All Questions
2,825
questions
15
votes
4
answers
3k
views
Could all participants of the recent Capitol invasion be charged over the death of Officer Brian D. Sicknick?
Prosecutors in the US Attorney's office plan to open a federal murder investigation into the death of Brian D. Sicknick, a US Capitol Police officer who died Thursday night, a law enforcement official ...
13
votes
5
answers
2k
views
Is "legalese" necessary?
I've noticed large corporations use language in their legal documents that sounds very different than how a normal person would speak. Is there a point to using legalese or is old fashioned plain ...
- 665
12
votes
1
answer
107k
views
Can you legally defend yourself against an attacking police officer?
If a police officer physically attacks you, with or without intent to arrest, can you legally defend yourself? Assume that the police officer punches/kicks/grabs first, and you are not guilty of any ...
- 2,137
12
votes
1
answer
859
views
Trade restrictions on open source software
Apparently the US has put Huawei on a trade blacklist that prevents US companies to trade with Huawei. With hardware and proprietary software it is straightforward how this can be executed (don't make ...
- 318
12
votes
2
answers
3k
views
What exactly are an officer's requirements in order to demand ID in the US (New York)?
I watched a YouTube video recently which depicted the following situation, and I'd like to learn more about what peoples' rights are and what an officer's obligations are in a situation like this:
A ...
- 1,418
11
votes
2
answers
1k
views
How to properly maintain website footer copyright notice?
There are often 3 copyright notice formats one might come across in the footer of website:
Copyright © [Year the site or page was published]-[Year always kept current]
Copyright © [Year this page on ...
- 284
11
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Is there such thing as reasonable expectation for delivery time?
I ordered a chair from a store here in town. Delivery estimate according to the receipt is 10-12 weeks. The receipt says if I cancel the order I have to pay a 25% restocking fee.
Twelve weeks has ...
- 113
10
votes
6
answers
18k
views
Can a store detective search my bag without my consent?
If I am approached by a store detective and accused of stealing something can they search my bag without my consent? Or putting this another way, can I insist that any search be done by the police and ...
- 151
9
votes
2
answers
168k
views
To what extent is suicide legal in the U.S. and in individual states?
At one point, legal scholars referred to suicide as a form of self-murder (for example, see Coke or Hale).
Are those who take their own lives guilty of some crime, or have some forms of the act been ...
- 6,068
9
votes
5
answers
8k
views
Why aren't all guilty people charged with perjury
Say you are convicted of murder, for example. When you go to court, and plead not guilty under oath, isn't that perjury, since you're lying by saying that you didn't do it?
"Perjury is a ...
- 213
9
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Are cops required by law to have "reasonable suspicion" in order to detain a person? If so, do they have to inform the detainee about the suspicion?
I was stopped while cycling on hwy 59 in Texas, about 50 miles south of Huston.
Officer started asking me questions about my travels.
I asked: "Have I done anything illegal?
Officer: "No, but I ...
- 534
9
votes
1
answer
377
views
As of 2020, have any GDPR-related court judgements been successfully enforced on companies without presence in the EU?
The GDPR has been in effect for 2 years now and theoretically applies to any company on the planet which deals with personal data belonging to EU residents. But practically speaking, enforcing this ...
- 4,296
9
votes
3
answers
4k
views
What if I did something that was a crime, but has now become legal?
There was a question recently about what happens if I do something that is legal today but becomes illegal in the future. The obvious question is what happens in the opposite case? If I do something ...
- 32.9k
8
votes
1
answer
665
views
What jurisdictions could a crime committed in an internet chat room fall under?
This arose from an actual conversation in chat. The question was originally posed by Doorknob.
Let's say that someone denied the Holocaust in a message posted in a Stack Exchange chat room. This is a ...
- 2,961
8
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Is it really possible to use Google Analytics without consent, and if so, why exactly?
I'm asking about the GDPR and the European Union. Lots of websites claim that it is possible to use Google Analytics without asking for the user's consent. Even some answers here suggest that it is ...
- 1,828
8
votes
2
answers
9k
views
Must the reason for a permanent ban for a paid online game be provided?
Suppose that a fully automated anti-cheat system (claimed by a company to be 99.99% accurate) wrongfully and permanently banned a player from a game that requires a one-time fee to begin playing, ...
- 189
8
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Is it legal for a restaurant to not accept cash?
I recently went to Sweetgreen (a make your own salad place) for the first time. When I got to the end of the counter and was ready to pay, I tried to hand the cashier a $20, but he said "I'm sorry sir,...
- 359
8
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Can a natural US person hold citizenship while remaining non-juridical?
What law should be referenced regarding when and how a natural person becomes a juridical person in the US?
According to Wikipedia:
While human beings acquire legal personhood when they are born, ...
- 403
8
votes
1
answer
801
views
Can Google legally host images for its search results without permission?
Google crawls websites, and downloads the images to their servers along with the related metadata. These images are then presented to the user when searching Google for related images.
If the owner ...
- 183
7
votes
3
answers
181k
views
Is it illegal to post a picture of someone without their permission?
If I took a potentially embarrassing photo of someone and posted it on a social media site without the person’s permission, such as instagram, could that person take legal action against me?
Also, ...
- 269
7
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Do judges get penalised when their decisions are quashed by a higher court?
In New Zealand, court decisions are fairly often taken to a higher court and got quashed / overturned. When this happens, the higher court judge would typically rule that the previous judge "erred" in ...
- 25.6k
6
votes
2
answers
4k
views
Ownership of Work Copyright by Multiple Authors
If a work is "Copyright © year Author One and Author Two" (with no written or verbal agreement between Author One and Author Two regarding regarding ownership), what rights does each individual author ...
- 63
6
votes
3
answers
4k
views
How to Prove, Legally, That a User Actually Clicked the "I Accept" for TOS, etc
In a click-wrap scenario, how does one prove, legally, that a user actually clicked or checked the "i accept" or equivalent on a given site.
e.g. what if the website owner doesn't track clicks, ...
- 272
6
votes
1
answer
407
views
Can the US Government assert copyright on a government work internationally?
From what I understand, large swaths of US Government works are considered "public domain", but this unrestricted status applies only within the United States,
For this question I am assuming the ...
- 463
5
votes
2
answers
2k
views
GitHub pages and GDPR - controller, processor and DPA
I want to set up a very simple static site (no Google Analytics, no forms, no cookies, no tracking) using GitHub Pages with a custom domain.
The only potentially personal data that the site will ...
- 205
5
votes
1
answer
489
views
Does reproducing a board game as a video game violate copyright?
The context I am thinking of is converting a board game into a video game or app. Of course, I can't manufacture a physical copy of the game without permission, but does the same apply to a virtual ...
- 409
5
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Can I be tried for something that's a crime in another state?
Florida Criminal Code 893.13(2)(a) says that
Except as authorized by this chapter and chapter 499, a person may not
purchase, or possess with intent to purchase, a controlled substance.
and if I ...
- 210k
5
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Why would someone face 2nd and 3rd degree murder, and manslaughter for the same killing?
A judge just dropped the 3rd degree murder charge against Derek Chauvin. He still faces a 2nd degree murder charge and a manslaughter charge. This doesn't make sense to me. How can someone face ...
- 3,527
5
votes
2
answers
830
views
What if the user disagreed with the Terms of Service, but still registered on a website?
This is purely hypothetical, based on an anecdote told on a web design lecture a long time ago.
Most websites nowadays require you to click on a little checkbox that usually says I agree to the Terms ...
- 507
5
votes
5
answers
429
views
Who if anyone owns copyright of algorithmically produced works?
The image below is generated in real time by a Generative Adversarial Network trained on existing works of art (try reloading the page). The process is described in their paper which also ...
- 5,880
4
votes
2
answers
924
views
How is a judge to evaluate a witness's credibility?
How is a judge to evaluate a witness's credibility?
- 43.3k
4
votes
3
answers
23k
views
International sexting: how often is sexting overseas prosecuted? (Please read details)
I am asking for someone dear to me. This will be a hypothetical example.
Hypothetically, if a 19 year old male (living overseas, say in Turkey) sexts/exchanges nudes with a female who says she is 18 ...
- 187
4
votes
5
answers
15k
views
Can I sue an appraiser for assigning a low value to my property?
Due to the low value assigned to my home by an appraiser, I didn't get a loan and it did cost money.
However, when I went to another bank, two new appraisers gave a higher value and I was able to ...
- 41
4
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Is it legal for police to travel with a film crew and publicize arrest footage without consent?
Am I right to assume that police bodycam footage is only allowed to be released as part of a court order / as evidence?
If this were true, than wouldn't a news crew accompanying the police officer ...
- 151
4
votes
1
answer
861
views
What IP law would apply to trained weights of an AI model?
In simple terms, any AI system will consist of three elements:
Code, written by humans, that defines the mathematical model
The mathematical model itself, as it exists within the computer
The model ...
- 5,880
4
votes
2
answers
548
views
Is there liability for pure accidents?
I am trying to determine the principled limits, if any, on when a person may be held financially liable for damage to another ("the victim"). I'm specifically interested in the case when damage is not ...
- 210k
3
votes
1
answer
256
views
Under the GDPR in Germany, is a privacy-policy required when not tracking any personal data whatsoever
I have a small static personal website, where I publish some technical articles and my personal CV.
Do I need to include a privacy-policy if:
There are no (third- or first party) tracking services ...
- 33
3
votes
1
answer
226
views
US laws requiring US citizens to enter the country at designated border crossings
I've been able to find only one law that requires people entering the US to use designated border crossing points, which is 8 USC 1325. This law applies only to aliens, however; both relevant ...
- 35.2k
2
votes
2
answers
121
views
What are UK Business-to-Business rights in regard to inadequate quality customised goods?
My partner is a wedding photographer and she ordered some branded USB drives (credit card style) from a reputable printing company.
I say reputable because they are one of the main players in the ...
2
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Length of movie clip for fair-use?
Is there some maximum length of a movie clip that can be publicly shared as "fair use?"
E.g., the Youtube channel Movieclips shows clips with an average length of 2:30.
- 23
1
vote
2
answers
238
views
Is licensing required to use an excerpt of a song within a recording?
I'm currently recording a cover version of a song for inclusion on a compilation album which will be sold on Bandcamp. Because Bandcamp does not pay mechanical royalties, the organiser of the ...
- 135
1
vote
1
answer
328
views
Is it legal to sell stock market predictions online?
Suppose that a developer has built an AI which predicts the day's closing price given the stock's history and current open price, and has also built a website around it, on which such predictions are ...
- 47
1
vote
1
answer
2k
views
Is it legal to scrape a website and create my own database?
I'm working on a website that needs a database which is available publically on another site (let's just says it is IMDB). It'd be great if I could create my database by scraping IMDB. It'll be a one-...
user9907
1
vote
2
answers
204
views
Can men in various countries make pre conception child support deals?
Charlie Sheens are told to pay $50k a month for his child. What about before conceiving babies Charlie said, "Look, if I knocked you up, I would only spend $2k."
In theory, a girl may have to choose ...
- 780
1
vote
3
answers
370
views
What are one's options, if he is incorrectly listed as defendant in civil lawsuit?
A little background:
Two employees working for a competing beauty salon left it and came to us to rent out two stations. Since day one we have had landlord-tenant and not employer-employee ...
- 374
1
vote
1
answer
650
views
What are the legal requirements in the United States for being recognized under federal law as "white" or a "white" person?
Primary resource: [Hefny v. _ (1997) (citation needed, appears to have been dismissed by the U.S. District Court)]
Secondary sources:
Egyptian Immigrant Wants to be Reclassified as Black
Race, ...
0
votes
2
answers
932
views
Can a U.S. President undo an act of clemency or a pardon of his predecessor?
Can the next U.S. President undo the current President's pardons?
- 109
95
votes
6
answers
16k
views
ASKED: Why do many "No Trespassing" signs say "POSTED"?
Many "no trespassing" signs say "POSTED" in large letters at the top. Why? Obviously, the sign is posted; that's the whole purpose of a sign. To me, it makes as much sense as ...
- 13.8k
68
votes
9
answers
17k
views
Why is murder considered a more serious crime than attempted murder?
By its sentencing guidelines (the world over?), murder is considered a more serious crime than attempted murder.
If intent to kill has indeed been proven, does the latter crime reward incompetence ...
- 702
66
votes
2
answers
105k
views
Can you refuse to swear on the Bible?
Everyone has heard the procedure to get sworn in in an American court:
Put your hand on a Holy Bible and answer yes to "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so ...
- 1,010