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• From something everyone does online, to owning some innocuous stationary, we count
10 laws you may have broken without knowing it.
10 – Throwing Out Old Tennant’s Mail, • You might be one of those good Samaritans
that always sends the mail received back to the post office, but you probably don’t
bother with the junk mail, right? • Well as it turns out, in most countries,
even if it’s blatant advertising as long as it’s directly addressed to someone you’re
not allowed to throw it out and if you do you can get up to 5 years and jail and have
to pay up to $250,000. 9 - Making a Profit in Online Sales,
• Most people use eBay and craigslist to buy and sell stuff you don’t want anymore,
sometimes you might even profit off of the endeavour, since it was an antique or maybe
you just got lucky by swiping something for much less than it was worth.
• Well if you don’t report that earning in your income taxes you’ve broken the law
in almost every country out there, but how will they ever know right?
8 - Swearing in Public, • That’s right citizens of the UK and
Australia, it’s illegal to swear in public, freedom of speech isn’t really a thing in
those two countries, despite Australia’s renown for profanity.
• But don’t get too haughty Americans, in the state of Virginia people can and have
been fined for cussing in public, so if you live there you should also be careful.
7 - Smoking in Public, • This one applies to a few different states,
including California, it’s actually illegal to smoke within 20 feet of a public building
and in other states it’s illegal to smoke within 20 feet of any workplace.
• Australia has similar rules, except New South Wales includes the restriction of no
smoking within 10 metres of school equipment, even if it’s at 3 in the morning.
6 - Playing Loud Music in Your Car, • I think we’re all aware of the fact
that it’s generally considered illegal to be generally loud and obnoxious at night without
going through the right procedures. • But people don’t seem to realise that
this applies to when you’re in your car as well, because your car isn’t nearly as
sound proof as you might think. 5 - Having a Permanent Marker in Public,
• Many countries, states and cities have strict anti-graffiti laws, some places require
you to have an ID to even be able to buy a can of spray paint some even extend that to
markers. • But did you know that in many places it’s
illegal to even carry around either of those things? Sure you might think that it makes
sense for the spray paint, it’s not going to be useful in day-to-day life, but a marker
can be plenty useful for drawing innocent *** on the walls of bathrooms.
4 - Writing 'Disturbing' Material, • There are some states in the US, such
as Illinois, where if you write anything that can be perceived as disturbing you are breaking
the law. • The exact definition of disturbing is
where one or more person in the story is killed or injured, so basically any piece of modern
fiction intended for young adults or older is included in this.
• Also this can be enforced even if you didn’t publish it, or show anyone.
3 - Betting With Friends, • Ever been at a bar and bet your friend
in an arm wrestling contest? Or maybe about the exact name of that actor guy person? Well
this is illegal pretty much everywhere with anti-gambling laws.
• Even in places where there are anti-gambling laws make it illegal to host a bet without
a license, so maybe if a cop walks into a bar you keep it on the down-low until they
leave. 2 - Connecting to Unsecure Wi-Fi Networks,
• This one is actually really poorly thought out, obviously it’s not illegal to connect
to a Wi-Fi spot that’s designed for the public, that’s not the problem.
• The problem is that many phones auto-connect to an open Wi-Fi spot without the owner’s
input at all and this is still illegal. • Yet another reason to turn this feature
off since connecting to any Wi-Fi without a password protection is a good way to give
away all of your personal information. 1 - Using a Fake Name on the Internet
• If you make a social media account with a false name you might get yourself in serious
trouble, if it’s an obviously fake name then that might be fine.
• Of course since there’s a limited amount of possible names in the world, chances are
the fake name you used so you didn’t have to give away your private information is actually
someone’s name and someone in America got caught and fined for making a profile with
his boss’s name, even though he didn’t do anything with it.