this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2023
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Asklemmy

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[–] [email protected] 59 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I issued a (valid) DMCA notice to a small corporation who used the intellectual property of a colleague but did not pay them for it (they promised payment in writing, then just... didn't pay for a year or more). Their whole business website was down for a week or more as a result, as their registrar just took down their website without checking anything, and they didn't really have technical staff to resolve it.

The whole DMCA system is quite a broken mess, and is often (usually?) used unethically. However, it is possible to use correctly, even by private individuals. I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it a little, that day.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Did he get paid in the end?

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No.

Honestly running a business in Asia is like... 35% harassing people who haven't paid you. I hear it's pretty similar elsewhere but can't confirm.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's most businesses. At least as a former owner of an Auto Body shop in California, and then one in Georgia, this was the case. As a Buyer for a chain of bike shops I also spent a significant amount of time avoiding paying at least 35% of my purchase orders at any point in time.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Yeah, the best solution I've found is inflating the initial deposits with new clients (enough to cover costs for the project, but not more than that). Then if they agree, overdeliver on the work, then pursue a more collegiate arrangement in the future.

Working with Western companies can still be a pain sometimes. Many of them don't come to Asia to do things well, they come here to do things cheaply. A cheaper option than paying me, is not paying me. In reality, I have little recourse as my company doesn't have the resources for an international lawsuit. I've been burned a couple of times, but to some extent it's just the cost of doing business.

[–] [email protected] 45 points 1 year ago (4 children)

One time I stole a balloon on free balloon day. The guilt still keeps me up at night.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

think of the poor kid who you deprived of a balloon, you monster!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Well it floated, but it was also underwater so we will never truely know

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Asking the important question here!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I hope you at least spent a few moments in jail to learn your lesson

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I am an apartment building manager. Once, years ago, I was brought in to clean up after another manager who had quit/been fired for... let's just call it incompetence.

Anyway, there was a unit in the building that was occupied by a guy I never met or even saw, and the rent was months overdue. So I followed the required legal procedure to declare the unit abandoned. I spoke to neighbors. I posted notices, etc. Eventually, the unit was legally declared abandoned and I started the task of clearing out any property left behind.

The unit was very neat and tidy and full of nice stuff. Not the usual state of a rental that someone abandoned, and this should have tipped me off. But it didn't, and so I had everything hauled away. Furniture, electronics, clothes, the lot.

Then after 6 months I moved on to a different building. Later, I learned that the person who lived there was on active duty in the military, and that's why no one had seen them for months. Apparently, a neighbor had been entrusted to pay the rent but they had just kept the money for themselves, and lied to me when I inquired about the neighbor's whereabouts.

So, this poor guy comes back from overseas military service to discover that not only has he lost his apartment but also everything in it. And since I had followed the legal procedure, no law was broken (by me.)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Ah man. I'm sorry that happened. That's not your fault. You couldn't have know.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Copied an example source code, which was under MIT+Apache 2.0 license, and created a derivative work under GPL, maybe that's questionable?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

After a quick research, this should be fine. It means that the original is theirs and licensed under MIT and Apache 2.0, and your modifications are yours and licensed under GPL

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Tracing art back in highschool for an ungraded art project since it was just for the front and back of a crummy "sketch book" made entirely of white paper and staples.

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