Laws You Might Be Breaking and Not Know It

You think you've got a sweet deal living in your apartment complex next to a Grandma that pays the big bucks for high speed internet and had the courtesy to get her grandkid to set up her Wi-Fi and NOT put a password to protect it. That's her problem, and that means free internet for you , right? WRONG! Back in 1986 when my first intro to the internet was "War Games", congress passed the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act making it FEDERAL CRIME to gain unauthorized access to a computer or computer network.

So think twice before jumping on the the first unsecured Wi-Fi network.  It could land you in a very secure jail cell. It already has in Florida, Illinois, Michigan, and Alaska.   

I find it terribly annoying when at a chain restaurant they sing their version of a "Happy Birthday" song. It's just sad and forced. They do that because the chain could get sued since the song has been copyrighted since 1935. The owners of the copyright even tried to make Girl Scouts pay royalties if they wanted to keep singing it at birthday parties. I'm not sure what the amount of royalties they were asking for but I'm sure it added up to a whole lotta Thin Mints. The suits at the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers were called of being the evil pricks that they are and eventually settled with the Girl Scouts of America for about a dozen boxes of Tag A Longs. Time Warner now owns the copyright and makes about $2 million dollars of the song a year!

It's not totally illegal to play fantasy football with friends as long as your playing for nothing more than a dinky trophy. Well, there's a reason for that. It states in the Illegal Gambling Act of 1970, if a group of five or more people are doing any betting that breaks state or local law, that makes it an illegal gambling ring. But only if $2,000 or more exchanges hands in one day. In other words, you could get TEN YEARS in prison if you get a big check in the mail from winning in your high-stakes fantasy football league.