Is it legal for others to dig through your trash?

[Siddhartha]

nevermind

 

[PaperclipGod]

if not razorblades, how about a bunch of mousetraps?

 

[Cogman]

"They would sue and win." No they wouldn't. For one, like you said the trash is public domain, and if you decide to put razors and crap in the trash and put it outside, and they go digging though it, it is their own fault, and they where injured by city property anyways, so sueing you is not viable. Also unless there is some city ordanace agenst throwing away sharp objects, it is perfectly legel to put them in you trash and claim you where just disposing of them. If you where sued, it would be a pretty weak case at most.

 

[AlmostFunny]

Originally posted by: Cogman
"They would sue and win." No they wouldn't. For one, like you said the trash is public domain, and if you decide to put razors and crap in the trash and put it outside, and they go digging though it, it is their own fault, and they where injured by city property anyways, so sueing you is not viable. Also unless there is some city ordanace agenst throwing away sharp objects, it is perfectly legel to put them in you trash and claim you where just disposing of them. If you where sued, it would be a pretty weak case at most.

Damn Beat me to it...

 

[NogginBoink]

Originally posted by: Amused
Never throw out anything you wouldn't want someone else to find. This is why you always use a shredder.

Exactly. The first thing I thought of when I saw this thread was identity theft.

Definitely order your credit reports a month from now, or call the credit bureaus now and put a fraud alert on your account.

 

[Jzero]

There was a great case not too long ago.
It was about a policewoman who was being investigated internally, and they were going through her trash.
When she found out and complained, the police commissioner, mayor, and a few others declared that it was perfectly legal - trash on the curb is "public" and anyone can go through it and take what they please.

So a local news reporter started going through the mayor's and commissioner's garbage and publishing the contents.

When the police commissioner ordered him to stop, I bet you can imagine the response the reporter gave him 🙂

Wish I had a link to that...

 

[DT4K]

Originally posted by: LordJezo

Originally posted by: AndrewR
I think the rusty razor blades idea is a good lesson.

No it isn't.


They will sue you and win if they get injured.

I wouldn't suggest it either.
But as far as I know, there is nothing illegal about throwing away razor blades in your trash.

 

[DT4K]

Originally posted by: Jzero
There was a great case not too long ago.
It was about a policewoman who was being investigated internally, and they were going through her trash.
When she found out and complained, the police commissioner, mayor, and a few others declared that it was perfectly legal - trash on the curb is "public" and anyone can go through it and take what they please.

So a local news reporter started going through the mayor's and commissioner's garbage and publishing the contents.

When the police commissioner ordered him to stop, I bet you can imagine the response the reporter gave him 🙂

Wish I had a link to that...

Oregon?

A local radio talk show host was talking about this a couple of months ago.

 

[Spamela]

we throw our catbox contents on top of it
to discourage all but the most determined treasure hunters.

 

[ucvb6]

what does your trash contain? what i mean is, are you throwing away paid bill statements? credit card applications? diggin through someone's trash is probably one of the easiest ways that a person can find personal information on you and can potentially lead to identity theft.

My sister got her identity stolen, somone meathead started creating credit cards in her name, etc, even set up a business in her name, i guess so thye could have merchandise shipped to that address.

I have learned my lesson, i invested in a paper shredder and shred all papers containing personal information before throwing it out.

just my 2 cents

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: Jzero
There was a great case not too long ago.
It was about a policewoman who was being investigated internally, and they were going through her trash.
When she found out and complained, the police commissioner, mayor, and a few others declared that it was perfectly legal - trash on the curb is "public" and anyone can go through it and take what they please.

So a local news reporter started going through the mayor's and commissioner's garbage and publishing the contents.

When the police commissioner ordered him to stop, I bet you can imagine the response the reporter gave him 🙂

Wish I had a link to that...

This was in Portland about a year ago, IIRC. The newspaper was the Willamette Week, a free liberal weekly. I read the article when it came out. The reporter went through the Mayor's (Vera Katz the bitch), police chief's (recently ousted Mark Kroeker), and DA's (Michael Schrunk) garbages.
The Mayor's response was the most humorous, she threatened to sue the Willamette Week. The DA actually laughed it all off.
The case against the police officer was dismissed in federal court as a 4th Amendment violation. Despite the past Supreme Court finding, this issue is still hotly contested. The current legal guideline is that your trash has not actually been abandoned by you when you put it out to the curb, but placed there by you for a specific purpose, and so it is not in the public domain. The difficult part of the issue is that the government has a two-fold mission within itself. One aspect of government would love to search everyone's garbage, but another recognizes that respect of the public trust is imperative in order to encourage proper sanitation habits amongst the people.

edit: btw, most cities have ordinances against scavengers going through your garbage... usually they are looking for deposit cans. Check with your city.

 

[minendo]

Originally posted by: LordJezo

Originally posted by: AndrewR
I think the rusty razor blades idea is a good lesson.

No it isn't.


They will sue you and win if they get injured.

How am I supposed to dispose of my old razors? Keep them in a box so some asshat trash digger does not get cut and sue?

 

[Ryan]

The only time it's "legal" is if they're digging in your trash that you've left out by the curb for the trashman to pickup - the presumption is that you're "officially" giving the trash up, If it's not by the curb, then it's illegal. Of course though, the laws very from state to state.

 

[thatsright]

It wouldn't seem so??

But I think if you live down in Texas can actually shoot anyone in the ass if they are on your property. So if you want..............

 

[CPA]

Originally posted by: LordJezo

Originally posted by: AndrewR
I think the rusty razor blades idea is a good lesson.

No it isn't.


They will sue you and win if they get injured.

How could they prove you intentially put them there to injure. And if it's public domain, it is no longer his trash.

Your logic would imply that I could never throw away a razor.