We are all felons

If you live in the US and you use a computer or a smartphone, odds are that you are a felon.
 
Specifically, you are in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986. All you have to do to qualify is to violate any of the terms and conditions contained in those dozens of software license agreements you've routinely clicked through.
 
If, for example, you are 17 years old and want to read Seventeen Magazine, you'll need to check a box saying you're over 18. And in so doing, become a felon by lying in defiance of the site's terms. Want to hire a lawyer to sue Netflix? Think again, as doing so would make you a felon by violating the EULA that forbids suing them. Love Safari on your iPad and want to install Safari for Windows on your Windows machine? Felon!
 
Check out the documentary "Killswitch". It's on Netflix. Yes, it's a rehash of mostly old news, but when you see it all summarized like this it's still an eye-opener.
 
P.S. Please don't make this thread political. Sure, there are some politicians among the cast of villains, but for the most part they are merely bit players. I don't want to violate the T.O.S., especially now that I know it can get you 35 years in prison.

bitflipper
If, for example, you are 17 years old and...
 
Love Safari on your iPad and...

Well there's two examples that are (criminally) inapplicable to drewfx1.  

I'm a 17 year old trapped in a 64 year old body. Fellini I am. 

Slugbaby
Last year a police officer stopped me for jaywalking

 
That's always seemed slightly unreal to me, a really impractical 'offence' to police.

bapu

jamesg1213

Slugbaby
Last year a police officer stopped me for jaywalking

 
That's always seemed slightly unreal to me, a really impractical 'offence' to police.

You should only get a citation if you're hit by a vehicle. JMO.

Wouldn't the 'hitting' part be enough of a punishment?

Damn.  Wish I'd told him that at the time!

The SFS should be a felony.

Slugbaby

craigb
Sorry Slugbaby, but multiple unintentional posts is a felony.

Thankfully Canada doesn't have a "3 strikes" rule.

No, they prefer you to sit in a penalty box for five minutes. 

I'm pretty sure we're all felons for not carrying a bale of hay on our heads on Sundays or dabbing our mouths with a napkin in front of a female swan or something. 

I like Felonious Monk.

BobF

bapu
I'm a 17 year old trapped in a 64 year old body. Fellini I am. 

I'm a lesbian trapped in a man's body ...

It's a mystery.

bitflipper
If you live in the US and you use a computer or a smartphone, odds are that you are a felon.
 
Specifically, you are in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986. All you have to do to qualify is to violate any of the terms and conditions contained in those dozens of software license agreements you've routinely clicked through.
... 

 
A friend of mine who is a lawyer, has stated that most of the stuff in any EULA is not enforceable partly because it is not "filed legally" and secondly, because many of those groups change the wording every day to suit their needs, and the legality of updating that would be financially difficult.
 
In most cases, a lot of software, other than the big names, is stuck, because getting their name out in going after a Joe Schmoe that has no money is a sure way to kill their business and raising the ire of many a fan.
 
To me, this is the hardest part of a lot of software and most Facebook, YouTube and other media outlets known for trashing things, do not use their time to trash programs that deserve to get trashed for trying to rip people off. I just had an incident with one that had that "I'll remove this and that from your computer kind of crap, and his trick was to get your credit card, and not charge until it was in the middle of the night when you did not know anything, and neither did your bank. I immediately filed a complaint with the State of Washington Attorney General (they would not remove the charge or reverse it for fraud!), and alerted the bank, that stated they had the authorities ready if they tried. Two days later, the bank and I talked and we thought it best to close the credit card (it was empty and just a backup!), just in case ... and wouldn't you know it ... they tried to get into it the next night, which was turned in. The next day, the "legal" someone representing the group sent me an email and a check was on the mail, which arrived in Express Mail the next day, and apologized for the inconvenience.
 
BUT, yes, in some ways, it could be said that we take advantage of some things, but then, if the company in case was worried about it ... like Microsoft ... they would come to you fast ... and this is the main reason for Microsoft to place the Office in their own house and using their servers to save it, so that they can ensure that you are not using the program to make money ... which would require a different license than the home user in the first place.
 
Normally, the "professional" versions handle this better, than the home versions ... but on my computers, other than a few things like VST's and such, they are all paid for, and its use is not an issue. 
 
I use Open Office, and am not interested in Microsoft's Office at all. I simply do not trust it.

So Kenny, does this mean you won't be posting a link to the torrent for your next album here? 

craigb
So Kenny, does this mean you won't be posting a link to the torrent for your next album here? 

This is gonna sound a little crazy in a way , yet it's 100% true ....
I have found some of my own u tube videos that people have screen recorded or downloaded somehow where they have posted them on their own personal web sites  as some sort of lesson or something ...
Usually all the comments or what ever they wrote on the web page is  in other languages .
 
They have done their own links where they have cut me out of the loop for my own video since none of those listens are linked back to my u tube ..
At this point I say to myself OK , I put these things out there with the hope that  something I have played may spark a desire or interest in a guitar player out there someplace ...that seems to be the only reasonable reward I can expect ....
In any event as long as they don't Photoshop me out of my own video , say they played the guitar parts or chop off my head and place theirs in there  I'm just gonna roll w it ...
hhhmm maybe getting  new head Photoshoped in there instead of mine ..... may be a big improvement  
 
have a good one ,
 
Kenny