Why isn't patent trolling made illegal?
A patent is considered a property right, and they can be bought and sold like any other. This is, in part, how patents wind up being asserted by companies that do not use the patent rights to support their business (i.e. non-practicing entities or "patent trolls"). A common situation is that a legitimate company obtains a patent that is relevant to its business, and later goes bankrupt. Assets are sold during the bankruptcy proceeding, and an investor acquires the patents. On the other hand, some institutions (including universities) exist for the purpose of research and not commercialization. In my opinion, the problems associated with "patent trolls" are less a result of patents being asserted by non-practicing entities, and more a result of overly broad and overly aggressive patent assertion. This is sometimes compounded by the fact the non-practicing entities that exist solely for patent enforcement cannot be held accountable for bad faith litigation tactics because they have no assets other than the patents and are judgment proof.An attempt to make "patent trolling" illegal would be problematic for a number of reasons. Most of all, I cannot accept the proposition that good faith patent assertion by a non-practicing entity is improper, as this characterization could be applied to many universities and companies that are involved in vital cutting edge research (think GE or 3M). So how do you distinguish "patent trolling" from patent assertion by non-practicing entities? The better approach, I believe, is to target the specific problematic behaviors. In some cases, there are existing adequate tools for doing this. In other cases, there are improvements that can be made.
Is it legal to troll pedos?
There's nothing illegal about communicating with people in the way you choose, but you need to be prepared to face any consequences that come about from connecting with pedophiles. I had a good friend in high school who tried trolling pedos like your friend did, and the pedo ended up finding where my friend lived and then attempted to contact him in person. Scary stuff, man. It's not illegal but I'd stay away.
Why is patent trolling legal? Is anything being done to end this?
In recent years, the courts have started rewarding court fees for defendants, where it was clear that the original lawsuit by "the troll" had very little merit. In the past, trolls have used the staggering cost of defense as a way to "extort" quick settlements (as in, better to pay $50k on a licensing fee than $200k on litigation.) With the courts forcing now plaintiffs who lose to pay court fees, such troll tactics should be significantly reduced, without impeding legitimate patent litigation to take place.
Is it illegal to troll on the internet?
That depends on the jurisdiction. If an individual’s behaviour is harassing or threatening, then it can be illegal whether it’s through the Internet or face-to-face. The UK have arrested many trolls, generally for mocking vulnerable individuals or even people who have died. The following is a snippet of a Sky News article on these arrests:Of those convicted, 155 were jailed for sending messages or other material which was "grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character".The offence falls under Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003, which was rarely used before the invention of social media networks in recent years.It goes on to state the following:Under the Act, the "persistent misuse" of phone calls and emails is also a crime – especially if it causes the victim needless anxiety, annoyance or inconvenience.These arrests are mainly on those who cause distress or say they’ll “bomb the airport” for closing (as shown in the following article).Internet 'Trolling' Sees 150 People JailedThis does raise questions with regards to the suppression of freedom of speech. However, my view on it is that we can have the freedom to speak as long as it is used with common sense.
Is trolling Omegle/Chatroulette illegal?
Here's the scenario: I use a fake webcam (a decent looking girl) and I make conversation with the "target." After a while I ask to them to do some pretty embarrassing things (suck their fingers, rub their face, etc). About 5 minutes goes by and I change the video of the girl to a video of a couple of guys laughing. I proceed to tell them I'm going to upload everything that just happened to YouTube (note: I haven't actually recorded anything, I just want a reaction out of them.) Is any of what I'm doing there illegal?
Is it legal to castrate your son for religious reason in the U.S.?
The fact is that if you didn't realize that i was trolling, my question wouldn't have served its intended purpose. My purpose was to draw a comparison to the practice of circumcision and castration. What i was trying to say was, "Why don't you just be more honest about what you're really trying to do when you strap your son down and slice of his foreskin?" Well, today this wouldn't apply as much as it did when the practice started here in the Victorian era, but that's only because, men in america don't have balls enough (see what i did there?) to admit that they've been harmed.
I’ll admit that this is rather a trolling question, but it is meant to make people think a little. How many gun-related mass murders have occurred in the US in the last 50 years that have been perpetrated by a person or people who followed gun laws?
Let me troll back. How many mass murders have occurred with a guy buying 4 tons of enriched fertilizer and blowing up a building? One. Why? Because now ammonium nitrate requires a background check and a business reason to buy in bulk. - So far, no fertilizer bombs have blown up other buildings.How many mass murders have occurred by people taking over planes with blades? One. (Four if you count the 1 coordinated attack separately). Why? Because they banned blades on a plane. They check shoes because of an attempted shoe bombing. They reinforced cockpit doors. They DID SOMETHING ABOUT IT after it happened.When Americans are killed by drunk drivers in the 1970’s in 60% of crashes, what did Americans do? They raised the drinking age. They made laws more stringent. They enforced the laws. They took away licences on the first offense. They made businesses that sell liquor liable. They enforced no selling to underage. They lowered BAC. They did little thing after little thing until… now. What used to kill 30,000+ Americans a year is now closer to 10,000. Did it stop all drunk driving? Nope. But I’d say saving 20,000 lives a year is a good thing.Did they yell, “Drunk drivers don’t follow drinking and driving laws?” Well, some did. But they changed the law anyhow.And it worked. All of these laws stopped large numbers of Americans from dying.And now that people are walking into schools and shooting little kids in the head… instead of addressing the problem, we hear every week, “There’s nothing we can do about it. We’re too stupid to figure out why it’s happening. Criminals are just going to do it - over and over and over and over again… Nothing we can do. Thoughts and prayers. Thank you kids for your sacrifice.”Think about it.