rprasad

57 ms·

571.
by rprasad 14y ago
For the same reason that we can predict how a large body of mass will react to a collision but can't explain how the subatomic particles will react to that same event, or the overall trend of the stock market without being able to predict t
572.
by rprasad 14y ago
No, online notarization is not legal anywhere in the world, except Virgnia. This is not at all similar to how lenders can use Utah law but incorporate in Delaware. Choice of legal forum is a contractual issue between private parties. Not
573.
by rprasad 14y ago
I flagged this before and I am going to flag this again: this service is not legal in any state except Virginia and will not satisfy the in-person verification requirements of any state (except Virginia, which does not require in-person
574.
by rprasad 14y ago
I think what pron is saying is that initial writes are lock-free but updates to existing data will require locks in most cases?
575.
by rprasad 14y ago
It's not a matter of law. It's a "breakup fee" negotiated by Instagram in the event that the acquisition falls through. The purpose of a breakup fee is to compensate the target for costs associated with the failed acquisition and various o
576.
by rprasad 14y ago
Pushing the costs of maintenance, insurance, and safety onto the drivers and passengers is not disruptive. Taxi companies were doing that decades ago. Yes, safety regulation costs money. The reason we accept higher prices is to avoid th
577.
by rprasad 14y ago
1) If the meter isn't running, you don't pay . If he refuses to release your bags, call the police. This constitutes theft (and possibly false imprisonment if he won't let you out of the passenger area), so you may be able to call 911. 2
578.
by rprasad 14y ago
Sorry about my statement about the armchair lawyer bit. On other threads today, commenters have been making assertions of the law that have no basis in reality, so my fuse was a little short and I misinterpreted your comment.
579.
by rprasad 14y ago
Uber is not a taxi service. It is a car service (i.e., a limousine service). Taxi service: picks up any passenger, off the street, anywhere, without any prior arrangement to do so. The passenger may not have any opportunity to investigate
580.
by rprasad 14y ago
Do you guys even have any idea why taxis are regulated in the first place? During the Great Depression, many taxi drivers drove unsafe cars. There were many accidents involving unlicensed drivers of unmaintained cabs. The medallion syst
581.
by rprasad 14y ago
No. A bill of attainder refers to legislative bill declaring someone guilty of a crime. The Amemdment merely prohibits Uber X's planned business model. UberX would not be guilty of anything unless it went ahead with its planned business
582.
by rprasad 14y ago
You made the mistake of saying negative things about a "disruptive" startup YC-backed startup. By all rights, you should consider yourself lucky you haven't been hellbanned and quartered.
583.
by rprasad 14y ago
1) Databases are protected by copyright, but there is no such thing as "database rights." As I have repeatedly pointed out, the selection, arrangement, and presentation of facts is copyrightable in the U.S. if such activities involve any a
584.
by rprasad 14y ago
1a) Exactly. 1b) They are still using Craiglist's site by interacting with the cached copied of Craiglist's site. I don't know how clearer I can make that. The only way they would not be using the Craiglist site is if they used another li
585.
by rprasad 14y ago
Was that the demo day in Santa Monica in April/May?
586.
by rprasad 14y ago
That's not true in the U.S. If he uses your site's gambling API, he is engaged in the business of gambling and must have a license. Since the U.S. generally does not allow online gambling, it is effectively illegal regardless of where t
587.
by rprasad 14y ago
I'm not being paid for this analysis. I'm briefly popping in during break periods. I'm presenting a basic overview of the facts and current state of the law. I limit my comments to what I can type during my breaks. Consequently, my analy
588.
by rprasad 14y ago
1) Until this year, Somalia did not even have a stable government. According to many reports, it still does not have a stable legal system. It's not hate, it's a simple statement of Somalia's current state. 2) You need to reread your SCOT
589.
by rprasad 14y ago
I did consider this. Facts are not copyrightable, but unique selections of facts are copyrightable. This is a basic tenet of the copyright decisions regarding databases and phonebooks. Moreover, even if the copyright does not rise to th
590.
by rprasad 14y ago
Righthaven, as you pointed out turns on this very issue: Righthaven was not able to enforce someone else's copyright because Righthaven did not have a license to use the copyrighted material. The Righthaven court found that the "licens
591.
by rprasad 14y ago
1) Padmapper and 3taps are using Craiglist's site; they are simply used a copy of the site. That difference is not relevant from a legal standpoint given their specific use. 2) It's basic contract and copyright law that a licensee may d
592.
by rprasad 14y ago
You're still violating Craiglist's license and TOU by scraping a copy of the website. Legally, it doesn't matter who hosts the site (or else hosting a site on CloudFront or Amazon would negate copyright protections). The site remains the p
593.
by rprasad 14y ago
IAAL. Both 3Taps and Padmapper are potentially liable in this scheme. DMCA compliance does not protect this type of use; the safe harbors are very narrow and specific. It only protects websites (or services) from liability for content pos
594.
by rprasad 14y ago
Consider, if the situation was reversed, and Craiglist was taking Padmapper's data without permission, would everyone on HN would be supporting Padmapper attempting to block Craiglist from reposting its listings? In such a scenario, Craigli
595.
by rprasad 14y ago
IAAL. And what you just said is not true, at all, in the U.S. It may be true in Somalia or some other country without an established legal system. Google's cached Craigslist site is, legally, a copy of the Craiglist site, which just happe
596.
by rprasad 14y ago
That is exactly the issue in a nutshell, even though the armchair lawyers on HN don't want to believe it. Craigslist said no . The user that posted the data to Craigslist did not give Padmapper or 3Tap permission to copy their listing.
597.
by rprasad 14y ago
He's not criticizing the poor or middle class. He's simply noting that they frequently lack the resources to take advantage of these types of discounts. Even a 99% discount is useless if you don't have the resources to afford the 1% post
598.
by rprasad 14y ago
TLDR: Canonical asked some copyright attorneys who specialize in software licensing rights if the GPL would create issues. They said it could , and that Canonical could but probably would not be liable if such issues arose. Canonical de
599.
by rprasad 14y ago
Payments collected on behalf of other parties (i.e., the payment fee) are not treated as revenue under GAAP. If AirBNB were to do such a thing, its auditor would refuse to sign off on its financial statements. And, as I said, the post is a
600.
by rprasad 14y ago
It's not the rule in the U.S. that deposits must be in dollars. (Most banks will let you open up foreign-currency accounts...they just charge more. A lot more.) However, foreign currency-denominated accounts are subject to yearly gain/los

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