Finders Keepers ! with poll

[Tom]

How do you feel about valuable stuff that is found, like a wallet, a car, a dog..

Where there is little or no question about who the original owner is ?

 

[woowoo]

A car?

Hey!
Look at the car I found.....?

 

[Tom]

the question is how you feel about it, not the practicality of following through on those feelings. So i don't see the difference between a car and any other object of value.

 

[ggnl]

If it was really valuable I would probably find out if the owner was an asshole and take action accordingly.

 

[suse920]

not ethical not legal

 

[Anubis]

if i find something like money it just becomes mine, because there really is no way of telling whoes it is,

if i found something like a diamond ring i woudl prob hold onto it and see if anyone started asking if anyone had see/found it, might even take it to the popo

you cant just find a car like that

i votes ethicial and legal

 

[aplefka]

Hahaha how could you just find a car? There's enough paperwork that you could figure out whose it was in a matter of minutes.

As for the dog, after reading the lawyer thing, I'd return it. A really nice cockatiel flew to our house this past year and we kept it, but only after asking all the houses around our block and some of the surrounding blocks.

 

[CptObvious]

As I said in the money bag thread, if you 1) find something that can be tracked back to the owner, 2) make no effort to return it, and 3) intend to keep it, then you meet all the elements to be convicted of theft, both under the common law and Model Penal Code definition. Whether you'll be caught or not is another question.

 

[Tom]

Originally posted by: Anubis
if i find something like money it just becomes mine, because there really is no way of telling whoes it is,

if i found something like a diamond ring i woudl prob hold onto it and see if anyone started asking if anyone had see/found it, might even take it to the popo

you cant just find a car like that

i votes ethicial and legal

Maybe I wasn't clear enough. This poll is about finding stuff when there is no question who lost it. Like a wallet with a drivers license, a dog with a tag, a car with a VIN.

And it isn't about whether it is likely to happen, or easy to get away with keeping it, if a person thought this was the appropriate thing to do.

 

[AmericasTeam]

Originally posted by: Tom

Originally posted by: Anubis
if i find something like money it just becomes mine, because there really is no way of telling whoes it is,

if i found something like a diamond ring i woudl prob hold onto it and see if anyone started asking if anyone had see/found it, might even take it to the popo

you cant just find a car like that

i votes ethicial and legal

Maybe I wasn't clear enough. This poll is about finding stuff when there is no question who lost it. Like a wallet with a drivers license, a dog with a tag, a car with a VIN.

And it isn't about whether it is likely to happen, or easy to get away with keeping it, if a person thought this was the appropriate thing to do.

Then maybe your poll should have been, Are you a thief ? YES or NO.

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

I found two $100 bills on the floor of a 7-Eleven when I was a freshman in HS. They were crisp, looking brand new. They were folded together laying on the floor right in the middle of the walkway in front of the main exit to the store. I picked them up and looked around for who might have dropped them, but I was the only one in the store besides the clerk. The clerk looked at the bills, then at me, then goes something like "lucky!" and kept going about his business of cleaning the little hotdog turner thing. So, being in shock, I walked over to Fred Meyer and bought this brand new soundcard that just hit the market, an Audigy, and a cheap 5.1 surround set of speakers, before I could feel bad about taking the money.

:laugh:

Man, I was retarded.

 

[dullard]

Where is the line?
[*]Found a wallet with ID in a restaurant, keep it.
[*]Found a wallet with ID in a restaurant by a coat, keep it.
[*]Found a wallet with ID in a restaurant in a coat pocket as the coat is unattended, keep it.
[*]Found a wallet with ID in a restaurant in a coat pocket as the coat is off but attended, keep it.
[*]Found a wallet with ID in a restaurant in a coat pocket as the coat was being worn, keep it.

I answer that there is no line, all are theft. But where do you draw the line?

 

[KarenMarie]

Return to owner... it is the right thing to do.

Where no owner can be determined... the stuff is mine.

 

[FoBoT]

if you keep something that doesn't belong to you and it is easy to identify the real owner, you are likely to get sent to prison for theft

or possesion of stolen goods, etc

you can't have other people stuff just because they are too stupid to keep it in their possession

 

[Baked]

All you gotta do when you find something "unattended" is whisper "Anybody lost a 'item you found' and if nobody answers, what you found is yours to keep. No guilt trip.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Originally posted by: woowoo
A car?

Hey!
Look at the car I found.....?

I found about 30 yesterday and tried to keep them. Then the Porsche dealer threw me off the lot

 

[Demon-Xanth]

If it's worth a signifigant value, or it can be identifiably determined who the owner is, then it should be returned. A wallet for example usually has some form of ID in it. It should be returned regardless of contents. If someone drops $5 in a crowded place, then it's finders keepers because it can't be conclusively identified to an owner, and it's likely that someone who isn't would try to claim it.