texts: Does the 9th Court Ruling Imply That a Public Endpoint Is Truly Public?

texts:
Violating Terms of Use Isn’t a Crime, EFF Tells Court—Again

The recent ruling by the 9Th CAP states that a user is not legally (criminally(civil maybe?)) bound by the ToS of a website operator. Does that make a public endpoint that doesn't require authorization (or maybe even one that does) open for use as a user sees fit?

This ruling seems especially potent given the fact that Rimini Street was using the public endpoint to get data that allowed them to offer a product that competed directly with Oracle.


texts: Recourse for prosecution whose witness suddenly changes their story on the stand

texts:
Say prosecution has a witness who saw the defendant do the crime and is happy to testify it on the stand.
But when they take the stand, they suddenly surprise the prosecution by saying they did not see anything (thereby effectively commiting perjury). They may do it because the defendant has threatened them, or offered money, or whatever. A famous (though not real) example is Frank Pentangeli suddenly saying at the trial that he knows nothing about Michael Corleone's family (crime organization) in The Godfather Part II:

In modern criminal courts, what can the prosecution do to fix that? Can they ask the court to adjourn the trial, talk some sense into the witness and have them on the stand again to tell the truth? If so, can the prosecution just carry on with other witnesses and simply bring the liar on the stand again another day, or does it necessarily need to advise the court immediately of what has happened and request an adjournment?


texts:
GPS units will automatically alert you when you enter into a different speed zone, but they do not alert you when you enter into a high crime area. It seems that this would be valuable information to know when driving in unfamiliar places so you can quickly exit the high crime area, or map a new route that goes around it before you enter into it.

From researching this today, I found out that crime mapping services currently exist because law enforcement agencies have been using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to keep track of high crime areas for many years now.

So, this made me wonder if there may be a legal reason why GPS units do not provide this kind of information to drivers. I did a few Google searches for a law that bars GPS manufacturers from providing crime mapping data to GPS units but I did not find any such law, yet I am still curious to know if such a law exists.

Is it against the law for a GPS unit to alert a driver of a high crime area?


texts: When can someone who's not a police officer use physical force?

texts:
When can a civilian use physical force on someone? Are there any other times besides in self defence? Is it legal to use physical force in the event of an emergency, for example if you shove someone out of the way of a car and they end up falling and breaking their ankle, can you get sued?

What if you see someone running out a store and people running after them, so you grab them, but it turns out they weren't actually robbing anything?

Interesting story: I was on a bus and an altercation occurred between the bus driver and someone who got on with an expired ticket or something like that. It started by arguing, but then the bus driver shoved the passenger off the bus. Then the passenger punched the bus driver hard in the face. Then it was a full fight. The police arrived and put the passenger in handcuffs, and it seemed like witnesses took different sides as to who started it.

Was it legal for the bus driver to shove the passenger off the bus for not paying? Was it self defense that the passenger hit the driver back? I know some bus companies have policies telling the drivers not to get physical, just call the police if there's a problem.


texts: what are the fines for negligent administration of social security numbers?

texts:
Years ago (about 2001) I read a USC statute that stated that the fine for negligent storage of social security number could result in a $10k 'per record' fine.

I have been looking for this USC or anything like it now and find nothing.

What is the CFR code or USC federal statute that implements a fine for negligent storage social security numbers (private personal data) on a database or computer, especially pertaining to hippa.


texts: What are legal ways to get a persons address (Person living in Ireland, I'm living in The Netherlands)?

texts:
This is a follow-up to my previous question.

I filed for a European small claims procedure but the only address I had of that person, seems invalid. The people at the address in question claim they do not know of anyone by the name the letter was addressed to.

I tried getting the address in various ways:

Contacting the DVLA because I have the other persons car (or at least a car they drove) registration on a photo
Contacted my local free legal help / legal desk in my city (Juridisch Loket), they told me that maybe I could get the address through the Irish embassy, and starting a procedure without a valid address is not possible
Contacting the Irish embassy in The Netherlands and request the address (because I have a photo of this persons passport and all the details)
Contacting my local police to ask them if they would be able to give me the persons address, no results thus far

I am out of any ideas. I have a friend in UK that offered to help me, but when I discussed getting info from DVLA through him he said it's nearly impossible to get it done because the other person did not damage my friends car (and if it would be done he would need proof).

The person in question:

I loaned 440 euro's from me and told me that the money will be paid back as soon as that person is home.
To "Secure" myself I told him to hold his passport, let me take a photo of him visibly holding the passport, and take a close up of the passport,
and I have a video recording of the person in question stating the loaned amount and that it will be paid back in 2 days.
I also have a photo of the car the person drove.
I have the persons gmail address where the person communicated with me and again admitted the loan and that the person will pay back the loan.
I also have recorded voice conversations / calls where the person admits to the loan and that the person will pay it back.
The number doesn't work anymore and e-mails are not answered anymore.
Searching that person on Facebook or LinkedIn doesn't yield any matching results

The person in question is basically a stranger to me.

What are my (legal/lawful) options to get the address of the person in question so I can continue my European small claims procedure?

I hope there really are some options left, because in my mind it just baffles me that when a theft occurs and the person who did it is known, the person can get away with it..


texts: Putting Last Month's Rent in Escrow and Security Deposit

texts: I want to put my last month's rent in escrow until my landlord and I come to an agreement on how much of my security deposit will be returned.  There's only normal wear and tear but in the past I've had plenty of landlords who try to get you for all sorts of reasons for large portions of the security deposit.  I want to withhold my rent until they assess my apartment and we agree on it.  Is this legal?


texts:
Maybe I don't understand insider trading laws, but they seem somewhat unreasonable to me.

Lets say I'm a software developer, and I accepted stock options as part of my compensation.  In the course of my work, I come to realize the company is not long for this world.  If I sell my stock, am I guilty of insider trading?  I'm obligated to go down with the ship?

I'm interested in answers from any jurisdiction really, this is just a hypothetical question.


texts: How do non-compete clauses work when an employees' two companies do not initially compete?

texts:
Person X works in startup A. Because reasons he also gets employed in a more established company B. He contributes to A only sporadically and is a full time employee in B. Both are software companies.

X and B have a run of the mill non-compete clause in their contract. The clause prohibits direct or indirect competition. A and X have no such clauses.

Initially A and B are doing completely separate things, but after X has started working in B, B starts switching it's focus into something that is somewhat similar to A, but that aims for a completely different market.

Would the contract prohibit X working in A?

What if later on A also starts moving closer to A and targeting similar markets?


texts: Is bypassing a website's "rules" via proxies, VPNs, etc. illegal?

texts: Say a site only allows users to post every 20 minutes. If I use a proxy I can post as much as the speed of the proxy/connection/"fooling" allowed to make the site think I am coming from different IPs, computers, etc. Given that I am one person hypothetically using this to my advantage while breaking the "system" of the site and its rule, impositions, and structural design, am I breaking the law just by doing so? If not, am I just being a bit unethical in my approach? Note that I am not talking about DDos or denial of service or anything like that, but merely "bypassing" rules by conducting myself via endless trickery to get past rules imposed/designed to limit certain actions on my part as a single individual, like multiple registering, postings, and other functions the site normally provides in quota/limits but I "break" due to the use of proxies, VPNs and etc. for my convenience.


texts: Is calling a store in which you are banned illegal?

texts: I called a store to apologize for a actions that involved me. They told me that calling the store violates my ban and breaking their ban is against the law. They threatened to file a trespass complaint on me. Can they do so?


texts: Can I legally repost a news article on another website (e.g. Stack Exchange)?

texts:
I would like to share a news article on an SE site, in its entirety if possible. I recently included in a post a news article from a university site (U.S. university) with its original title, proper attribution, and a clear link to the original source, and its body in blockquotes.
It was suggested to me doing so might have some copyright issues. I would like to know if that is indeed the case and if so what would be a kosher way to share the piece.
I was hesitant to cut passages out of it and I'd like to keep its integrity mostly because I found several places in the article of interest and of consequence to wider discussions. Given that my purpose is to share the information in that news piece and discuss the content on a public site, could this be considered fair use?


texts: Why is it ok to submit false statements to a judge, according to 18 USC 1001(b)?

texts:
18 USC 1001(a) makes false statements to the federal government a felony.
However, 18 USC 1001(b) says:

Subsection (a) does not apply to a party to a judicial proceeding, or that party’s counsel, for statements, representations, writings or documents submitted by such party or counsel to a judge or magistrate in that proceeding.

I don't understand why that exception exists, or when it might be useful in practical application.
What is an example of when 18 USC 1001(b) would be applicable, beneficial, or necessary?


texts: Intellectual property when leaving the employment

texts:
Company's time, company's laptop, company's idea submitted to the internal innovation platform.
It was rejected by the corporate immune system:

We are to inform you that your idea has been Backlogged.
What does this mean – backlogged?
This means we believe your idea has promise but we are not ready to advance it ourselves or send it to another team without further development. We, the board, would like you to present to us in person once you have had a chance to refine your thoughts.

It's pretty good, I'd like to work on it in my free time.
Due to my redundancy, I will have some free time and I'd like to pursue it.
I've explainer to HR that it is important to me, that I would like to have ownership of my thoughts but did not get any reply in that matter, only time pressure to sign my agreement.
What is the default law position? Is their "backlogging" gives me any rights or do they still own everything?

EDIT / UPDATE: No trade secrets. Everything based on publicly available information. I just happened to be exposed to PR messages and I realized I can do it much better (beyond public relations).


texts: Can I sue my employer for wrongful firing?

texts:
So I am looking to possibly take legal action against a former employer of mine that had--in my opinion wrongfully terminated me. I'm wondering if this is possible based on my case. Here is my case:

I worked for an asphalt/grading company from September 2016 to May 2018 (almost two years). During that time under my first boss "John," I had advanced to becoming the lead of my department and I had the highest production rate--this data was tracked on a per-task basis. Come February 2018 the company announced a huge internal fiasco which caused a change in management, my boss "John," quit along with the CEO and a ton of other employees were fired. At this point I got a new boss "Dave," and a new general manager "Joe."

In the near 2 years of my employment I had the highest production rate, fewest errors and I had completed bonus tasks outside my job, on top of which I had no written or verbal warnings during this period. My first boss John had also written me a formal letter of recommendation commending my performance before his resignation.

However come February my new boss Dave had yelled, cursed and scolded me in an open office environment and had said "We don't just hand out raises," as well as called me a "Greedy Fuck," for asking for my performance to be reviewed for a raise. On top of this he admitted to believing an accusation that I was a "Problem Child," told to him by another employee before he had even met me. I had reported these problems to HR officially after they had occurred.

Following this I had several conversations and was being forced to perform various duties for my boss that were outside the skill-set of someone in my position that were previously performed by my previous boss John--not to be confusing, I have these skills, but I declined to do the tasks because my boss did not understand the duties of my position and workload. After this I was out of office one day due to various personal issues and could not call in to work on time--so I called in the same day 1 hour after the start of my shift to say that I would not make it. Then the next day I had filed a complaint with the general manager about the issues I had with Dave and that I needed to speak with him immediately by saying, "I understand, that you have a meeting in 5 minutes, but I need to speak with you immediately." To which he replied, "If you aren't going to respect my time then get the fuck out, get the fuck out!" Again I replied, "Let me finish, I understand you have a meeting, I just needed to tell you I need to speak with you, even if it's after your meeting." After this no meetings, no more problems, silence for weeks and then I was terminated May 14th by the general manager Joe.

The reason for termination by Joe was "Low Performance," "Refusing to schedule a Job to be completed," and "Not calling in sick prior to my shift." I told Joe that none of the reasons for termination were true, to which he replied, "I don't care, it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, you're terminated." I left, slammed his door shut out of anger for lying and not listening to me, then calmly collected my things, clocked out my time and left. HR and Joe gave me the contact for an executive George, whom was also terminated the next day May 15th. I've had no contact since.

NOTE: Unfortunately I don't have any proof apart from HR documents in my personal file as well as the companies tracked statistics as well as various testimonies from previous employees and current employees.


texts: Why wasn't Acosta arrested on conspiracy charges and/or the obstruction of justice?

texts:
In the Jeffrey Epstain case in which a pyramid scheme of international sex trafficking and abuse came to light, the FBI filed a fifty three page indictment in June 2007.

However, the then Attorney-General of South California. Alexander Acosta agreed to a 'plea-deal' which more or less granted immunity to Epstein and four other named Co-conspirators and incredibly, any unnamed potential Co-conspirators. This agreement shut down the FBI probe completely.

However, a federal judge later found that the victims rights had been 'violated' in this agreement, and called the deal a 'conspiracy' and ordered the case to go ahead.

The Trump administration later selected Alexander Acosta to stand as Labour Secretary. When the the evidence for the secret back room deal, or rather 'conspiracy' came to light, the ensuing outrage forced his resignation from his post.

Given that it appears that he was defending the rights of people involved in a pyramid scheme of sexual abuse of young and vulnerable women, why hasn't Acosta been charged with obstructing justice and/or conspiracy?


texts: Separation of powers, role of the ministry of Justice

texts:
I understand that the law differs from country to country but what is the general consensus on the separation of powers regarding this particular matter:
Recently, the ministry of justice (African country) spoke at the parliament of cases still under investigation and not yet tried by using words to would suppose he already knows the verdict. He says "heavy files" .. "sensitive and alarming cases", "you will see what the magistrates can do" etc. This would also suggest that he knows about the details of these cases.
As a member of the executive, is the ministry of justice allowed to speak of cases prior to court proceedings? Is he also allowed to inquire about said cases and get the details?
Thank you in advance for your opinions!
PS: I have no background in law


texts:
I bought a AIO cooler from EKWB's webstore, it broke after approximately 1 month of use.
I requested an RMA, they have said they won't provide one unless I send them a video of the faulty unit, turned on.
I had already uninstalled and re-boxed the unit after they'd made the request, there is no external damage to the unit, whatever fault exists is internal and as video wouldn't give them any more information than I have already provided. I do wish to create a video of the unit given the inconvenient it'll cause me to unbox, reinstall and then to take it back out again.
They however have insisted they cannot show any discretion and will need the video.
They are mandated by EU and UK consumer law to provide a warranty. Does their company policy superceded the consumer law and can they used it to deny me an RMA ?
I plan on requesting a credit card chargeback, however this will only be successful if the law is on my side.
These are the EKWB terms and conditions.
https://www.ekwb.com/terms-conditions/
I live in the in UK


texts: NJ Estate: is there a time frame for settlement and distribution?

texts:
I'm a beneficiary in an estate in NJ with another beneficiary (my brother who I don't talk to) that is the executor. We both get a 50% share. All assets have been disposed of and now there is nothing but cash left. Tax returns were filed long ago and likely all expenses have been paid.

The attorney for the estate does not communicate with me. I think they are stalling to try and get me to accept a smaller settlement to make the ordeal end. Is there any statute in NJ that says how long an estate can go on when there's only cash left, or can they wait me out as long as they like, or wait for me to take legal action?


texts: If the President's power to grant pardons is absolute, could he face any consequences?

texts:
Does the Presidential power to pardon include the power to avoid any consequences?
Consider this hypothetical situation:
An extremely rich individual (a US citizen) gets involved in a sordid love affair, and winds up charged and convicted of murdering his mistress on Federal property.  The evidence is incontrovertible and totally convincing.  All appeal options have been exhausted, and the individual is about to start his long prison sentence.
The US President is nearing the end of his second term.  He suddenly issues a complete pardon to the rich murderer with immediate effect.  No explanation for the pardon is given.
The pardon is within the Constitutional powers of the President, and clearly is in effect.
A few weeks later, the pardoned rich individual explains to the press that he simply paid the President $25,000,000 to issue the pardon. He offers recordings of the negotiations, (which started at $15,000,000 but were bargained up by the President to $25,000,000), proof of payment, etc.
The President happily confirms all this, referring to the payment as a Golden Parachute.
Do these admissions in any way invalidate the pardon? (My guess, no)
Are there any possible legal consequences for the President, either before or after the end of his term?


texts: If the US has no officially recognized language, what's stopping me from submitting forms in other, potentially much less widespread languages?

texts:
As the title states, I realized today the USA doesn't have an officially recognized language, which implies (to me) that I can submit forms in any language if I so chose - the most obvious example being my tax forms.
Is this the case? Does this happen, and if so, what's stopping me from submitting them in e.g. Chinese? What about something like Cuneiform or Latin? Are the courts or IRS or whomever required to accept such forms?
Conversely, if I'm required to translate them into English, what legal basis is there for such requirements?


texts: GDPR - If am am allowing user to post on twitter and Facebook from my IOS app?

texts: If am allowing user to post on twitter and Facebook from my IOS app, Do I have to get user consent ? If yes what do I have to mention in user consent ?


texts: What part of the constitution makes the US federal agency "Food and Drug Administration" legal?

texts: Which part of the US constitution delegates the US federal government the power to establish the agency "Food and Drug Administration"?


texts: Can the state of New York arrest and/or prosecute President Trump during a time when Trump is still president?

texts: (Assuming there were grounds for arrest and prosecution).


texts: Is there a comprehensive list of reasons for taking action (doing something)?

texts:
Is there a classification of the reason (for taking action) in law? For example, I can do something to benefit from it. I can also take action to harm someone. This page discusses three types of reasons:

Normative;
Motivating;
Explanatory.

I was wondering if this is applicable to law.
What are the ways of proving/disproving of a taken action with reasoning?


texts: Can any legal action be taken against abandoned/overgrown land

texts:
There was a public pay to play golf course behind our neighborhood, this golf course was sold to a new owner and after two years the new owner destroyed the golf course(removed the club house, stopped maintaining), so that they could build condos on the property.

Things did not pass the town or state regulations and now the land has sat for about 5 years.

Neighbors(including us) around the property started to mow the part in front of their yard(the weeds grew very high) and continue to do so(is it illegal for us to mow this overgrown land?).

Recently there was some mowing by large tractors but very little was cut and most of it grew back.

This overgrown golf course is home to many wild animals (coyotes, snakes, foxes, alligators, etc...).

Is there any legal action that we can take to force the land owner to maintain the land?
Could this land somehow under some law be divided and given to the maintainers.
Is it legal to walk/drive on this land. (I see people walking their dogs, and driving ATVs and motor bikes on the golf course)


texts:
May I correct spelling issues in my ToS without prior notification?

According to §308 (5) BGB I need a "Fingierte Erklärung" (fictitious statement) with a time limit for the user to acknowledge and I need to inform every user of the change.

For a spelling correction this feels like overkill. Is there any law that governs this, or do I have to go the way described by §308 BGB?

This question is not about the fact that one should proofread the ToS. I know that.


texts: Can a provider of content restrict use of the content when they have no intellectual property rights to it?

texts:
In this question I asked whether someone who recovers an old,  noncopyrighted work via technical processes can claim copyright on the result.  The answer suggested that they could not, but that they might be able to enforce license restrictions anyway, simply as a condition of providing the content.  Is this the case?  Under what circumstances can someone restrict the use of intellectual property that they provide without having any claim to the intellectual property itself?

To re-use one of my examples from that question: suppose I possess the only copy in existence of a previously unknown short story by Mark Twain, and I've spent time and technical effort to recover the text (e.g., by physically piecing together and examining faded, worn-out papers) without adding any copyrightable creative work.  It's clear that I can print the story up and sell copies of it.  But can I impose license restrictions on the text itself?  That is, can I give someone a copy of the story, but legally prohibit them from copying it themselves?

I don't own the story itself (because it's in the public domain), only my copy of the story.  Does my ownership of the only copy in existence give me de facto copyright over the story, because no one will be able to obtain the noncopyrighted text except by getting it from me and thus accepting my license terms?

I'm interested primarily in US law on the matter, but would also be glad to know of noteworthy international variations in law.


texts: GDPR data deletion: can I ask the company to delete the data it had exported in the United States?

texts:
I am located in Italy.
I have subscribed to a service and provided some PII that "could be exported in the United States".
If I send a GDPR request to delete my data, can I ask them to also delete they data that they are storing aboard in the United States?
Thank you very much


texts: If you find something indexed on a search engine, is it legal to access and report that to the firm?

texts:
I found a US law firm's SQL database indexed on Google exposing email addresses, phone numbers, comments/questions of its clients. Not to mention the user database with even worse information. This is obviously some highly sensitive data that shouldn't be publicly archived.

Is it legal to access this using Google search, confirm by going to the database webpage, and then report it to the affected law firm as a problem? No unauthorized access was leveraged considering all I did was use a Google search term to locate indexed websites with filetype:sql


texts: Will company with product with ® sue me if my company name is the same as their product?

texts: I have purchased the company name Xxxxx Media in a province in Canada, but I recently realized that the product Xxxxx® is trademarked in the United States. I wish to sell my products in the US soon so I am wondering if I should purchase a different name instead so that I do not get sued by the company who has trademarked Xxxxx®. Will I get sued?


texts: How to express copyright when you use a pen name

texts:
I am about to self-publish my first novel using a pen name. I will be registering the copyright this week.

My question is, on the first page of the novel where you put all the publishing/copyright info, should I say that the novel is copyright of my pen name, in order to protect my true identity?

Example, let's say my real name is Jane Smith and my pen name is Denise Smithers. I will register the copyright with the copyright office using my real name (but will also write what my pen name is), but I don't want to put that on the book as I want that kept private.

If I write (c) Denise Smithers, will that imply that the copyright belongs to the actual person behind the pen name?

I know that the copyright belongs to me anyway, but I still want to add that copyright line to my novel.


texts: Receiving a product after getting a refund

texts:
Last week I ordered 2 kits of impact drivers due to the unbelievably low price.

The product was discounted from 300EUR to 100, so I bought 2 of them. Next day I received an email from the company, that the given price was a mistake and that the order will be cancelled any my money was refunded.

But to my surprise, today I received the package that I have ordered, but my money was already refunded so I haven't paid for them but receive them. What should I do next? I ordered from the UK and it was shipped to Slovenia - both EU countries.


texts: Does the process of anonymizing web server logs count as 'Processing' under GDPR?

texts:
As far as I believe, it is permitted under GDPR to record and store non-anonymized web server access logs, as these can be useful for security reasons.

I am looking to implement a log anonymization solution, where IP addresses, user agents and referrers in the logs will be anonymized before being written to disk. Then, these anonymized logs will be fed into an analytics tool to provide stats on unique visitors, page hits, etc.

My question is whether this anonymization process counts as processing personally identifiable data under GDPR?

Since I'm allowed to record the data for security reasons, I don't usually need to ask for permission or provide a privacy notice, etc. However, does this extra anonymization process on top then take it over the line meaning that consent and a privacy notice would be required?

If I were to anonymize the logs and continue to use them exclusively for security reasons, would that change anything? Or does it not matter what I do with them once they are anonymized?

To clarify, this question is specifically about the 'Processing' involved in the anonymization process. It's not a generic question about whether I'm allow to record IPs or not.


texts: Is it a crime to veil the real price of a product to save sales commissions?

texts:
I am currently involved in a discussion in some Internet forum. One aspect of this discussion is the question if the following situation is punishable (or a crime) in at least one US state:
There is some web site that offers some products sold by other persons or companies (you might think of Amazon or eBay). The web site operator takes a percentage of the price of the service as sales commission.
A vendor officially offers some expensive product (e.g. $1000) for a very low price (e.g. $20), but the product cannot be used without some "additional" service which is sold separately for a high price (e.g. $950) although it is actually worth nearly nothing.
The customer knows this and is happy because he must only pay $950 + $20 = $970 instead of $1000. The vendor saves a lot of sales provision because he officially sold the product for $20 instead of $1000.
The operator of the web site looses a lot of money because the vendor does not pay the "full" sales provision.
The question is:
Is the vendor liable to prosecution in some US state?


texts: Pawnshop in TN transfered my pawned firearm without my prior consent

texts:
I pawned my firearms and the pawnshop had their FFL suspended. They own two stores and, when I went to pay on my pawn, I was told about the suspension, that all firearms had been transfered to their other location, and that I would have to travel almost 40 miles to redeem.
Then I discovered that, when they were transfered, not only had the date changed on when payments/redemption was due, but, they were now charging me more than what I originally borrowed.
Originally, I was to payback $122 on the $100 I borrowed plus $10 for the background check. Now, my payback was just over $200. So it’s principal on money I didn’t borrow.
They’re refusing to adjust the amount. They swear they mailed out letters, however I, nor any other customer I’ve talked to, received one.
I’m sure the charging for money I didn’t borrow is illegal, however, it’s the transfer of the weapons without consent that I am most curious about.
I am working on gathering others together and seeking a lawyer to find out what our options are. I would just like to inform other customers of what laws were broken before we do so.


texts: A knows that B is lying in wait to kill A. A convinces C to enter the area; B kills C. Has A committed a crime?

texts:
This is a scene in Fargo Season One, so stop reading if you don't want spoilers.

The facts as I describe them in the body are not exactly as I've summarized in the post title.

Lester is afraid that Lorne is waiting in Lester's office. Lester knows that Lorne has killed others and will likely kill him. Lester has his wife Linda go into the office and even convinces her to wear his signature big puffy orange coat with the hood up. Linda goes into the office and is killed by Lorne.

Assume Lester is pursued by police for a number of crimes, some potentially in conspiracy with Lorne. What crimes might be charged against Lester for sending his wife to be killed by Lorne?


texts: Will my app i'm building be breaching any copyright laws

texts:
Currently building an app where it may include copyrighted words as its running like a karaoke type app

With it including things that are copyrighted what can I do in regards to this?


texts: Can I cross out parts of a contract before signing it?

texts:
Assume there is a contract that was typed on a computer then printed out, and only one party needs to sign it. Examples of such contracts are "sign here to show it's ok for us to contact your references". If a person crossed out part of the contract before signing it, is the contract still valid? Does it matter if they initial any modifications? Here's an example:

  This is a legally binding contract.

  You agree to having a background check done
  You will disclose all information about your past employers
  You will eat a rubber duck for breakfast

  To agree to these terms, sign bellow:

  Applicant signature:

If I crossed out 3. then signed, is it still valid? Does it matter if I initialed? If there already is your signature on the same page do you still need to initial it?


texts: Can product replacement terms be left open to interpretation?

texts:
This question is pertaining to the "BuyBack" guarantee offered by "Flipkart" (an ecommerce company owned by Walmart in India).
Flipkart offers a BuyBack policy on mobile phones but in their policy they mention that it'll be accepted if

Phone screen and the body of the Original Phone is not in damaged or broken condition and the Original Phone is in working condition.
There are no cracks in the body of the phone or on the screen. The screen has to be intact and buttons should not be missing or damaged. The display should not have any spots or dead pixels.

My issue is that in whole of their policy, they do not define what constitutes damaged. And they reject the old phones even for minor dents. Are they allowed to put up such a policy where they can call anything as "damage" and not accept the old phone?

Here is a link to their policy - https://www.flipkart.com/pages/buyback-guarantee-tnc


texts: If a spouse acts destructively, destroys property etc before divorce in order to prevent the other side getting it, is that illegal? Is it a vandalism offense or something similar?


texts: If I'm the director of photography for a project, does the production company need a model release from me if I film myself in the project?

texts:
I am the DP (director of photography) on a streaming TV show filmed in New York state.  I am not employed by the production company, but rather work as a contractor with them.  The production company gets model releases for all the actors and actresses that play roles in the show.  I ended up playing a bit part in the show as a news camera man that I personally captured the scene using an aerial camera while I was in shot.

This brought up an interesting legal question for me.  Does the production company need a model release for my appearing in the show or does my DP agreement already cover it through my transfer of copyright ownership?  As I understand it, as the cameraman, owner of the production equipment being used and the individual making the artistic decisions about the photography, the footage inherently is my copyright, which is then transferred automatically to the production company by contract.  Since I am filming myself, it would seem to imply consent to be filmed.  I'm unsure, however, if this consent would transfer along with the copyright or not.


texts: Are there any legal risks to transferring money to another country for an F-1 student?

texts: Let's assume that your dating an F-1 visa student, who is supposed to be financed by her parents in her home country to go to school in the US. She is actually getting money through other means (working under the table, money from other family in the US, etc). One day she asks you to transfer $4,000 to her parents in her home country because she doesn't want the government finding out that she's making money and it's not her parents that are financing her. What risks does this carry for you?


texts: Cases where a educational non-profit organization was successfully sued for violation of copyright/Fair Use (US)

texts:
I am looking for cases where a educational non-profit organization was successfully sued for violation of copyright/Fair Use (US).

I am particularly interested in borderline cases (i.e. cases where many observers would consider the non-profit's use "fair", but the non-profit still lost anyway).


texts: Specific law/regulation about annual report and other shareholder information disclosure in Canada

texts:
As I understand it, when you hold shares of a publicly traded company (or ETF) via a broker, the broker is obligated to forward you the relevant investor information from the company (e.g. annual report, share voting documents, and more). I've seen this done in both snail-mail and electronic form.

My question is: What specific laws and/or regulations in Canada talk about the broker's obligation to forward this information? (If the answer is province-specific, I'd appreciate an answer for Ontario.)


texts: If Trump's legal challenges to the 2020 elections are so bad, why haven't the courts ruled them as frivolous?

texts:
(Not sure if this should be on the Law.SE)
Per title. Most of the news coverage I've seen have said the challenges are bad, such as this recent one on the result of a challenge in Pennsylvania.

"One might expect that when seeking such a startling outcome, a plaintiff would come formidably armed with compelling legal arguments and factual proof of rampant corruption," he wrote. "Instead, this court has been presented with strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations ... unsupported by evidence.

Second example:

Russell J. Ramsland Jr., a cybersecurity worker and an expert witness in the case, filed an affidavit Wednesday claiming that his company had uncovered evidence of inconsistencies in electronic voting machines. But the inconsistencies he claimed to identify were in districts in Michigan, not Georgia.
The affidavit also listed a number of towns and counties in which Ramsland’s analysis ostensibly showed that the number of votes cast exceeded the number of eligible voters. But most, if not all, of the places Ramsland listed appeared to be townships and counties in Minnesota, not Michigan.

Taken at face value this would imply that the legal cases are really bad, effectively wasting the courts' time. That in turn implies that the judges would've handed down a frivolous litigation judgement with associated penalties for the plaintiffs. But if that has happened, I've not seen it reported in the media. Why?
A first guess is that there is no law against frivolous litigation in the US, but Wikipedia seems to indicate that's not the case.


texts: What if after a patent is awarded, someone proves they invented it earlier?

texts:
I'm referring to a US patent. (USPTO non provisional Utility patent)

And I'm referring to that first inventor not only proving they thought of it, of course, but that they published the idea or even offered a product with it for sale (obviously not successfully, else the USPTO would have noticed it).

Would that invalidate the patent?
Would the patent hold except to with regard to this first inventor?
Something else?


texts: Can liability for data disclosure be waived by T&Cs under GDPR?

texts:
I live in Ireland, an EU county subject to the GDPR.

I see in a service T&Cs the line:

  "Despite our use of commercially reasonable efforts to protect your
  Personal Information from unauthorized access or disclosure, the
  Internet is not an inherently secure environment and so we cannot
  guarantee the security of your Personal Information. We assume no
  liability for any disclosure of data due to errors in transmission,
  unauthorized third party access or other acts of third parties, or
  acts or omissions beyond our reasonable control."

Is this legal? Or does "beyond our reasonable control" render this merely subjective?


texts: As a US citizen, what law requires me to pay income tax?

texts:
I've found content (especially from Irwin Schiff) that says there's no law requiring US citizens to pay income tax.  Other sources claim that income tax is mandatory.

If there really is no law requiring me to pay, I'd like to know (for obvious reasons).

What law or laws do require me to pay?  Or are there currently no such laws?


texts: Are there any precedents for sombody being held accountable for a mistake in a textbook?

texts:
In most modern-day textbooks, especially the ones I've read, a disclaimer is always present which states that the author or the publishing body has tried its best to siphon out all errors, however, in case of any losses due to the errors present the author or the publisher shall not be held accountable.

It was always amusing to see such a disclaimer, however I was wondering: Has there ever been a case when there was no such disclaimer and the author or publisher was sued? Or is was there some incident which lead to this disclaimer being added?


texts: Can I use an Employee's Personal ID in an company internal project? (EU Data protection Law)

texts:
I want to create an Order-Website for our company, where employees can order dishes from the canteen, so they know roughly how much food to order.
Now the question came up, if you order some dish, but later want to cancel it, how would you do it. The idea was that employees enter their personal ID when ordering food, so they can change the order later, but now we don't know if that's legal, due to European Data protection.
Only some Admins in IT have access to the database, that connects the personal ID to the respective employee, so it is not possible for normal employees to trace back a Personal ID. For them, it's just a number.
Can we use the ID for our project, or do we have to do something else, like encrypting the ID, so this information also is not accessible to others


texts: US exclusionary rule - are there limits?

texts:
Inspired by this question related to admissibility of evidence obtained from an unlawful search and seizure: At an unlawful traffic stop, police searches the car and find the weapon used in a recent murder
Suppose the following facts:

A uniformed police officer Al pulls over a car Bob for no lawful reason. The unlawful nature of the stop is not disputed.

Al proceeds to search Bob's car without reasonable suspicion or probable cause. The unlawful nature of the search is not disputed.

In the trunk of the car, Al finds the dead body of Cal. Cal has been stabbed to death with a knife (also in the trunk) covered in Bob's fingerprints. There is a full account of the murder signed by both Bob and Cal which describes Bob murdering Cal. There are polaroid photos of Bob murdering Cal, also in the trunk.

There is no other evidence tying Bob to Cal's murder; no prior history, no eyewitness testimony, no missing persons reports, no indication of where Cal was murdered or why (other than the signed document) and Bob lawyered up and has refused to answer any questions on the grounds he fears self-incrimination.

Given these facts are not disputed:

would we expect any of this evidence not to be ruled inadmissible if challenged in a criminal trial?
assuming the evidence described is ruled inadmissible, what would the law require be returned to Bob?

the knife?
the pictures and document?
the clothes Cal was wearing?
Cal's body?

would Bob be required to claim ownership of these items to have them returned, or would returning them be the default action?
if Bob is required to claim ownership of the items to recover them, and does claim ownership, can that claim of ownership be used in a new trial against Bob?


texts: In a Payment Hearing, what is the protocol for creditor asking debtor questions? What if he believes the reply was invalid?

texts:
At a payment hearing called by a creditor on a debtor, the debtor has the uncanny ability to avoid answering questions or gives misleading answers.
I understand in the payment hearing the creditor can put questions to the debtor. How exactly does this work? Does the creditor ask him directly, debtor replies to creditor, and if creditor is not satisfied with the reply he requests the judge to tell debtor he has to answer more clearly, or what?
For example

Creditor: do you own any companies?
Debtor: I think you already know the answer to this.
Creditor: You honor, the Debtor did not answer.
Judge: Debtor, answer the question.

Does the judge do most of the talking or will the debtor talk some?


texts: Are you eligible for FMLA leave if the event occurred while you were not eligible?

texts: Consider the scenario where you work for an FMLA eligible employer, and are not a key employee. During the time period you are not eligible for FMLA, your partner gives birth to a child. You become eligible for FMLA about 3 months after the child's birth. Are you eligible to take FMLA leave at that time?


texts: Can I record a phone call made to the office of my congressman or senator?

texts:
Suppose I'm not too pleased with my Congressman's stance on an issue, and that I plan on calling his or her office.  Is it legal to record a phone call made to the office of my Congressman (or Senator) in New York State, without telling them?  Said office may be either their local office or their Washington office.  Does it make a difference if I make the phone call from within the state or district (maybe I'm in New Jersey for the day)?

And while we're at it, is it legal to publish this audio recording online or send it to journalists?


texts: What means are available for recourse if I was ripped off by a business?

texts:
I contacted a business, initially via telephone then email, after seeing a product on their webpage and ended up paying for an item ($5,000). Over the course of a month, the item was never shipped and the representative from the business (self-described as "President" and likely the sole employee) has begun ignoring my correspondence and as it stands appears to have no intention of shipping my item. What sort of steps can I take to begin either getting my money back or applying some sort of pressure that might convince the business to respond to me? I've began looking at things such as BBB reviews or Federal Trade Commission complains but it appears that neither of those lead to any action.

Details of the transaction:

The business is located in a different state than I am (I'm in IL, business is in NC).
I have a lot of email correspondence back and forth detailing the transaction, mentions of when shipping would take place, an invoice from the business for the purchase, etc.
I paid via a bank transfer to an account in the name of the business.
I'm in contact with several other people who have also had similar experiences with said business (keeping people's money, lack of communication, etc).


texts: What type of lawyer (criminal, civil, family, etc.) would I need to help me deal with issues of academic misconduct?

texts:
What can stop a university from doing whatever they want and screwing students over in terms of accusing them of cheating, plagiarism, or a misunderstanding of professor authorization of essay re-submission in a second class, trying to take a student's degree or credit away after the course is completed/graduated with little evidence and no proof of circumstantial evidence that truly happened at the time of the incident? Since they are private and go by their own rules and apparently there is no standard policy for how all universities are supposed to deal with issues.

This is in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.

Thanks.


texts: Is there a fair use exception for trademarks?

texts:
The copyright law has the famous fair-use exception, where you can legally use some parts of copyrighted works without having to pay any royalties to, or ask any permission from, the copyright holder.

What about trademarks?

For example, Oracle owns the trademarks for the ZFS filesystem created by Sun Microsystems, which they've acquired.  (Not sure when and who filed which trademarks.)

Does it imply that the OpenZFS / Open ZFS project is technically a trademark violation?  Or is the trademark being shared by means of the CCDL the licence?  Or do they actually have some kind of a special agreement?

What if I want to register a personal domain name like zfs.example. (either in a global TLD or a country-code TLD) to blog about my use of ZFS; would that be a violation of the trademark?  What if I sell ads for products unrelated to filesystems (but related to computers)?  What if I let anyone buy any kind of ad, which may include ads for computer products and filesystems?  (If you come from the assumption that ZFS trademark is invalid, what would be the case if it was not?)

P.S. The was a similar case in regards to the ssh graphic trademark and OpenSSH, however, in that instance the consensus was that the trademark was simply invalid due to a whole combination of reasons.  Is the ZFS trademark, perhaps, also invalid?


texts:
What will happen to all the pending green card family based applications (brother, sister etc..) if the RAISE Act is implemented?
Will all those years of wait and hope get slashed all in a moment?


texts: Are US laws descriptive, or prescriptive?

texts:
Is there some overarching philosophy to the motivation of US laws, especially recent ones?

To what extent do laws describe customs already established in society, and to what extent are they implemented to change some behavior of society? What are the points of view on this currently dominant among US judges, prosecutors and attorneys?


texts: Can I use a branded product name and/or product pictures in their retail packaging in my paid cooking video?

texts:
I'm making cooking videos of my own recipes for selling on line. In order to help viewers replicate my recipes exactly, I'd like to:

Refer to brand-name ingredients in my video, e.g., "Great Value coconut oil" in the audio as well as text on screen
Show some of these brand-name products in their packaging (which will have printed logos and copyrighted images) on screen while I refer to them

Is (1) legal if I don't get explicit permission from the brand owners? How about (2)?


texts: What are possible motives for avoiding insurance in an auto accident?

texts:
My parked car was involved in a hit and run accident outside of my house.  Luckily, one of my neighbors saw the incident happen and the other driver ended up getting caught and cited by the police for it.

The driver is a minor, so his father is handling the ordeal.  He is very insistent that we not go through insurance, so he would like to pay me directly for the damage to my vehicle.

My question is: what is his likely motivation for wanting to go that route?  Is his motive purely financial (i.e., not have his insurance rates raised) or is there some legal benefit to him paying for my damage out of pocket?

I live in the state of North Carolina.


texts:
I was reading an article about a paedophile in Scotland that abused teenagers in the UK but also the USA through the internet. Here is a link to the news story Independent article

Given that some of the victims reside in the United States of America, I was surprised that he was not extradited there. However, from my understanding of Double Jeopardy this should be impossible since he would be punished twice for the same crime.

I found another article where a paedophile from Scotland was not extradited to the USA for the same type of crime, however I could not understand the article. It appears he was kept in Scotland because of his condition more than anything else... scottishlegal article

My question is whether in the UK (England and Wales) somebody could be extradited to the USA for the same offence? What if they had already been charged for it in the UK?


texts:
Bob has a life insurance policy, which listed his now ex-wife first and ex-stepchild second as the beneficiaries.

Under Pennsylvania law, any designation of a spouse as a beneficiary in an estate-planning document is automatically revoked, following a divorce.  Does this also preclude the grown, adult stepchild from collecting the life insurance?

Bob has no other family, and no one else is listed as a beneficiary.


texts: Can publishing restrictions be "circumvented" by encrypting the contents?

texts:
Let's say I've legally purchased a copy of Best Book Ever.pdf, and the item is copyrighted and I'm not allowed to publish it. Can I encrypt it and store it online on an open server without telling anyone the password? If yes, can I circumvent the "no publishing" restriction by simply setting a weak password and uploading it online, such that anyone can download and crack the password?
To clarify:

The file is hosted on a public server. Everyone knows it's there and what it is.
The file is encrypted with an unknown but very weak password
Anyone who downloads the file and cracks the password is doing so illegally without my consent. I simply don't report most cases.
Without the password, the file is just another blob of random data
If someone reports me for copyright infringement, I can say that they stole my file without my consent, as it was encrypted (2).

Question: Can I use point 5 to invalidate the evidence?


texts: How to relicense content with unknown license as CC-BY-SA?

texts:
I have recently became an owner of a creepypasta story website based on Mediawiki. This website seems to have no explicit content license, and the only legally binding text shown when creating or editing pages is following:

Please note that all contributions to {{SITENAME}} may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you don't want your material to be edited mercilessly, then don't submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from the resource that allows free redistribution and modification of their content.

Which is very similar to old Mediawiki copyright warning. The website also does not have any legal entity associated — domain and hosting are owned by non-entrepreneur private person, and website itself does not make any profit — there are no ads, no donations etc.
I would like to make all aforementioned content explicitly (re)licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0 or CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0. Can I just claim that all website content is now under CC-BY-SA, or do I have to perform any additional actions?
How should I deal with orphaned works (e.g. creepypasta obtained from unknown sources, or written by authors that have left no contact information)? Does the aforementioned notice give me the right to threat all that content as compatible with CC-BY-SA? Who should I attribute as an author then?
Disclaimer: I am not looking for real, qualified legal advice here, so no strings attached.


texts: Does a town have to have a justification for a zoning restriction?

texts:
In one town near me there is a town that has zoning restrictions like, if an addition is over so-and-so many square feet it must have planning board approval.

This would seem to be capricious interference with property rights. If the house is on a multi-acre lot and is not visible from any public roads, what business is it of the town, how big an addition is? It seems like interfering with building for the sake of being nosy and interfering. Since it costs money and time to seek such approvals, it is a real cost being imposed.

Is this kind of rule illegal, can I contest it in court, or do towns have the right to make arbitrary or pointless zoning restrictions at their whim?


texts: What happens if my spouse won't attend court for divorce procedure?

texts: Going through divorce process with my wife, she signed the notice and acknowledgment of receipt but she refuse to attend divorce proceedings, arguing that the documents I filled using online divorce service onlinedivorcer.com not legit and don't have a power.Is it possible that court will force me to remain in the marriage if she don't agree on divorce? Is there any issue with documents if I used help from side to fill them?


texts: Are leases with the US National Forest Service public information?

texts:
The US National Forest service enters into leases with individuals that entitle the lease holder to use National Forest land for some explicitly outlined purpose.  These leases are called special-use authorizations and you can read about them here.  Examples of these authorizations or leases include many large ski resorts, 14,000 or so cabins that are part of the Forest Service "Cabin Program", and many others.

My question is, are the terms of existing authorizations (permits, term permits, leases, easements) available to the public?  If I want to see how much a certain ski resort pays the US Forest Service for use of their land and for how long they have secured rights to that land, can I look that information up somewhere?  If not, then is this the type of the thing that would be subject to a FOIA request?


texts:
If a corporation is criminally charged while handling privacy data wrongly (assume such a law  exists if it does not) in India who is liable? Is it the chairman, deparment of privacy, employees involved, the majority shareholder who financed the company or someone else?
Assume the company was not set up just to do illegal activity and the majority shareholder and chairman took reasonable steps to ensure privacy and left the rest to privacy experts and lawyers in the privacy department.


texts: Is it legal to advertise private paid labor over academic email?

texts:
Is it legal for a public university employee to advertise private paid labor over an academic email sent to other university employees?
Would this issue be university-specific, in the US, or is there a federal law that directly contradicts this use of academic tools and infrastructures?

Could you reference in answers the legal texts directly, appreciated if possible.


texts: Is forging a signature a crime in Australia?

texts:
My landlord has dishonestly processed the security bond refund form without my knowledge. The landlord forged my signature to claim half of the bond, to which he is not entitled.

The landlord dishonestly presented himself as the agent when he is in actual fact the owner of the house.

I applied to the tribunal regarding the rest of my bond, but what should I do regarding the forgery of my signature. Is there any action can be taken against the landlord. Can I ask for compensation?

I am trying my best to be courtious and friendly, but he is being racist and rude towards me.


texts: Copyright for book covers from Google Books API

texts:
Do I have the right to display a book cover in my mobile application assuming it's provided by Google Books and I give Google credits?

(I don't earn money, don't display ads and don't copy the image on my server)


texts: Purview of and relations between notes on 2006/42/EC

texts:
Within European industry, every machine manufacturer has to comply with Directive 2006/42/EC, otherwise known as the Machine Directive (MD).

Before the articles of this directive start, there are a couple of points (notes) mentioned about the grounds and objective of this directive. Note 28 (on my copy page 5) states:

  (28) Since the objective of this Directive, namely, to lay down the essential health and safety requirements in relation to design and manufacture in order to improve the safety of machinery placed on the market, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.

Article 5 talks about ensuring coordination and taking initiatives to ensure this coordination.

This note makes sense, although it reads a bit superfluous. If they feel the need to, they'll create additional measures. If they hadn't stated that, they could probably still do that. Although, previously it looked like this should be done by private parties instead. Note 18 (page 4, same document):

  (18) This Directive defines only the essential health and safety requirements of general application, supplemented by a number of more specific requirements for certain categories of machinery. In order to help manufacturers to prove conformity to these essential requirements, and to allow inspection of conformity to the essential requirements, it is desirable to have standards that are harmonised at Community level for the prevention of risks arising out of the design and construction of machinery. These standards are drawn up by private-law bodies and should retain their non-binding status.

They are probably talking about parties like CENELEC here.

And then, there's note 29 (page 5):

  (29) In accordance with point 34 of the Interinstitutional Agreement on better law-making (2), Member States are encouraged to draw up, for themselves and in the interests of the Community, their own tables illustrating, as far as possible, the correlation between this Directive and the transposition measures, and to make them public.

If they wanted a better coordination, it would make sense to keep the content of note 29 on the Community level or with the bodies from note 18, but now we have multiple (one for each Member State) third-parties.

It's quite possible I'm misunderstanding or misinterpreting these notes, so I'm asking how these notes should be interpreted and what the specific purview of these 3 notes is. Especially in relation to each other.


texts: Can a college in Georgia be legally required to let you have equal opportunity to take an exam when their required 3rd party software causes issues?

texts:
Circumstances: I am a Sophomore at a University System of Georgia college, and am required to take Spanish for my degree. The professor requires students to purchase a license to 3rd party software in order to access all course content, instead of hosting the content on the provided college platform which has most needed capabilities. Start of the semester, I had to shell out about 100 bucks for the privilege of being able to access the course I already paid for. Part of the 3rd party software is testing that requires yet another browser extension for proctoring tests. One feature that this plugin has that the college-provided testing platform does not is that if it thinks you are attempting to exit the full screen proctoring page, after 30 seconds of continued attempts it will lock you out and end the exam.
The issue: I was taking my final on my family computer which I have taken other proctored tests on before without issue, and when I was mostly done, a pop-up windows notification came up, putting the window out of full screen. The page and computer froze since the laptop is not high end, and by the time it unfroze, 30 seconds had passed and the exam was closed. I emailed my instructor about it immediately, requesting that it be reopened, but the next morning I got a reply that it could not be reopened without resetting all progress on the exam, which was not an option. They sent me two of the remaining questions which were reading comprehension and let me answer those, but  other than that I cannot go back and finish the exam.
I am worried that I might fail the class due to the weight the exam grade holds, and at the very least I think my grade will be significantly impacted for the worse. Are they legally required to give me an equal opportunity as other students to finish the exam, since it was their software that they forced us to purchase that had an issue which I couldn't control?


texts:
Would a journalist who copied another journalist's work substantially be accused of copyright infringement?
Are journalists able to use the 'fair dealing' as per U.K. law to make use of one's work without suffering repercussions?
What if the copied work was incorporated in an article for his employer?


texts: Requiring customers to keep contact information updated?

texts:
I recently saw this update from Comcast's XFINITY. This is mostly a question out of curiosity, but also borne out of skepticism at Comcast.

  Under the new agreement we require you to notify us of changes to your telephone number and other contact information so we can ensure that we are contacting the correct person in accordance with applicable laws.

My first question is this: if we fail to update Comcast with our contact information (particularly if not on purpose, say, we change phone # but forget to update), are there legal consequences?

My second question is this: What are these "applicable laws" that Comcast is referring to? This is where my skepticism comes into play - is this appeal to the law merely a "power play" by Comcast in the TOC to get compliance?

FWIW, I am all for keeping my service companies updated with my info, particularly if there are updates. I just find this section kind of 'coercive' [1] - it seems quite natural that we customers would want to keep our service companies updated, and so "requiring" this for the purpose of "lawfulness" seems kind of weird.

[1]: not sure if this is the right word, just the first word that came to mind


texts: Is it a violation of HIPAA to say that a baby was born?

texts: If a medical worker tells someone the first name of a child born at a hospital on that day, is that a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ? Does it make a difference if the hospital publicly posts a photo of said newborn on Facebook with his name?


texts: Can I surprise the prosecution with an alibi defense at trial?

texts:
Let's say I've been accused of a murder.  Throughout the investigation I've plead the Fifth as to where I was when the crime happened.  Eventually I'm put on trial, still pleading the fifth as to my whereabouts during the crime.
Then, when put on the stand during the trial, I finally tell the court, and jurors, that I had an airtight alibi the entire time and have just refused to share it until now.  Let's say the alibi could result in some trivial criminal charges being filed, like loitering, so I do have the right to claim I had reason to fear bearing witness to myself.
I'm wondering what would happen at this point.  The prosecution wouldn't have had a chance to prepare for this revelation, but they can't say that I or my lawyer acted wrongly if I only now decided to testify.  Would this be cause for a mistrial?
Would it matter if this was a legal strategy?  For instance what if I tell my lawyer "I don't want to reveal my alibi unless you think there is a greater then 50% chance the jury will find me guilty."  Can my lawyer continue as normal, knowing I may surprise the defense if I deem the odds of going to jail too high, or is he in a position where he has to say something once he knows I'm intentionally withholding information to surprise the prosecution?
As to why anyone would do this, I can think of two reasons.  1) I know who did it and was willing to take the chances at court to protect the real person until it became clear I'll likely lose, 2) I did the crime, but the prosecution has the theory of the crime all wrong, and so I'm intentionally looking to undermine the prosecution by surprising them with an alibi in hopes of convincing the jury that the prosecution didn't do their 'homework' and thus I'm innocent.


texts: Are there any situations where SCOTUS is required as first step?

texts:
As far as I know, when the cases are heard by Federal judiciary, they are first heard by lower level courts, and only get escalated to SCOTUS once appealed from a ruling by a circuit court.

Is that the case for 100% of cases? Or are there any situations where SCOTUS is required as first step (either Constitutionally or by statute)?


texts:
A UK-based recruitment website focusing specifically on the technology industry has somehow obtained a copy of LinkedIn's public profile database and are hosting it on their own website as if it were their own data. The information in question is a copy and is not sourced live; as such, when information on LinkedIn is edited, the data on this website does not change.

After editing my LinkedIn profile last year to make it private and to hide information that could be used to identify and locate me (something I want to go to all lengths to avoid), I found this website carrying a copy of my profile as it once appeared on LinkedIn. The website in question appears to have been started around May of this year – 2017 – so it is anyone's guess where this LinkedIn data came from, but it is absolutely out-of-date, as it shows information I specifically went out of my way to hide.

I have made repeated attempts to contact this company, but they are making a point of ignoring my emails, going as far as to place a mandate to create an account in order to view profiles (I believe to throw me off the scent). I have sent the ICO several emails but they are not responding. I have spoken to the people hosting the website in an attempt to go over the heads of the management, who clearly do not care, but have not heard anything back so far.

As I understand it this is a gross invasion of my privacy. I never gave the website or company in question my personal information, but they are hosting it regardless as if they have my consent. I have made it clear to them in the emails they have ignored that they do not. As I understand it, I have a right under the Data Protection Act to demand these people remove the data they have on me, but even so, I do not know what my next avenue should be.

My question is – is there anything I can do to get them to listen without having to hire a solicitor and take this to court?


texts: Establishing legal ownership of intangible property under technical control by an individual or 3rd party

texts:
How would one establish legal ownership of intangible property that is under technical control of a owner, employee or 3rd party?

Examples:

Domain name: The email address for the account at the registrar typically belongs to an individual.
Facebook page: Facebook requires that the administrator of a page be an individual. This individual has complete control of the page and is effectively the owner.
Any other accounts on 3rd party services that require registration by an individual.

Followup Question

What would be the preferred way set up and manage accounts owned by the business for accounts on services that require they be attached to an individual; or what stackexchange should I direct this question to?

Goal:

The goal is to prevent a rogue admin from hijacking the intangible property, and getting away with it (business has no legal recourse).


texts:
In looking at Texas stalking laws, especially since 2015, in Section 42.072, it appears that even the following actions are illegal:

Person A and Person B are in an online but intimate and romantic relationship. Both live in Texas.
From time to time one of them gets upset at the other and blocks the other from their social media page. But at some point they make up and resume the relationship.

Person A blocks Person B. This time for a month.

Person B thinks something is wrong so Person B attempts to contact Person A using email, social media, phone, texts, etc. Person B attempts for a month to make contact.
Person B sends several gifts to Person A's house. At no point does Person A respond in any way.

None of the messages Person B sends threatens violence in any way, nor is intended to annoy, harass or embarrass. (words used in the new Texas law)

Person B drove by Person A's house at one time, but didn't knock or attempt contact.

These attempts went on for about 2 months. Person B then gives up.

Person A then files stalking charges against Person B.

From looking at Texas law, it appears that Person B has unwittingly committed several violations of the law if Person A feels annoyed in any way.

Is this true? Or does there have to be intent? If so, how hard is intent to prove?


texts: My question is about ignorance of the law. My organization has used the term "simple majority" incorrectly for 70 years. We recently learned we use a plurality vote but called it "simple majority" in all of our documents. For 70 years we have voted for Bylaws, policies, elections, motions -- anything we have ever voted on, one over the other wins. Ten to 9, 10 won. We are now in a position to legally defend out standard procedure, even though incorrectly stated in policy. Would ignorance of the law pertain in this type civil case? Thank you


texts: Doesn't COPPA incentivize mislabeling Youtube videos?

texts:
My understanding of the current situation with Youtube and COPPA is that Google was collecting private data (comments, viewing history, email addresses) about kids, which is a clear violation of COPPA.  It has nothing to do with the content of the videos the kids watched.

With this in mind, wouldn't an uploader, besides the obvious income and channel functionality restrictions that come with it, set all their videos as "Made for Kids" so as to avoid the $42,000 fine for collecting data on kids whether the videos are actually made for kids or not?

What I'm getting at, if it's not clear, is that I think youtubers who make grey area content will be incentivized to say more of their videos are for kids than actually are.  Say for example I make adult-oriented parody animations about obviously child-oriented intellectual properties.  The parodies are within Youtube's ToS, but they're not appropriate for children.  Maybe for example it's Mario swearing or Sonic doing drugs.  I may be afraid of the gigantic fines, and mark all my videos as "Made for Kids" so an FTC algorithm or entry-level employee doesn't bankrupt me.

It seems like the penalties for getting it wrong in each direction are very asymmetric.  Marking a video as "Made for Kids" when it didn't need to be seems to just hurt your income; at worst it'd be a ToS violation.  Marking a video as "Not Made for Kids" when the FTC disagrees could be a $42,000 fine on top of a ToS violation.

Am I correct?


texts:
Alice has a business relationship with Bob, which involves both keeping contact information and enough physical interaction to count as a contact.  Charlie contacts Alice and requests Bobs contact details without proving their identity.  As I understand it to share this information would be a breach of article 5(1)(f) the GDPR in that Alice has not "ensure[d] appropriate security of the personal data", and would therefore be illegal.

If Charlie claims, but does not prove, to be working for the UK test and trace service does this change the situation?  Note that it is reported that the test and trace contacts are protected only by "it'll be obvious you're talking to a professional".


texts: Is Baarle-Hertog/Baarle-Nassau the only case where businesses fall under multiple same-level jurisdictions because the border goes through them?

texts:
Baarle-Hertog and Baarle-Nassau are an international village on the border between Belgium and the Netherlands where a store literally can be located in 2 countries at once: a Belgian part and a Dutch part. Lately, the COVID-19 crisis has caused a weird situation where stores in the Baarle-Hertog section must be closed, but the stores in Baarle-Nassau can stay open. In this case, the stores that are in both sections at once can remain open IF the front door is in Baarle-Nassau (front door determines where you live), BUT they need to close off the section that's located in Baarle-Hertog. I don't know whether this is because Belgium ordered all stores to be closed or because Belgium closed their border, but the end result is that these stores essentially can't sell part of their stock because it's located in the Belgian section.

I'm wondering whether there are other cases where a business that's located directly over the border between 2 legal entities with separate jurisdictions needs to adhere to 2 separate jurisdictions that might even conflict with each other. Someone thought Texarkana in the USA on the Texas/Arkansas border might have that, but they weren't sure themselves, and checking now it appears that the border runs right down the middle of a street at all times, so it might not apply here.


texts: Entry to US on green card. Do I have to present a passport of the country of origin or should any passport suffice (or ID)?

texts:
I'm a dual citizen with 2 passports. Let's say passport A and passport B.
Passport A is the country of birth / country of origin. Passport B I acquired later in life before immigration to US.

Upon entering US I presented my greencard and was fully prepared to also show my passport. When asked to show one I showed my passport B. I was then surprised that the immigration officer didn't accept the passport B and asked me to present passport A. When I asked for the reason the reply was look at your green card (where the country of origin is) it says Passport A, you have to show me passport A.

I was under impression that I am entitled to show any passport as long as I have at least one I should be permitted to enter is that not true ?


texts: Can the President be removed from office if he is deemed, by competent authority, to be unfit to carry out his duties?

texts: Suppose, for example, that a sitting President is diagnosed with a mental illness that a competent authority decides makes the President unable to carry out his duties, but the President refuses to step down. Assuming this President commits no impeachable crimes, can he still be removed?


texts: Is it illegal to carry a foam baseball bat as a prop on Halloween in the UK?

texts:
I am thinking of doing a 'Jacket' from Hotline Miami cosplay/dress up perhaps for Halloween or a convention. I am trying to think about props, but I am worried about the laws against having anything appearing realistic and potentially getting into any trouble or harm. I would not be holding a fake gun, I am aware of that law, and also did some research on real baseball bats and the legality of being in possession of one.

Would a foam baseball bat like this one used as a prop still be okay to carry?

If I read on their company's site correctly, it is lightweight, and the plastic rod is inside in the middle and the foam surrounds it to make the look of the bat and there is a wood print on it. I was going to apply a couple bandages and potentially use a bit of brushed on fake blood to complete the look, but I am uncertain if I can get in trouble out on Halloween night for this even though it isn't real. I would also be wearing a rooster mask over my head.

I do not intend to cause distress to the public at all, and it would simply be used as a prop. I will most likely be with a couple uni friends going straight to another friend's party a few streets away if it was for Halloween. For a convention such as MCM Comic Con, however, I will search the rules and ask them about this also if necessary.


texts: What happens if I don't pay a speeding ticket from New Mexico?

texts: What happens if I don't pay a speeding ticket and am a foreigner? I recently found out, since it is not my native language, that it wasn't just a warning -  it was actually a ticket.


texts: Can a manager kick you out for being trans in North Carolina

texts:
36 minutes ago
They kicked me out for being trans and going to my preferred bathroom. I get not using the lady's restroom if I had a big beard but I don't have a beard I wasn't doing anything in there but fixing my hair and makeup


texts: In Canada, is it legal to sell downloaded and printed textbooks?

texts: I downloaded several PDF files of text books from Library Genesis, and had them printed and bound for better reading experience. Now I've finished reading them, and plan to sell them on websites like Kijiji. Is that legal in Canada?


texts: How long can the police hold a car that they're using for evidence?

texts:
My friend is going through the following in California:

She purchased a car roughly three years ago and uses it for everyday tasks. The police towed her car and told her that it was possibly used in a crime before she bought it. They didn't disclose the crime, but she thinks it's a homicide based on scanning the documents he had.

How long can they hold onto the car before having to return it? Can she claim that this is causing a hardship and either get it back, or have the police dept pay for a rental? Is it possible that she never gets it back and it's a total loss?


texts: The European Union has 24 official languages, and EU legislation is published in all of them.  How does the court resolve inconsistencies in interpretation that might arise because of mistranslations, or because of different connotations that a word might have in one language but not another?


texts:
The company I work for sells several products.  One has a title that lines up very well in the One Ring poem from Tolkien's LOTR.  I would essentially be replacing the phrase One Ring with the product title, and either leaving the rest the same, or perhaps a slight modification to the last line.  Is there any way this falls under fair use or would I need to get permission to do this?

The product in no way relates to anything Tolkien or fantasy or fiction for that matter. I don't believe it could be seen as an endorsement.


texts: Does this lease clause provide a one sided exit for the landlord?

texts:
In the Greater Boston Real Estate Board Standard Lease Form, Section 8, it says

  In the event the Lessor is not able through no fault of his own to deliver the leased premises to the Lessee at the time called for
  herein, the rent shall be abated on a pro rata basis [...], which abatement shall constitute full settlement of all damages caused by such delay, or the Lessor, at his election, shall be allowed reasonable time to deliver possession of the leased premises, and if he cannot deliver such possession within 30 days from the beginning of said term, either the Lessor or Lessee may then terminate this lease [...]

This seems to say that if landlord can't deliver premises at the specified time (through no fault of his own at the specified time), he can either pro-rate rent, or continue not delivering the premises for 30 days, after which he can just terminate the lease.

Does this allow a landlord to easily terminate the lease within the first 30 days, as long as he never delivers the premises?

I'm assuming that it would be easy to prove that it was initially through no fault of his own ("The contractors showed up late/took longer than expected"). Obviously I don't think it's very likely that a landlord would forego an entire lease worth of rent instead of pro-rating, but landlords can be sleazy and weird.


texts: Is blocking someone from getting a vaccine illegal?

texts:
If a vaccine has a definite proven effect in protecting someone from getting a deadly disease, is blocking them from accessing the vaccine illegal?  What laws would be broken?
I'm reading several news stories at the moment which are talking about a variety of situations which would potentially result in someone not getting a Coronavirus vaccine.  These include spreading information against the vaccine and encouraging people not to have it, "jumping the queue" to get a vaccine ahead of someone who was entitled to it and destroying the vaccine so it cannot be used.
I do not want to get into debates on the effectiveness of the vaccine or the harm or reality of Coronavirus, so let's use a hypothetical PurpleVaccine that will prevent 50 of 100 people from dying from PurplePlague, where PurplePlague is endemic in the community and there is 100% chance that a person will catch it within the next month.  PurpleVaccine has no known side-effects.

Alice tells Bob that PurpleVaccine will kill 90 of 100 people and scares him so he does not get PurpleVaccine.
David (Charlotte's father) forbids Charlotte from getting PurpleVaccine and locks her in her room.
Elaine jumps the queue and gets vaccinated in Fred's place.  Fred can not now be vaccinated for another month
Harry destroys the supply of PurpleVaccine so Gina cannot be vaccinated

If Bob, Charlotte, Fred and Gina all die from PurplePlague, would anyone be liable for manslaughter or other charges?
I'm initially thinking about US jurisdiction, but viewpoints from other jurisdictions would be of interest.


texts: Blizzard's EULA for map editor claims that all content created in it is their sole property

texts:
Recently release Warcraft III Reforged's EULA includes this passage:

  Ownership Custom Games are and shall remain the sole and exclusive property of Blizzard. Without limiting the foregoing, you hereby
  assign to Blizzard all of your rights, title, and interest in and to
  all Custom Games, including but not limited to any copyrights in the
  content of any Custom Games. If for any reason you are prevented or
  restricted from assigning any rights in the Custom Games to Blizzard,
  you grant to Blizzard an exclusive, perpetual, worldwide,
  unconditional, royalty free, irrevocable license enabling Blizzard to
  fully exploit the Custom Games (or any component thereof) for any
  purpose and in any manner whatsoever.

"Custom games" refers to maps created in their map editor, with all the geography, design, special code to handle custom logic, potential custom graphics and sound assets. I'm also told that StarCraft II map editor's EULA is mostly similar.

This, apparently, is their way to combat previous "DotA case", when extremely popular custom map for original WC3 evolved into entire new genre of MOBA, while Blizzard failed to recognize and acquire it and entered said genre far beyond their competition.

I'm under impression, that no EULA for a content-creating tool can bind me to give up my rights to authors of tool - after all pretty much all the electronic content ever produced is created with tools of somebody else's making - IDEs, graphics and sound editors, etc. This EULA, however, explicitly says that I "assign all of my rights", which in addition to giving Blizzard full royalty-free use, would also prevent me, the author from later remaking the map/game on another engine - be it some licensed one, or completely my own.

So, would such claims in EULA fly in court? I'm interested in USA and general EU answers.


texts: I'm thinking about starting a business that uses written melodies as artwork (making a poster using the sheet music of somebody's favourite song, for example). I would be transcribing the tunes by ear and would only be using the melody, not the complete piece. Would it still be illegal for me to publish and sell somebody else's work if it's not intended to be used for performance?


texts: How should "And" and "Or" be used when listing items in a contract?

texts:
In a contract, if there is a list where each item in the list is to be upheld, should the word “or” or “and” be used?

For example say there is a lease which aims to prohibit illegal activity in a house. What is the difference between stating:

1) “No illegal activity is permitted in the house, including manufacturing OR selling drugs”

vs

2) “No illegal activity is permitted in the house, including manufacturing AND selling drugs”.

It would seem 2) is more correct as AND is showing the list is being added to, but could someone argue they were only selling drugs in the house, but not making them?

I know this is a bit of a silly example, but I red at the end of the day it’s really what someone can convince the jury of. What if someone really did interpret the contract that way (because they were dumb) then would that hold in court?


texts:
Is it legal to sell generic magsafe power adapters? magsafe is a type of charger made by Apple. I am a reseller and I have been selling these for quite some time. There are millions of them on ebay and amazon. I know little about law. I received an email from one of the sites i sell on today. Here it is:

We removed some of your listings because of a rights owner complaint about items that may infringe their intellectual property rights. These items may be inauthentic. Examples of these items are below:

Power Adapter 60W Magsafe charger For Apple MacBook Pro 13 Inch with US plugs

If you want to resolve this dispute, contact the rights owner:

Apple Inc.
brandprotection@mm-apple.com

If resolved, ask the rights owner to contact us at________ to withdraw their complaint. Do not relist the items that caused the complaint until you resolve the dispute.

If the rights owner contacts us to withdraw their complaint, we will reinstate your listings. If we receive more complaints about your listings, we may not allow you to sell on _________

Please keep in mind that I did not make this listing. The product is already in the sites catalog. Nor did i claim to be an apple product or have apples logo . The listings brand says "generic" and "replacement for apple magsafe"


texts: Are apps "delivered by a door-to-door salesman" in any way, according to FTC rules?

texts:
If a person buys an app on the Google Play store, is the person "buying from a door-to-door salesman" or not?
That is, the FTC has a mandatory 3-day "Cooling-off Period for Sales Made at Home or Other Locations."
I'm asking because the buyer does not visit any physical location, but no salesman comes to the buyer's house.  Does the 3-day cooling-off period apply?


texts: Using "Educational Use" to circumvent copy-protection?

texts:
Does this link mean "educational use" gets a free pass on circumventing copy protection.

17 U.S. Code § 1201 - Circumvention of copyright protection systems
Specifically this section.
(d)Exemption for Nonprofit Libraries, Archives, and Educational Institutions.—  (1) A nonprofit library, archives, or educational
institution which gains access to a commercially exploited copyrighted
work solely in order to make a good faith determination of whether to
acquire a copy of that work for the sole purpose of engaging in
conduct permitted under this title shall not be in violation of
subsection (a)(1)(A). A copy of a work to which access has been gained
under this paragraph—  (A) may not be retained longer than necessary
to make such good faith determination; and  (B) may not be used for
any other purpose.

In the answer explain/translate the legalese in terms that an average person could understand please.


texts: How should I conduct myself in a UK magistrate's court?

texts:
The background on this is that I sold my first motor vehicle to a scrap yard to be disassembled for parts and/or sold. Unfortunately for whatever reason the V5 form (official document providing proof of registration of a motor vehicle) must have not found its way to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and as such I have remained the registered keeper of the car even though the vehicle is no longer in my possession.

Approximately four months ago I received a letter from the DVLA informing me that said car I had sold was uninsured, and I must pay a £100 fine.  Unfortunately I did not take the initial letter seriously and put it to the back of my mind. I then received a second letter pushing the urgency of the matter and threatening with court.  At this point I rang the DVLA where a helpful woman told me the only way I can get around this was to write a letter to the DVLA explaining the situation. She also outlined a list of points to include. I promptly wrote said letter and had it sent by Royal Mail as second class postage.

This week I have received a third and final letter summoning me to my local magistrate's court.  I have already sought out the scrap company and they have written an email confirming the car was purchased by them 3 months before the DVLA have the vehicle as being registered uninsured.  I will also be writing to them again whilst sending in my "not guilty" plea. I have already suggested I will pay the fine in return for them updating their records but I have been told this is no longer an option.

I have a couple of questions regarding this whole ordeal:

Will an email document be evidence enough? Should I go to the scrapyard in person and ask for a signed hand-written document basically outlining exactly what was said in the email or will this be a pointless endeavor?
Exactly how should I conduct myself in the magistrates court? I have no idea how the proceedings go, even basic things such as how do I address the judge and basic guidance on how to conduct myself in the court room?

Any guidance will be appreciated, I may seek out a solicitor but as a young adult who has just moved into my first home the purse strings are tight at the minute and I am unsure if this step is even entirely necessary.


texts: Why wont music streaming services like Spotify, Soundclound, Napster allow their API to be used in games?

texts:
I've been searching around for a music streaming service that can be integrated and used in a rhythm game, but I've found that all I've looked at so far (Spotify, Soundcloud, Napster) explicitly state that I cannot use their service in a game.

Could someone help me figure out why this is?

I guess it could have something to do with the music not having 100% of the user's focus, but I really don't know.


texts: Reference request: A lawyer's take on the novel _Starman Jones_?

texts:
A lawyer named James Stone has a Youtube channel on which he posts his analyses of movies that involve legal matters – usually civil or criminal lawsuits. I've wondered about a lawyer's take on a certain novel and as far as I know he hasn't done those.
Has anything been published – a book review or any sort of essay – in which a lawyer has analyzed this story from a lawyer's point of view?
The events take place after laws forbid entry into high-paying professions without inheriting a union membership, and they forbid working in most respectable jobs without paying an apprentice fee to join a union. Setting the story in the future means the laws of intestate succession, which play a role, and some other things, may differ from what exists now, but one thing that hasn't changed since 1953 (the date of publication) is rigid traditional gender roles: all husbands support their wives.
The story has a really unusually high incidence of explicit discussion of legal and moral issues, but done in such a way that those don't interrupt the adventure-story nature of the novel, in part by being focused sharply on the application of those issues to the protagonist's situation.
The novel is Starman Jones by Robert Heinlein. The protagonist fraudulently claims a record of service as a crewman on ships that transport passengers and freight, and membership in the requisite union, in order to get another such job.

His father had told him, when he knew he was dying, “Take care of your mother, son.” Well, he had done so. He had made a crop every year—food in the house and a little money, even if things had been close. When the mule died, he had made do, borrowing McAllister's team and working it out in labor.But had Dad meant that he had to take care of his stepmother even if she remarried? It had never occurred to him to consider it. Dad had told him to look out for her and he had done so, even though it had put a stop to school and did not seem to have any end to it.But she was no longer Mrs. Jones but Mrs. Montgomery. Had Dad meant for him support Mrs. Montgomery?Of course not! When a woman married, her husband supported her.  Everybody knew that. And Dad wouldn't expect him to put up with Montgomery. He stood up, his mind suddenly made up.

and later:

The library book had been burning a hole in his rucksack; at Oklahoma City he noticed a postal box near the freight depot and, on impulse, dropped the book into it. After he had mailed it he felt a twinge of worry that he might have given a clue to his whereabouts that would get back to Montgomery, but he suppressed the worry—the book had to be returned. Vagrancy in the eyes of the law had not worried him, nor trespass, nor impersonating a licensed teamster—but filching a book was a sin.

And it becomes important that the laws in force aboard a ship go wherever the ship goes. And then later:

Mr. Jones, a ship is not just steel, it is a delicate political entity whose laws and customs cannot be disregarded without inviting disaster.

A published analysis by an expert on both law and morality would be exactly what I wonder about but maybe that's a long shot. A book review by a lawyer commenting specifically on the legalities would also be responsive.


texts: What kinds of crimes do not affect persons or property?

texts:
A crime is a public offense, so I would think that anything that constitutes a crime has some kind of influence on one or more persons or property, i.e. it changes the public universe in some negative way.

According to a recent CA Criminal Justice exam of mine, "A person may be guilty of a crime even where his or her act has no immediate effect upon the person or property of another." "Immediate" is not further defined. If this is true, what are some examples?


texts: Where can I find the past laws for the state of Kansas?

texts:
I was doing some research about a claimed law in kansas, which I have decided most likely isn't in effect now, but it's likely that it was passed at some point (between 1915-1953).

I was able to find current kansas laws but not past ones.

Is there somewhere I can search through past legislation in Kansas?