- If you're like most
people on this planet, you consider yourself a good person. You probably hold doors open for people, you have good manners, and of course, you would never think of breaking the law. But you might be surprised to learn that you may be breaking
multiple laws every day and you don't even realize it. Yes, there are laws in place that forbid many of the things that we
are used to doing every day, but are actually illegal. So today I'm going to tell you exactly what those laws are, and trust me, they're going to surprise you. And yes, these are real laws, and yes, you can be arrested for them. So without further ado, here are 10 Laws You've Broken
Without Even Knowing. Yeah, you also might wanna
get your lawyer on the phone by the end of this one, just in case. Number one is singing Happy Birthday. If you've ever sang
the song Happy Birthday in a public place, believe it or not, you've broken the law, surprise! The song was actually
copyrighted back in 1935, and technically, you need to pay royalties in order to use it. Now, you might be thinking, well right, that's technically the
law, but nobody actually abides by it, well actually
that song brings in an estimated $2 million a
year, so somebody's paying it. The copyright to the song was purchased by Warner Music in 1988 for
$25 million, and since then, has been the topic of multiple lawsuits. Now the song remains in a
huge grey area at the moment, but most legal professionals realistically consider this song to be in a
public domain at this point. However, Warner Music would disagree, mostly because the song
is the highest earning single song in history, as well as the most recognizable song
in the English language. But don't worry, you keep
singing that Happy Birthday song, whatever makes you feel good, baby. You stick it to the man
with your bad self. (barks) Number two is connecting
to unsecured WiFi networks, let's be completely honest,
some of you get pretty excited when your neighbor has unsecured WiFi, free surfing and no bill! (makes mouth noise) Good times, except that it
can get you thrown in prison. Connecting to an unsecured
WiFi connection falls under the Computer Fraud and Abuse
Act, which makes it a crime to have unauthorized
access to anyone's computer or their WiFi. How serious is it? Well in the United States,
it's a third degree felony that carries a prison sentence
of up to two years in jail and up to $10,000 in fines. Now, realistically, will this happen? Probably not, but, I wouldn't
want to test getting caught. Besides if you really want WiFi,
just come over to my place. My WiFi is Bill Nye The
Science Fi and the password is science rules, I'm a loner. Number three is selling stuff online. Most of us at some point
have sold something online, whether it's through Ebay or
some other online merchant. And these sites have very
clear rules when it comes to selling things like bootlegged
movies, alcohol and tobacco products, this you already
know, but did you know that anything you sell online,
big or small, must be claimed as income on your Federal tax return? Oh yeah, you're going to
jail because you sold an old sweater, sorry. No of course I'm kidding, chances
are the Federal government is not going to find out
about the $10 that you made off of selling your old Pogs,
but the fact remains that the law requires you to
claim that money, in fact, theoretically the IRS, CRA or
whatever governing tax body your country has doesn't care
where your income comes from as long as you claim
it and pay taxes on it. This literally means that
if you're a drug dealer, you better be claiming all those
dime bags you sellin, baby. Although nobody really expects
all you mini Pablo Escobars out there to start paying
your fair share of taxes, so, you go on your way, number four
is throwing away junk mail. Okay, be honest, if you've
ever moved into a new place, what do you do with the junk
mail that you receive that was meant for the previous tenants? How many times have you actually
written return to sender, or person has moved on those
envelopes and taken the time to go back to the post office? I'm gonna guess none of you,
most people in those situations wind up throwing those pieces
of mail in the garbage, but guess what? It's super illegal, in fact
is a Federal crime to open, destroy or otherwise tamper
with another person's mail. And that includes tossing it
in the trash, even junk mail. How illegal is it? Well, try a $250,000 fine
and potentially five years in prison, yikes. Number five is carrying a marker,
if you like crafts prepare to cry, believe it or not, if
you've ever carried a marker like a Sharpie or any other
kind of permanent writing tool, depending on where you are
you likely broke the law. This is because many places
have passed anti-graffiti laws that ban you from carrying aerosol cans or permanent markers, in the
U.S., many states like New York and California have even
passed laws making it illegal to buy markers if you're
under the age of 18. The government considers them
graffiti tools, and although it's unlikely that you'll be
frisked, or for that matter arrested, in many states
it's not worth the risk. Number six is using a car air freshener. That air freshener hanging
from your rear view mirror making your whole ride smell
like pine trees and bird songs is actually illegal, according
to many cities, states and highway patrol agencies,
anything that hangs to impede your view of your windshield,
even a small amount, can lead to an accident and
therefore is against the law. Yes this includes most air
fresheners, hanging dice, sunglasses or anything else
that restricts your field of vision, even though it
might seem completely silly, it's been proven that even
a tree style air freshener can completely block out someone
on a motorcycle if it sits at the right angle. Number seven is betting with
your friends, if you've ever been hanging with your friends
and you all start placing bets, say on a game like
football or basketball, you may have actually broken the law. According to the Illegal
Gambling Act in the US, if there were five or more people
involved in a total of $2,000 or more, it constitutes illegal
gambling and is punishable for up to 10 years in prison,
now you likely haven't bet that much, so you're probably
okay, but if you ever had a poker night with the dudes,
there's a chance that that amount may have been involved. Now don't worry, you're not
going to prison, unless someone narcs on you, watch out for
that new guy with the mustache, you can't trust anyone with a mustache. Number eight is throwing
snowballs, as a kid growing up in Canada, snowball
fights were super common. As they are pretty much
anywhere else in the world that it gets cold, it's one of
the only benefits that we get for living in a giant freezer
for six months of the year. But because it's on this
list, you guessed it, throwing snowballs in the act of hitting
someone with it is actually assault, now before you roll
your eyes and think that that's stupid, in February of 2014
a 13 year old boy in Chicago threw a snowball and hit a
police officer in the arm. And guess what, the boy was
arrested, brought up on felony charges and was suspended
from school for five days. And that wasn't the only
case, in 2010, five young men in New York City were
arrested for the same thing. So obviously the moral of
the story here is don't throw snowballs, throw the snow
ball, hit him in the head and run as fast as you can,
get away, just laugh it, laugh as you go because you got him good. Number 9 is using fake names online. If you've never done this, you
haven't been on the internet. Everyone at some point has
entered fake info online for something, whether it's
an online registration form, a Facebook name or some gaming site. Ah, and again steps in the
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. That act forbids anyone from
using a false name for signing up for anything, and believe
it or not, doing so constitutes hacking and is punishable
for up to 20 years in prison. Mhm, that's right, you wanna
think again about calling yourself Tony Flamingo? But hey, you're thinking nobody's
actually gonna go to jail for something like that, right? (chuckles) Nope, in 2010, a prison
guard named Matthew Laqua was arrested for creating a fake
Facebook profile for his boss. And arrests like this are
becoming much more common as cyber bullying and fraud
continues to grow, so don't risk it, P.S. if anyone leaves a
comment on this video with the username Tony Flamingo I
will personally respond to it. And number 10 is swearing in
public, everybody at some point swears, in fact studies suggest
that swearing is a healthy and natural way to relieve anger. But believe it or not, if
other people hear you, you just broke the law, in many places
including the United States and Canada, the criminal code
states that if swearing causes other people in the vicinity
to take notice, then it is indeed an offense that can
be met with fines, and yes, even jail time, it falls under
creating a public disturbance or disturbing the peace, so be careful. So those were 10 laws that
you've likely broken and didn't even know it, but now that you
know, I need to know because I'm curious, be honest now,
how many of these laws have you broken, you don't have to saw
which ones, but just leave a number in the comments, or,
you know, if you're feeling badass, say exactly which
ones, ooh look at you. And as always, if you subscribe
to my channel, remember to click the little notification
bell beside the Subscribe button so that you can enable
notifications to be alerted for the next time I upload
my next video, and that's it, have a great day guys, obey
the law, I don't want you to be going to jail, you know what I'm saying? You're valuable to me and I love you. I don't want no conjugal visits, what? Okay I'll see you guys next time, peace.
