History LoopholeAbuse / RealLife

* When regional TV stations in Australia decided to stop making local news programs to save money, the public outcry led to the government requiring that all commercial stations air a half-hour of local news each weekday. Southern Cross Ten gladly obliged, by airing mostly useless, five-minute news segments throughout the day. When they switched to the Creator/NineNetwork, Southern Cross sub-contracted Nine News to produce newscasts for its stations, consisting of regional broadcasts hubbed from Nine's local studios in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney. After returning to Network 10, however, these updates returned.

** Even today, the prohibition only applies to the meat of warm-blooded animals. Reptiles are fair game, and so crocodile jerky has become a popular Lenten fare in the southern US.

** "Q: Define courage." "A: This." Though, abuse or not, it's a good definition.

* This is how the skirt over pants trend got started in schools. Most school dress codes require skirts to be at a certain length to prevent [[PantyShot underwear flashing]], so someone wearing bike shorts, tights, or leggings underneath could get away with wearing skirts of whatever length because the skirt combined with whatever's being worn underneath it would be counted as the whole bottom part of the outfit.

* On art sites like Website/DeviantArt, pornographic content is against the TOS. However, Artistic Nude isn't considered pornographic at all, so naturally if you look in that section, be prepared to see a ''lot'' of pornography that's labeled as [[ItsNotPornItsArt "Artistic Nude"]].

* On Website/{{Yahoo}} Answers, there's no such rule that you cannot vote for your own answer. This makes it a paradise for {{Troll}}s who can easily score 13 points by writing ''nonsense''. 2 points for the answer, 1 point for the vote, and 10 points if the answer gets selected as the best by voters (which it often will since nobody else shows up to give a "real" answer).

* Website/GOGDotCom has changed their [[https://www.gog.com/news/gogs_updated_refund_policy_has_your_back_even_more?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=20200226_updatedrefundpolicy_entw&utm_term=EN refund policy]] so that you can return ''digitally'' purchased games within a month, even if you've downloaded and played it. Ain't no rule saying you can't just beat the game in under a month and then get your money back or just copy the game (as it is DRM-free) and then refund the game! Some people like Ragnar Tørnquist of ''VideoGame/TheLongestJourney'' fame have expressed apprehension that people would do just this, especially with shorter games like ''VideoGame/{{Draugen}}''.

** This was also attempted by one of Genghis' descendants, Batu Khan, used this as a way to delay the ascension of his direct rival and cousin, Guyuk Khan, since a Great Khan could only been officially declared at a ''kurultai'', a gathering of the most important members of the Imperial family, and Batu came up with various excuses to avoid attending that dragged out the SuccessionCrisis for years until Guyuk's [[MotherMakesYouKing mother and the Empress Regent Toregene]] pulled enough strings to get her son elected anyway.

** Some websites aimed at kids will have it where they ask for the parent or guardian's email. As you might guess, someone could easily put in their own email adress, since it doesn't ask specifically if it's the user's or their parent/guardian's email.

* Website/{{Twitch}} banned live streams of people in bathing suits unless they were engaged in the act of swimming or bathing. This has resulted in many streamers creating content in their pools or hot tubs, sometimes going as far to install such a device in their preferred filming location. The practice has become so prevalent that "hot tub streams" have pretty much become a defined genre of soft-core porn. Doubling down on the loophole abuse, some streamers unable to afford a full size hot tub will simply fill up a pint-sized kiddie pool in their studio.

** The Mongols also believed that shedding noble blood would bring curses upon them, so their preferred methods of execution for those of noble birth were carefully designed to avoid spilling any, and included things like drowning a former Empress regent who attempted a coup on Genghis' grandson Mongke at his coronation in a felt sack thrown into the river. Temujin himself was said to have dealt with his rival Jamuka by either having his men roll him up in a rug and beat him until he died, strangle him to death, or breaking Jamuka's spine over his knee. A popular public execution was forcing the victim to eat many handfuls of salt (which would dissolve their innards); they even had a backup method of reversing this (drinking ram fat, that would neutralize the salt). The Mongols had no problem, however, with spilling the blood of common soldiers. Their primary weapons were, after all, [[ArcherArchetype bows and arrows.]]

* When regional TV stations in Australia decided to stop making local news programs to save money, the public outcry led to the government requiring that all commercial stations air a half-hour of local news each weekday. Southern Cross Ten gladly obliged, by airing mostly useless, five-minute news segments throughout the day. After they switched to Nine, they later sub-contracted Nine to produce hour-long broadcasts for its stations instead.

* When Netflix first wanted to introduce streaming to the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 and UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}, they were hampered by an exclusivity agreement that they had signed with Microsoft that made the UsefulNotes/Xbox360 only console with built-in support for Netflix. "Built-in" seemingly meant "the streaming client software is loaded from the console's internal storage as opposed to a removable disc", so Netflix at first released their [=PS3=] and Wii streaming apps on discs and shipped them out to customers who requested them. Once the Microsoft agreement expired, they promptly released downloadable apps for both of the other consoles and discontinued the discs.

** A rare positive example, Nintendo actually used R.O.B.[[note]]short for Robotic Operating Buddy, a toy robot which received commands via flash sequences from a TV screen[[/note]] to get the UsefulNotes/{{N|intendoEntertainmentSystem}}ES into the American market: America was still reeling from UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983, and no toy store would dare market a product as a "video game system". R.O.B., however, allowed Nintendo to make the NES look much more toy-like and less like a video game console, and convinced toy stores to stock it. It's also the reason that the original NES was styled to look like a VCR.

* UsefulNotes/RegionCoding of internet content can generally be bypassed fairly simply in this manner. In order to ensure the correct content is available in the correct region, the server will determine the client's location based on its IP address. By masking their true IP address from the server through the use of a VPN, the client can trick the server into believing they're in a different location and displaying content which would ordinarily be unavailable to them.

* In the 2020s, due to the spate of high profile incidents of gun violence in the United States, [[Creator/WarnerBrothers WB]] instituted a ban on firearm accessories for action figures of characters from the Franchise/DCUniverse. Obviously, this posed a problem for companies producing toys of DC characters who are known to use guns in the comics or films. [[Creator/ToddMcFarlane McFarlane Toys]] managed to work around this by releasing several munitions accessory packs which, while technically designed to work with all of their 7-inch figures, included guns that were clearly intended to be used with their DC toys. These included NoCelebritiesWereHarmed versions of the Joker's long barrel revolver, Comicbook/HarleyQuinn's popgun, Series/{{Peacemaker}}'s Desert Eagle and Comicbook/RedHood's dual pistols.

** A similar situation arose with Pepsi in 1996 with its "Pepsi Points" promotion. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdackF2H7Qc commercial]] portrayed a high school kid flying a Harrier jump jet to school with the caption "HARRIER JET--7,000,000 Points". Enter John Leonard, who purchased 7,000,000 Pepsi Points under the rules of the promotion and attempted to claim his Harrier. The case was ultimately [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_v._Pepsico,_Inc settled in federal court]] in Pepsi's favor, because the "offer" was obviously a joke (this required the judge to [[DontExplainTheJoke explain in some detail why it was a joke]] in his ruling). No doubt the Pentagon would have [[http://www.cnn.com/US/9608/09/fringe/pepsi.pentagon/index.html?eref=sitesearch blocked the transfer]] of a flight-capable, state-of-the-art military aircraft to a private citizen in any case, especially since acquiring 7,000,000 Pepsi Points would have cost significantly less than the $30 million unit cost for a Harrier. It also made clear that advertisers had to add 'prize not actually available' legal language to the commercials from that point on to ward off claims of this type.

* Ain't no rule that says a dog can't [[http://www.simonstown.com/tourism/nuisance/nuisance.htm be enlisted in the Royal Navy.]] The reason ''why'' he enlisted was also to take advantage of a loophole. Nuisance kept following sailors onto trains, but his owner was told that if he didn't stop riding around without a ticket, [[DisproportionateRetribution he would be euthenized.]] But military personnel were permitted to ride for free.

---> '''Bryan Caskey''', director of elections at the Kansas secretary of state's office: "Under Kansas law, there is no law governing the qualifications for governor, not one, so there's seriously nothing on the books that lays out anything, no age, no residency, no experience. Nothing."

* When Creator/ElectronicArts obtained exclusive rights to use Porsche cars in their games, it left other game developers unable to feature said cars in their racing titles. Except there was a workaround in the form of German Porsche specialist [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruf_Automobile RUF Automobile]], which produces their own line of vehicles using Porsche-sourced bodies. As the German government recognizes RUF as a manufacturer in their own right rather than merely a tuning house,[[note]]Since RUF cars are made using their own parts save for the bodyshell, and bear their own VINs, thus making them distinct models if not for their similarity to the Porsches they were derived from.[[/note]] this allowed developers to add Porsche-esque models in their games without having to deal with EA. EA's contract with Porsche has since expired, however, making the RUF loophole more or less unecessary unless someone buys exclusivity again.

* Given the negative experience with the way votes of no confidence had been handled in the Weimar Republic (basically a majority of the ''Reichstag'' could just declare "we don't like the government" and force it to resign without having to actually come up with an alternative proposal for who ''should'' govern). Naturally once Nazis and Communists held a majority together, it was impossible to get anything done in the Reichstag) the new "Basic Law" of West Germany explicitly says that the ''only'' way the Bundestag can get rid of the chancellor is by electing a replacement with a majority ''of its members'' (so none of those "the Communist deputies are unable to attend [[TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch due to having broken both legs, both arms and five ribs in an unfortunate accident all at once]]" shenanigans) in a secret vote. However, this gives rise to a very glaring loophole which was abused during the very first so called "constructive vote of no confidence" in 1972. The SPD-FDP coalition, who had lost their majority due to some of its members defecting over foreign policy[[note]]The Brandt government had basically acknowledged the Oder-Neisse line as the final eastern border of Germany post-reunification for all intents and purposes, which [=MPs=] born east of that line tended to take issue with[[/note]] decided that how many votes ''their'' candidate got was utterly irrelevant, the relevant thing was how many votes ''the other guy'' got. As long as it was less than half of the members of the ''Bundestag'', Brandt would remain in office. So instead of enforcing which way their [=MPs=] were to vote on a secret vote, which is impossible, they simply said "abstain, or else" but had the government ministers vote to provide "cover" for any members of the [=CDU/CSU=] who would break rank, as ''they'' actually had to get the votes and not just prevent their opposition from getting them. It worked, much to the surprise of everyone involved - allegedly because the East German Stasi had bribed enough members of the [=CDU/CSU=] to flip the result.

* Given the negative experience with the way votes of no confidence had been handled in the Weimar Republic (basically a majority of the ''Reichstag'' could just declare "we don't like the government" and force it to resign without having to actually come up with an alternative proposal for who ''should'' govern. Naturally once Nazis and Communists held a majority together, it was impossible to get anything done in the Reichstag) the new "Basic Law" of West Germany explicitly says that the ''only'' way the Bundestag can get rid of the chancellor is by electing a replacement with a majority ''of its members'' (so none of those "the Communist deputies are unable to attend [[TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch due to having broken both legs, both arms and five ribs in an unfortunate accident all at once]]" shenanigans) in a secret vote. However, this gives rise to a very glaring loophole which was abused during the very first so called "constructive vote of no confidence" in 1972. The SPD-FDP coalition, who had lost their majority due to some of its members defecting over foreign policy[[note]]The Brandt government had basically acknowledged the Oder-Neisse line as the final eastern border of Germany post-reunification for all intents and purposes, which [=MPs=] born east of that line tended to take issue with[[/note]] decided that how many votes ''their'' candidate got was utterly irrelevant, the relevant thing was how many votes ''the other guy'' got. As long as it was less than half of the members of the ''Bundestag'', Brandt would remain in office. So instead of enforcing which way their [=MPs=] were to vote on a secret vote, which is impossible, they simply said "abstain, or else" but had the government ministers vote to provide "cover" for any members of the [=CDU/CSU=] who would break rank, as ''they'' actually had to get the votes and not just prevent their opposition from getting them. It worked, much to the surprise of everyone involved - allegedly because the East German Stasi had bribed enough members of the [=CDU/CSU=] to flip the result.

* A "constitutional crisis" is usually this trope combined with "things the constitution didn't provide for" and an inability to resolve that conflict within the established rules and conventions. Many times however, they are deliberately created by one or more of the involved parties such as the so called "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-elimination_of_the_Austrian_Parliament Self-eleminitation of the Austrian Parliament]]" in which all three presidents of the Parliament resigned within a day and the session was dissolved which the chancellor, already planning on a more authoritarian style of government, took as an excuse to declare the Parliament unable to function (using police under his command to prevent them from meeting again ten days later and resolving the issue). There ''was'' no rule at the time for what to do when Parliament was without Presidents, but virtually everyone these days agrees the "solution" the chancellor chose was a blatantly illegal power grab. These days if Austrian Parliament finds itself without a President able to discharge the duties of their office [[ObviousRulePatch the oldest Member of Parliament steps in]] to discharge the office of President of Parliament ''ad interim'' until a new one can be elected or the original one becomes available again.