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Trashpicking: Theft or Not?

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Originally posted by: BigJ
Originally posted by: scorpmatt
Originally posted by: BigJ
Originally posted by: scorpmatt
Originally posted by: BigJ
Originally posted by: scorpmatt
Originally posted by: BigJ
Originally posted by: scorpmatt
Does this bear the question of, is your fridge running?
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NO!

😀
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Then how, may i ask, are you keeping you food cold?
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Liquid Nitrogen
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so if you keep the food in a container with said liquid nitrogen, isn't that techinally your fridge?
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No, it's my liquid nitrogen food cooling unit.
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is it running?
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No, it just kind of sits there all day long.
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Next to the trash can on the curb eh? As soon as I find that curb, that beast is mine I tell you!
 
heh no its not thieft.


I usually hit the Dorms the day they leave. They always throw away nice stuff. Its kinda amazing.

 
In a court decision (which I believe was upheld all the way to the Supreme Court), anyone can take your garbage after you leave it on the curb. Some detectives busted a drug dealer after sifting through his trash for needles, etc. (without a warrant) and used them as evidence, which stuck in court.
 
You've got to be careful. There's another side to this that hasn't been explored yet. There are criminals who will trash pick in order to find old credit card offers and bank statements that weren't shredded. They'll use these to take part in identity theft and rip people off! That aspect of trashpicking I do consider a crime. So, while I'm cool with people taking stuff I leave out on the curb I definitely do NOT want people rumaging around in my garbage cans looking for ID info to steal.
 
Originally posted by: TheLonelyPhoenix
In a court decision (which I believe was upheld all the way to the Supreme Court), anyone can take your garbage after you leave it on the curb. Some detectives busted a drug dealer after sifting through his trash for needles, etc. (without a warrant) and used them as evidence, which stuck in court.
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Well we know what the Supreme Court has decided, but Jzero would like to see what the general opinion of the AT community is in regard to this.
 
For things like a fridge, chair, etc. no. We are the proud and recent new owners of a fake potted plant through this approach.
 
Originally posted by: icepik
You've got to be careful. There's another side to this that hasn't been explored yet. There are criminals who will trash pick in order to find old credit card offers and bank statements that weren't shredded. They'll use these to take part in identity theft and rip people off! That aspect of trashpicking I do consider a crime. So, while I'm cool with people taking stuff I leave out on the curb I definitely do NOT want people rumaging around in my garbage cans looking for ID info to steal.
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Identity theft != Dumpster diving.
 
Originally posted by: Skoorb
For things like a fridge, chair, etc. no. We are the proud and recent new owners of a fake potted plant through this approach.
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Im curious, does your plant sit around thinking, "oh no, not again"?
 
Originally posted by: icepik
You've got to be careful. There's another side to this that hasn't been explored yet. There are criminals who will trash pick in order to find old credit card offers and bank statements that weren't shredded. They'll use these to take part in identity theft and rip people off! That aspect of trashpicking I do consider a crime. So, while I'm cool with people taking stuff I leave out on the curb I definitely do NOT want people rumaging around in my garbage cans looking for ID info to steal.
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No, because simply taking this stuff out of the trash is not a crime. Just like simply possessing a weapon under the proper restrictions of the law is not a crime either.

Actually using it and participating in Fraud and Identity Theft is a crime and wrong. Just like using the weapon to commit a crime is wrong.

If you're too lazy to take the proper measures to protect your identity with a simple $40 cross-cut shredder, then that's your problem.
 
see california vs. greenwood; check www.findlaw.com
Trash is public when it hits curbside, so it's free for anyone to come by and take and look through your trash, credit card bills and all. Sometimes police have the garbage man do a special collection just for them.
 
You've discarded said fridge when you put it on the curb. You're giving it to anyone who will take it, which in this case, would be the garbage men.

If they took it and destroyed it, would you charge them for destruction of private property? 😵
 
I heard somewhere that investigators rummage through the trash to gather information on suspects before a search warrant could be issued, because once trash is placed on the curb for collection, it becomes a public domain.

If the refuse is a recyclable matter in a recycling company owned dumpster located on private property, it can count as trespassing. Possibly theft if the contract between the recycling company and the client says that ownership right of recyclable matter is transferred to the recycling company.

 
I think it is clearly theft.
The owner's intent is to have the property removed and destroyed, not to have someone take it.
Imagine the refrigerator is actually a garbage bag full of bills and other sensitive paperwork...
 
Originally posted by: shilala
I think it is clearly theft.
The owner's intent is to have the property removed and destroyed, not to have someone take it.
Imagine the refrigerator is actually a garbage bag full of bills and other sensitive paperwork...
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Isn't Garbage a term meaning discarded property? Keyword being discarded.
 
Originally posted by: shilala
I think it is clearly theft.
The owner's intent is to have the property removed and destroyed, not to have someone take it.
Imagine the refrigerator is actually a garbage bag full of bills and other sensitive paperwork...
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That is a completely different situation. I don't think anyone here would be ok with someone taking their bills, but a fridge? Good ridence to the fridge, less sh!t in the land fill.

You really can't equate bills to a fridge.
 
Originally posted by: icepik
You've got to be careful. There's another side to this that hasn't been explored yet. There are criminals who will trash pick in order to find old credit card offers and bank statements that weren't shredded. They'll use these to take part in identity theft and rip people off! That aspect of trashpicking I do consider a crime. So, while I'm cool with people taking stuff I leave out on the curb I definitely do NOT want people rumaging around in my garbage cans looking for ID info to steal.
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officer, i was just trying to be a reponsible citizen and recycle this credit card...

 
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