OT: Security

[Fairlight]

On Fri, Dec 05, 2014 at 12:39:14PM -0500, Richard Kreiss thus spoke:
> 	1. You agree to opt out of the Maryland Law controlling this type of
> service

I'm pretty confident that any contract which requires you to opt out of a law is:

1) Unenforceable
2) Illegal
3) Will not be upheld in court itself

They're out of their gourds, IMNSHO.

A corporation cannot tell you to disregard the law, TTBOMK, no matter how they
package it as a term of service.  That makes it an illegal, and therefore likely
(at least partly) unenforceable contract, as an illegal contract is not considered
binding.

Think about it...  If some company says you need to steal five candy bars to use
their service, and tells you to disregard the laws regarding theft, do you honestly
think that'll hold up in court?  Do you honestly think that the person who goes
along and commits the theft will be able to claim the ToS as a defence?  Hell no,
on both counts, more than likely.  At the least, the person is still liable for
breaking the law, and at the worst the company is probably guilty of premeditated
conspiracy to break the law.

Check with a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure they're totally in the wrong on that part
alone.  Whether or not the rest of their ToS are upheld if that section is stricken
is anyone's guess, even if they put the usual scope limitation clause in.

m->