freight train need to obey a stop sign?

texts: If a rail line runs down the middle of the street, does the driver of the train need to obey street signs?  For example, if I'm driving a freight train down this stretch of Whitman Street, do I need to stop at the intersection and wait for cross traffic to clear before proceeding?


texts: What are the ramifications of a copyright holder publicly stating they will not sue an infringer on that right?

texts:
If someone infringes another's copyright and the owner publicly says it's ok, does he lose any further right to enforce it?

For example, party A has written a book creating a fictional character. Party B uses that character without notifying the copyright holder. Party A is made aware of this during a media interview and says that he is fine with party B's use and has no intention of suing.

How much does a public announcement like that affect the owner's copyright? Can he later change his mind and sue for infringement? If party B continues to use the character in future works, such as a sequel, can party A then sue? Can a third party legally use the character, acting on the assumption that party A has no wish to enforce his copyright?


texts: Advertising in mobile apps and proof of consent

texts:
What does CCPA require for proof of consent to display advertising in mobile applications (vs a web site), especially for apps that do not create a user profile? Hypothetically, would it be sufficient to retain copies of versioned source code that indicates a user must actively give consent for any advertising to be displayed?
I have reviewed the following, but it is a couple of years old and only addresses GDPR:
User consent required under GDPR


texts: What if I say "this statement is false" while under oath?

texts:
Let's say I am in a court proceeding, and then make swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I tell the judge I would like to make an opening remark, he says yes, and I say "My opening remark is a false statement." What happens to me?

If they claim that my statement is false and try to prosecute me, then it is in fact not false, and they cannot prosecute. If they claim my statement is true, then it is in fact false, and they cannot not prosecute me.

What happens?


texts: What is this called? E.G: Competition buys product, breaks it, and asks for a return

texts:
Say I'm selling at a swap-meet.

A person who, unbeknownst to me, is operating another store in the same area approaches my stall and purchases an item (specifically an old, but still functional laptop), then later demands a refund after removing the screen and hard drive claiming "you said this still worked, but there is no screen or drive." Shortly after providing a picture taken before opening (featuring the device still intact) and then pointing to a plainly-written sign stating "No Refunds," the person proceeds to make a loud fuss in front of my stall for an hour or so.

As another example: Say I'm selling something on ebay.

Another store buys a $100 item and mutilates it upon receipt, then demands a refund claiming "not as described." I refuse the refund and receive a negative review.

I'm tempted to call the behavior in either case "fraud & defamation of character," but I'm not sure if that applies here...


texts: Do threats against an attorney constitue a conflict of interest?

texts:
When an attorney is considering handling a case, and receives off-the-record threats against his(/her) life, property, family, professional future, etc., is it ethical for the attorney to simply tell the prospective client that (s/)he has a conflict of interest of a confidential nature and can't take the case or explain any further details?  After all, the attorney does have a conflict of interest in wishing to sustain what is threatened.

Suppose that the attorney though the client had a good case prior to the threats about what would happen to any attorney representing that client (e.g. from the opposing party or allies thereof).

Suppose also that the threats are made off the record and are quite convincing to the attorney, but the attorney cannot provide or publicize evidence proving the threats (and/or that the person making them is powerful enough that nobody would believe or act on such claims anyway).

Atticus Finch comes to mind but is a fictional role model and may or may not have any direct bearing on modern professional codes of legal ethics.


texts: What's considered fair-use when using somebody else's code as reference when coding your own product?

texts:
We have a product that uses a third-party chrome extension. Our clients would like extra features on the extension so we reached out to the developer for a collaboration, to which he politely turned down.

Now it's up to us to develop our own extension as a replacement. As a relatively inexperienced developer, I'm studying the guy's code and using it as a reference to build our own extension. Because his code is much more dry and elegant, and that I'm learning many new concepts and programming techniques by referencing his code, I'm worried that much of our code will be too similar despite that we'll have some different features.

Not sure if I'm making sense, because the way he wrote the code is more polished and cool, much of what I'm learning from him is the only way I know how to write certain parts. So I'm concerned about the legal side of this. If it helps, we're not exactly in direct competition, we're just taking back the clients we sent to him.


texts:
Something that happened to a friend recently. This friend is in charge of negotiations for company A. An individual from company B, accidentally sent my friend minutes from a recent meeting outlining a lot of information that can be useful for my friend in company A during the negotiations. Naturally, if he were to use information it could be construed as insider trading (a rather serious offense).

A point of interest is that in the email from company B a disclaimer was attached stating the usual: "if this went to the wrong sender then don't read it, only intended for internal use, blah blah."

Now two points I found interesting, and correct me if I am wrong: the disclaimer isn't legally binding e.g. there is no two-party consent - its one sided. Secondly, one could assume a perfectly ethical individual would not have looked at the email any further after understanding what the contents of that email contained, should they have not noticed that it was not intended for them.

Thus, my question. Say company A and B were negotiating on a price. Company's B minutes state on the first line of the email that their max price is 100. Company A was willing to sell for 70. My friend, having read the first line may not choose to act on the information in the document so as to avoid insider trading, however, it is hard to deny the fact that having read that document he will negotiate differently at even a subliminal level. It's like in poker, you know the other persons hand through a reflection in the mirror. Would my friend be acting in an illegal manner?

Full disclosure: this is for my own curiosity. My friend is already consulting the companies lawyer, and informed company B of the email.


texts: Do I need to register for Foreign Qualification in my situation?

texts:
I am wondering if or where I need to register for Foreign Qualification: I incorporated a company as a C-corp in Delaware. I work day-to-day and have set the official HQ of the corporation in Maryland. Currently, we don't sell any products for a price (our products are free IT). Do I need to register for Foreign Qualification in Delaware (or am I already?), or do I need to in Maryland?
Thanks!


texts: Has a programmer made a crime if a program copies data too many times?

texts: I saw that in Finnish law, one can make a few copies for his own use. Suppose that a junior programmer downloads a dataset for his own use from legal source. But then he makes a mistake in programming and program makes several copies of the data to his computer memory. Has the programmer made an illegal copy of the data?


texts: Status of Police "Do not cross" tape in England

texts:
Police use plastic tape marked "Do Not Cross" to cordon off an area temporarily.

It's clear that this could be useful and convenient while the police are actively dealing with an incident.

However, it's also clear that the tape is sometimes left in place long after the police have gone. Sometimes the tape is left to decay to shreds in the weather, and what it is supposed to be defending is no longer clear.

Does "Police Do Not Cross" tape in England, not associated with an active police presence, have any legal status at all? Is there any crime committed in ignoring the injunction?


texts: Can I safely ignore the requirement to delete an electronic review copy on fair use grounds?

texts:
I write reviews of books and other materials for a scholarly journal. Printed books I receive are traditionally marked as review copies in order to prevent them to be sold on the used books market, but never have I seen the demand to delete my paper copy upon reviewing.

Increasingly, the books are sent not as paper versions, but as electronic files, such as a PDF attached to an email. For most of the materials I receive for reviewing, there is an accompanying notice that says that the copy may only be used for the purpose of reviewing and not shared with others, which is fine with me. However, some of the materials (depending on the book publisher) come with a notice that demands that I must delete the electronic review copy once finished writing my review.

This I find places an unreasonable burden upon me. I would certainly prefer to ignore the journal's stipulation to delete the review copy. My arguments for considering it void are:

(1) I generally find said stipulation to be stated in the same email that contains the review copy as attachment. By the time I have read the clause, already several copies, including automated backup copies, will have been made of the review copy on several mail servers and backup servers, which are not completely under my control. Making sure to delete all these copies places an onerous and potentially unfulfillable burden upon me. To reject the contract for being impractical and putting me in legal jeopardy would at this point entail having to perform the very act that I feel incapable to perform: the reliable deletion of all copies of an email attachment that has been sent to me. Hence the clause would put me into an infringement trap. It must therefore be void under these circumstances.

(2) Traditionally, reviewers in academia get to keep review copies for their personal reference. This makes sense, not least because the review itself becomes a published work of its own, which is open to public scrutiny. If, e.g., someone in a letter to the editor of the journal criticized my review to be inaccurate (or perhaps even defamatory), having lost access to the review copy might render it difficult, if not impossible, for me to answer to such criticism of my own work (or to wage a veracity defense against libel charges against me). The ability to defend my own work in any case establishes my legitimate interest in keeping the review copy within my reach. Disallowing this does not only breach with long-established custom in academic publishing, but also infringes upon my ability to preserve my reputation, including by making it potentially impossible to exercise my right to obtain and adduce evidence against libel charges. Therefore, I believe I can ignore the stipulation to delete on fair use grounds.

A place of jurisdiction is not stated anywhere in my agreements with the journal; in the case I have in mind, the book publisher is US-based, the journal is published in some European country, while I, the reviewer, may reside anywhere in the world.

As a reviewer, I do not know the contract that the book publisher has made with the journal. It appears likely that the book publisher has granted the journal permission to use the electronic files only for the purpose of review and demands it to delete the copies it keeps after finishing the reviewing process. Let us further assume that this contract is silent on how to deal with copies prepared for and transmitted to reviewers.


texts:
This question inspired by an episode of a certain popular TV detective show.
Mr Smith hates Mr Jones, and plots to kill him. Smith enters Jones' house, and shoots him in bed, while also setting up an alibi for himself. The clever detective quickly breaks the alibi. Then he receives the autopsy. Jones was already dead, having been poisoned by a third party. Detective has to release Smith, saying "You can't murder a dead man."
When I saw that I thought: but surely he's guilty of attempted murder, at least. And then I thought again: can you legally be held responsible for attempted murder if the intended victim is already dead?  Would the defense of impossibility apply? [source, The Illustrated Guide to Law, a layman's guide to legal principles, written by a lawyer]
If it matters, the show was set in LA. Would it make a difference if it was set in, e.g. New York, or London, or Canberra?
And by the way:

 In the episode, it turned out that Smith was also the poisoner. He gave himself a double alibi. But for the purposes of this question, please assume that the poisoner was a third party


texts: In a divorce case, when Findings of Facts and Conclusions of Law are signed by the Judge, but they have errors or false statements, can the requester respond and ask for more clarity?  Does it serve a purpose to request?


texts: How can we resolve a bet on a question of law?

texts:
Bob and Rob debate a question of law and do not agree. There isn't any material dispute between them to go to court about. They just want to find out what the legal truth is / who is right and who is wrong.

They can ask the question on this site and get a convincing answer but, should any of them later act in reliance on that answer and end up in a legal trouble, the answerer won't be liable. They both want an answer they can reasonably trust, and random people on the Internet just fall short of this requirement — no matter how seemingly reputable they are. Bob and Rob could even be debating just any good question from this site which one reputable member answers "Yes", another "No" — for example to kill time in COVID-19 lockdown.

They decide to bet. They are happy to pay to have their dispute resolved by an authoritative source (e.g. a lawyer, or a court of law).

How can they do that?

If any of them hires a lawyer, that lawyer will be protecting the interests of their client and therefore could potentially be biased to produce resolution that favours their client (lets them win the bet).

Can they jointly hire a lawyer? Are there any other solutions?


texts: What are the contours / limits of waiver in Florida HOA law?

texts:
Are there any rules of thumbs as to what is waivable? or what is not waivable?  How long one has to act in order not to be waived?
It have observed that if one does not complain about the neighbors or an HOA's transgression in a timely manner, then opposing counsel will engage waiver is a defense.


texts: Is someone in Interpol's Red Notice List allowed to board an international flight back to the country that is seeking the individual?

texts:
In the past few days, the Brazilian Justice issued an arrest warrant against a Brazilian national who also holds a German citizenship. He was supposedly in the US when that happened and there was a concern that he might fly to Germany where he was not likely to be extradited. Therefore, he was included in Interpol's Red Notice List.

One or two days after that, he went to the press and said he was coming back to Brazil, which he really did. Reporters where trying to interview him in the airport and strangely (at least to me), he was able to board the flight without problems, just like there was nothing against him.

Shouldn't his name appear as a fugitive when they checked his passport? Or, in this particular case, he was allowed to board because the flight was heading to the country that issued the warrant against him?

TL;DR;

Is someone in Interpol's Red Notice List allowed to board an international flight, back to the country that issued the warrant against him? Is the boarding normal just like any other one, without any special treatment, policeman going with him, nothing like that?


texts: What would constitute Fair Use in a work that is derivative of a parody?

texts: Let's say that there's a work B, which under U.S. law seems to count clearly as a transformative use (parody, satire or the like) of another work A, and thus subject to fair use. So what about a work C that is a (licensed) derivative work of B? Would it also need to count as a transformative use of A for it to be fair use?


texts: In a case where there is very obvious instance of fraud (e.g. producing fake document in order to get out of an obligation), but it is so obvious that the other party did not rely on it - what causes of action does this party have? fraud upon the court?


texts:
After reading this article about the lawyer who sued companies solely because they sent him spam, I was wondering if anyone could follow his steps and do the same thing, and how one would do so.

(I am not sure that one should do it, but whether or not anyone could do it would really interest me).


texts: Does the US Executive Order 13884 (August 5, 2019) target the Property of the Government of Venezuela only or of all Venezuelans?

texts:
Does the US Executive Order 13884 (August 5, 2019) (mirror) target the  Property of the Government of Venezuela or of all Venezuelans?

https://helpx.adobe.com/la/x-productkb/policy-pricing/executive-order-venezuela.html (mirror) says:

  The U.S. Government issued Executive Order 13884, the practical effect of which  is to prohibit almost all  transactions and services between U.S. companies, entities, and individuals in Venezuela.

However https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/08/07/2019-17052/blocking-property-of-the-government-of-venezuela says:

  (d) the term “Government of Venezuela” includes the state and Government of Venezuela, any political subdivision, agency, or instrumentality thereof, including the Central Bank of Venezuela and Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PdVSA), any person owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by the foregoing, and any person who has acted or purported to act directly or indirectly for or on behalf of, any of the foregoing, including as a member of the Maduro regime. For the purposes of section 2 of this order, the term “Government of Venezuela” shall not include any United States citizen, any permanent resident alien of the United States, any alien lawfully admitted to the United States, or any alien holding a valid United States visa.

so it's unclear to me whether the US Executive Order 13884 (August 5, 2019) targets the Property of the Government of Venezuela only or of all Venezuelans.


texts: Money from relatives given initially as a gift now asking for repayment

texts:
A friend of mine has received ~$250,000 over the years from his sister. He has never asked her for money, but he has been ill and Canada does not recognize Lyme's Disease as a disability for him to receive benefits. His sister offered to help him out.

Now there has been a falling out, and the sister is asking for the money back. There was no written agreement for repayment, and it was understood that this was a gift of one family member helping another.

Does the sister have any legal means to take this money back?


texts: Can a store detective search my bag without my consent?

texts:
If I am approached by a store detective and accused of stealing something can they search my bag without my consent? Or putting this another way, can I insist that any search be done by the police and refuse to cooperate until the police arrive?

I'm specifically interested in the situation in the UK, though the situation in other countries may be of interest to other site members. I should emphasise this is a purely hypothetical question and I'm asking out of curiosity rather than any need for legal advice.


texts: What is a 'arbeitnehmerueberlassung' German working contract?

texts:
I've been a contractor/consultant for years - I'm familiar with the issues tax authorities have across Europe with regards to consultants being considered as an employee or as a contractor but I have until just now, I have never heard of the term "arbeitnehmerueberlassung" (AUN or AUG - I cannot recall the acronym).

If recruited under a arbeitnehmerueberlassung contract, does this contract have any limits (in duration) ? does it include health, pension, unemployment (arbeitlose) contributions, holiday and sick leave?


texts: How is it legal for a hospital to put two patients together in the same room in the US?

texts:
In the United States we have HIPAA regulations in place to (among other things) prevent healthcare providers, insurance providers, and any other entity that handles medical information from leaking patient information.

From my experience with various HIPAA certifications, it seems pretty stringent.  No leak is too small.

So how is it legal for a healthcare provider to pair up two or more patients in a single room, when they are under inpatient care for several days?

I ask this because I recently stayed in the hospital for 2 nights.  Never spoke one word to the old guy I was roommates with.  When I was discharged, I knew the following details about him:

his full name
his DOB
his medical record # (if I felt like writing it down)
some of his prior health history (he fought, and won, a battle with colon cancer)
the reason he was in the hospital now (hasn't pooped in over a week)
current health concerns (doctors wanted to do a biopsy to make sure the colon cancer wasn't back)

These were all details given verbally by one or many different doctors or nurses over the course of my 3 days, 2 nights in the hospital.

Of course, I'm sure he knows a lot of my details now, too, for the same reason - we were inpatient roommates in the hospital and the doctors used no discretion when discussing my condition.

So how is this legal?


texts: I am looking on taking my first job as a freelance developer and the project involves ecommerce. We are starting to get to the contract talks and I wanted to make sure if anything goes horrible wrong in the event of hacking or loss of money from their store being down. I am not open to be sued personal and have my personal assets at risk. If I created an LLC for my freelance work would this protect me from losing an personal assets in the case of a lawsuit?


texts: Is it legal to redefine a term against common sense in a contract

texts:
Can the writer of a contract attempt to trick the signer using defined terms? Is such a contract binding or void, and can the writer get into trouble for doing so (eg. for misrepresentation)? Two types of scenarios that I want to ask about:

When a defined term in the contract carry a much narrower, or much broader meaning than the common meaning. For example, can a contract define a term "Image" (as in a picture) to mean any computer file, or to mean any image showing a red flower?
When the defined meaning is completely incompatible with the common sense meaning. For example, can a contract define an "Text file" as a file with the .png extension?

Does the answer change if the defined term, when used normally, starts with a capital letter (eg. if "SVG file" is defined as a .png file), so the reader is less likely to suspect the term has been defined in the contract itself?

Does the answer change if this happened in another legal document, such as a EULA, where the person agreeing does not have a chance to call the writer of the document out?


texts:
So my old employer contacted me recently and said they had accidentally paid me for the month after I had left. I checked my accounts and this is true - they paid me for the full month rather than just the week they owed me.

However in the process of finding this I went through all of the payments they made to me and noticed they seem to have underpaid me for my first two months and week of work.

Overall it would still work out I owe them - but not the full month worth of money they are probably going to ask back. I'm just wondering where I legally stand on this, can I rightfully ask they take into account what they owe me and not take back the full month (minus 1 week) worth of money? Is this something I can negotiate with them or do I need to get a lawyer?

Thanks.


texts: Legal remedy for car being held hostage in a parking garage?

texts:
I ran into a weird situation a few days ago. I parked in a parking garage and when I later went to leave the pay machines were marked "cash only" because their credit card processing system was broken. It turned out to be moot because the clerk at the desk agreed to process my card, but the clerk was threatening to not process any more cards and there was a long line behind me.

When I went out of the garage there was a sign right at the entrance saying that they accept credit cards complete with credit card logos. There was no "cash only" sign at the driveway entrance at all.

So, if the staff refuses to accept credit cards and somebody has no cash, and they kidnap the person's car what is the legal remedy? Is that criminal conversion? Can you sue them? If so, who do you sue, the clerk, or the owner of the garage, or both?


texts: Can a Presidential pardon nullify a search warrant?

texts:
Where the US government has seized private property pursuant to a search warrant in a criminal investigation, what would happen to that property if the President were to pardon the suspect(s) under investigation?

Must it be returned immediately (perhaps before investigators have had an opportunity to examine it), or could the investigators continue their examination unimpeded?  To put it another way, does the pardoning of a suspect necessarily halt all investigative activity into the pardoned crimes and effectively nullify any extant search warrants?


texts: Is there a “standard template” NDA contract that covers a majority of businesses requiring protection of proprietary information?

texts:
The following paragraph stood out as unusual for an NDA that a friend was asked to sign:

“Terms and Termination.
This Agreement shall terminate two (2) year(s) after the Effective Date. The Recipient's obligations under this Agreement shall survive termination of the Agreement between the parties
and shall be binding upon the Recipient's heirs, successors and assigns indefinitely”

Is this “typical” language for a NDA contract, or does this go further then most “standard” NDA contracts? Or have you seen “similar” language in NDAs previously? I’m not asking about legality; or whether this would be binding if taken to trial, fyi.

Thank you for any input you can provide specific to the paragraph above in quotations.


texts: Can I legally download an MP3 version of songs on a record or casette that I purchased but is now damaged?

texts:
I have several old records and casettes of pop music albums some of which are damaged. While I am the legal owner of the recorded media, I do not own the copyright. I understand this.

Does purchasing the record or casette give me the right to listen to the music, and if so, could I legally download and listen to songs that were on my damaged casette or record?

Or do I have to buy the CD of the recording?


texts: HOA on-street parking: where is the street adjoining the property?

texts:
A local HOA (in North Carolina) has these rules about on-street parking:

  Section 13. On-Street Parking. The Owner of each Lot shall provide for adequate parking space on the Lot for vehicles of all types and all other apparatus designed for movement over and upon streets or highways (whether self-propelled or not) and regularly used by the residents of the single-family residence on the Lot. No automobiles, trucks, vans, travel trailers, other trailers or any other apparatus designed for movement over and upon streets or highways (whether self-propelled or not) shall be regularly parked on the streets within or adjoining the Property, and motor vehicles licensed to carry more than two (2) tons shall not be permitted to park overnight or regularly on the streets, driveways or otherwise within the Property, except that Declarant may allow such parking by any such vehicles used in connection with the construction of improvements within the Property. In addition and supplemental to the prohibitions on parking set forth in this Declaration the Board is empowered to promulgate and enforce rules and regulations relating to parking on the streets within or adjoining the Property.

Where is it considered to be "within or adjoining the Property"?

It seems the rules are prohibiting parking on a street that goes through a property, and parking on a street in the part of the street that is adjacent to the property.  Does it not prohibit regular parking a few houses away around the corner on a different street (in the same neighborhood)?

Does it not prohibit regular parking on the same street up a few houses in front of a different property?


texts: Would it be legal to send an active electronics device through the postal system?

texts:
The active device would be a low power electronic device that is designed to log any attempt either failed or successful to view or tamper with the contents of a parcel from the time it leaves the sender until the time the intended receiver is deciding whether or not to take delivery of the parcel (they could scan the device from a distance using Bluetooth on there phone to check if there had been any questionable activity).

How would this device fare from a legal standpoint both domestically (either Australia or elsewhere) and when sent internationally?

While not explicitly intended to snoop on postal workers or anyone else specifically it would include the capabilities to listen in on its surroundings in order to perform its primary task, additionally it may log its location for the duration of the journey.

Also obviously it will require a power source - while Lithium ion batteries are restricted I believe that under a certain size there still able to be sent, at least by Australia Post unless I am miss interpreting there website. But I don't know about other countries - are there restrictions on non rechargeable power devices?


texts: Vicarious liability for a negligent act of a child

texts: Is there any specific law about vicarious liability of parents for child's negligent acts? What is the name of applicable laws?


texts: How to authenticate text message, screenshot (and other electronic content) as evidence in court

texts:
I've just spoken with a lawyer who said we can make a transcript of a text message and put their "seal of approval" to verify that I received it and it wasn't tampered with.

However they are unable to verify that the message originated from a specific person. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem comes to my mind – e.g., it could have just been a cat walking on the keyboard.)

I was wondering if someone could tell me what steps are required to actually make it admissible evidence in a court of law?

Related to Can whatsapp messages be an evidence?  The only difference is that I don't ask if but how.

UPDATE: I've received an answer and I need to clarify. The intention of this question is "how to secure evidence", there are couple of reasons for that:

access to device might be gone
I might be a subject of extortion
there might be 1000s of other messages (there is no easy way of bookmarking conversations)

Their intention is take a snapshot, make it legal, authenticate with lawyer, notary, judge, encrypt and put on blockchain... I think that could be secure and provable?


texts: Does a judge receiving information from a provider need to give it to both prosecutor AND defense, in criminal law/cases?

texts:
I'm having difficulty in that I accepted a no-contest plea for a (supposed) harassment charge, and agreed to do either A) 8 days in jail or B) do a domestic violence evaluation and courses depending on outcome.  That was the "contract".

Going to the domestic violence course provider, the counselor evaluating me for domestic violence found that it was unwarranted, and sent that back to the judge (under whom I have my probation) - the domestic violence program is unwarranted.

I later learned the judge then called the manager of the counselor and "demanded that I do something", and the manager overturned the counselor.   I then returned to take domestic violence "group" from a the other main counselor there (per the judges requirements). I was not given another evaluation.

The other counselor was horrible and after 10 sessions totally threw me out and literally filed lies into the judge (covering his horrible actions toward me), saying I was kicked out. The judge then gave this letter to the prosecutor, but not to my defense attorney (the same public defender re-assigned to me that I did the plea with).

This letter together with what the counselor's manager sent in, so inflamed the prosecutor against me, that the prosecutor demanded 180 days in jail, totally ignoring/forgoing my original contract of either 8 days in jail or domestic violence courses, which my new private attorney says is fully incorrect, also the judge should have stuck to my evaluation result (that was part of the contract too). So with the contract broken twice and now someone coming in fully lying, and me trying to correct multiple times with other court staff, I chose to flee my home and state (Arizona), later to return and be arrested, and post bail. The court/prosecutor continues to come after me even though I did 18 days in jail, "unendingly abusive."

A civil attorney just told me that in civil cases, any information a judge receives, the judge must give to both sides/parties. My new defense attorney agrees, but it's vague as to whether the judge has done non-correct-law practicing behavior, in not giving the letter to my public defender.

Must a criminal judge take a provider's information and give it to both the prosecutor and the defense?


texts: Life insurance and taxes: Does a sole beneficiary need to tell other heirs? (Utah)

texts:
Situation Updated

A sibling died.
There are several heirs.
One heir was named the sole beneficiary of a life insurance policy, who received and deposited the check.
There is no will or other document that states how the deceased sibling hoped that the insurance proceeds would be used or otherwise distributed.

Question: Must the sole beneficiary reveal to the other heirs any of the facts about the policy, such as the existence of the policy, the amount of the policy, or anything else?

Clarification Added
The beneficiary of the life insurance policy wants to keep it private to avoid family dramas (jealousy, hurt feelings, etc.). Assume that the beneficiary will talk to a CPA about any federal or state obligations (so taxes are not an issue).


texts: If someone is accidentally killed by someone who is texting and driving, what is the penalty and charge?

texts: If someone is texting and driving and a pedestrian walks out in front of them on a side street and dies, what will the driver be charged with and what is the penalty?


texts: Does tolling apply to the statute of limitations in New York State?

texts:
More specifically, for a private unsecured debt with a statute of limitations (SoL) of 6 years in New York State, will the SoL be tolled (paused) if the debtor leaves the state, or the country (or both)?

Here's what the NYS CPLR (New York Civil Practice Law and Rules) says, but I can't find anything on tolling:

http://codes.findlaw.com/ny/civil-practice-law-and-rules/cvp-sect-213.html


texts: Car registered in MD, stored in MD, but I live out of state

texts:
I lived in MD a year ago, own a car that's registered in MD, but now I live out of state.  It's a utility van I am converting into an RV to go on a long road trip next year, and it's currently in storage in MD as I work on it when I'm back there.

I currently live in Hawaii but will be returning to the mainland next summer.

It has valid tags, and is insured with a MD company.  To complicate things, when I registered the van I had a DC license and a MD address, none of which I have anymore.

Any advice on how to renew registration?  MVA clearly states that vehicle registrations will NOT get forwarded by USPS, and when I try to change my address using my Driver's License Number (both the Hawaii license, my old DC license, and even my OLD MD license) it fails to accept the number.

I'll probably call MVA but figured maybe someone has experience...

Thanks!


texts: Why can't a party raise new arguments in United States court of appeals?

texts:
In the Lavabit judgement, I saw this:

see also Agra, Gill & Duffus, Inc. v. Benson, 920 F.2d 1173, 1176 (4th Cir. 1990) ("We will not accept on appeal theories that were not raised in the district court except under unusual circumstances.").

Of course it justifies why the rule is applied for this case, but what is the original reason this rule was applied?


texts: Transfer malice and intoxication defense?

texts:
Say Person A is very drunk and tried to attacked Person B, but Person B dodged, and Person C got hit. Person C had a pre-existing medical condition and died as a result of Person A's action.

If the defendant uses the defense of intoxication and it is believed that the defendant lacks the required mens rea, is the doctrine of transferred malice is still relevant? Because the doctrine of transferred malice only applies when the defendant has the required mens rea? So when I am writing my analysis I need not mention the doctrine of transferred malice?

And if the defendant uses the defense of intoxication, then he is more likely to be convicted of manslaughter, a basic intent offence in this situation right? As a murder is a specific intent offence and after the case of DPP v Beard (1920) it is unlikely that the defendant will be convicted of murder?

I just want to make sure my analysis is correct.


texts: Can software vendors add a ToS that would give them monetary privileges over things created by their software?

texts: Imagine that a software user typed an original novel into a word processor (e.g Microsoft Word or Google Docs). Imaging that the software vendor added something to the terms of service (ToS) saying that anything created by Microsoft Word or Google Sheets became the property of Microsoft/Google. Could Microsoft/Google then demand to be paid a cut of each novel sold by the author/software user? Would this be enforceable in front of the courts?


texts: Is there a law which prevents punishment for an infraction?

texts:
For example, say the speed limit on a certain road is 40 MPH, and say a certain someone was doing 45 on this road. Technically, if a cop clocked someone doing 45 when the speed limit is 40, he could pull that someone over and issue a ticket. What I’m wondering is if there is a law that precludes punishment for trivial, petty “crimes” or infractions such as this. Another example would be jaywalking or loitering.

I ask this because I find it hard to believe that a cop could punish you for going 5 MPH too fast. Is there perhaps a minimum of how much you break the law before you can be punished?

Thanks.


texts: How long do patients have to wait to get lab results in California?

texts:
I read on http://www.chcf.org/~/media/MEDIA%20LIBRARY%20Files/PDF/E/PDF%20ElectronicLabResultsExchangePolicy.pdf :

(CA = California).

which means patients used to not be authorized to access their lab results without an agreement from their provider.

Luckily, this absurd the law changed last year:

  While patients can continue to get access to their lab tests from their physicians, under the new rule, labs will be required to provide patients copies, including electronic copies, of their lab test results within 30 days of a request.

However, a Quest Diagnostics
 lab based in California told me that patients can have access to lab result's after a few weeks through their website, even though it takes less than one week for the lab to get the results and send them to the provider: I was told that Quest Diagnostics was not authorized not to release results to patients earlier:

  Due to state laws in California (14 days) and Oregon (7 days) requiring that your physician have an opportunity to discuss your results with you prior to our release of results to you, you may experience additional delays. In all circumstances and in accordance with HIPAA requirements you will receive your results from us no later than 30 days from the date of your request.

I asked Quest Diagnostics to point me to the actual ruling, to no avail yet:

Hence my questions:

In the state of California, how long do patients have to wait to get lab results in California?
Are labs allowed to charge any amount of money to process result requests from patients?


texts:
A bill was introduced in the Iowa legislature which gives an instruction to the Board of Regents (which governs seven specific institutions). Relevant background information is that people registered to vote in Iowa can register "no party", or else Democrat / Republican (Libertarian and Green are apparently "non-party political affiliations"); this registration is a public record. The intent of the law is to regulate hiring or professors and instructors in said institutions so that the number of Democrats and the number of Republicans in faculty positions cannot diverge by more than 10%. Specifically, it says

  A person shall not be hired as a professor or instructor member of the
  faculty at such an institution if the person’s political party
  affiliation on the date of hire would cause the percentage of the
  faculty belonging to one political party to exceed by ten percent the
  percentage of the faculty belonging to the other political party, on
  the date established by the board for determining the political party
  composition of the faculty.

(There is a provision to the effect that the the commissioner of elections shall turn over registration records annually so that the count can be done, though the mechanism of counting is unspecified. Given the reality of parties, only registered Democrats and Republicans are considered so independent and 3rd party voters aren't counted: it strictly compares the number of Democrats vs. Republicans, thus the number of D faculty cannot exceed the number of R faculty by more than 10%, or vice versa).

I am interested in how the courts could interpret the language "would cause" in this law. For the sake of argument (which means, I'm not saying it's true, I'm saying we have to make some factual assumptions in order to interpret the language), I will assume that across the seven institutions, jointly and severally, the number of registered Democrats holding faculty positions in such institutions currently exceeds the number of registered Republicans by more than 10%.

The ordinary meaning of "would cause X" is that a state of affairs X does not exist but if Y happens (and it's not just a coincidence – I'm avoiding 3K years of philosophical debate on "cause"), then X will be the case. The question is then whether, because that threshold is already exceeded (by assumption), no hiring causes the threshold to be exceeded, and therefore there would be no legal impediment to hiring an Iowa-registered Democrat to a faculty position.

To be clear: this is a bill, not a law; I do not claim it has any chance of being passed; I am not asking if it would be held to be unconstitutional on other grounds. This is just about case law and how courts interpret "would cause" or other language describing a change of state.


texts: Can copyright infringement claims be negotiated without a lawyer?

texts:
I don't understand how the "damages" amount is decided on for image copyright. Trying to claim one million vs 1000 isn't much different if the person doesn't have the money to pay for it.

What are the options of an individual who is not part of a business if they get hit with a massive copyright claim that is unaffordable? Is it best to contact and try to negotiate or best to just sweep it under the rug and see if it progresses to the point of a proper copyright claim?

I got a claim from a company called copytrack asking for 1400 in damages for one single image. This is a huge amount of money considering I run this website as a hobby and it would take me 2 years to even earn that much before I consider the costs associated.

I live in the EU and copytrack is based in Germany (not the same EU country as me). It looks like the copyright holder is American, but they have not given me any information. It was a simple you have infringed on our client's image, pay us right away to avoid legal issues kinda message. I don't want to blindly pay but at the same time, I am worried.

Edit: To add some more specific data. The email does not mention me or anything about me. Nor does it mention the copyright holder. It just says this image violates copyright. This could very well be a scam as they may not represent the copyright holder at all. I am in a dilemma as I do not know whether I should respond and dig myself into a hole or if i should send this very suspicious email to my spam folder which might also be the wrong thing to do.


texts: What Israeli laws are there concerning the word "Nazi"

texts:
The internet has numerous reports, which are often vague, about laws proposed or existing in Israel regulating use of the word "Nazi."

Some apparently are not just about that word but are about any offensive references or displays invoking the German National Socialist Workers Party. Of course such laws exist in many countries.   Other sites online seem to describe laws specifically about the word "Nazi," and those are the ones I'd like to know about.