Dave Rishar
Silver Member
Several scenarios here. Make of them what you will.
1. At the ATM outside of the bank, I find a debit/credit card. It has a name, a CC number, and the security number on the back. It was not signed. The wrong person could conceivably have some fun with that. The bank was open at the time, so I walked in and turned it in to a teller. Was that correct? And before you answer, how do I know that the teller did the right thing with it? Should I have given it to the police? Would they have done the right thing with it? Should I have simply shredded it? Should I have not trusted others and simply tracked that person down myself? What if the bank hadn't been open?
2. At a park, I pulled a dog tag with the owner's name, phone number, and address. This is personally identifiable information and I didn't feel comfortable throwing it in the trash, so I phoned the owner as I was shutting things down for the day. She lived only a few blocks from the park and it was no hardship to swing by there on my way home. She wanted the tag, so I dropped it off. Was it my responsibility to contact the owner? Should I have gone to a responsible authority instead? What if the owner had been a few towns away? Was I morally obligated to make this my problem?
3. At another park, I pulled a ring worth some money. There were no identifying marks. I kept it, and it's currently in my ring display box. Is this wrong? If not, would it be wrong if there were identifying characteristics? If there were identifying characteristics and I wanted to track the owner down, what would constitute due diligence, morally if not legally? To date, I have not sold a ring and I'm not sure that I ever would. By recovering a potentially valuable ring that can't be easily attributed to an owner and keeping it instead of selling it, am I profiting by it?
There are lots of gray areas here. Identifying characteristics make the choice easier for me, but sometimes I think that it's not quite that simple.
1. At the ATM outside of the bank, I find a debit/credit card. It has a name, a CC number, and the security number on the back. It was not signed. The wrong person could conceivably have some fun with that. The bank was open at the time, so I walked in and turned it in to a teller. Was that correct? And before you answer, how do I know that the teller did the right thing with it? Should I have given it to the police? Would they have done the right thing with it? Should I have simply shredded it? Should I have not trusted others and simply tracked that person down myself? What if the bank hadn't been open?
2. At a park, I pulled a dog tag with the owner's name, phone number, and address. This is personally identifiable information and I didn't feel comfortable throwing it in the trash, so I phoned the owner as I was shutting things down for the day. She lived only a few blocks from the park and it was no hardship to swing by there on my way home. She wanted the tag, so I dropped it off. Was it my responsibility to contact the owner? Should I have gone to a responsible authority instead? What if the owner had been a few towns away? Was I morally obligated to make this my problem?
3. At another park, I pulled a ring worth some money. There were no identifying marks. I kept it, and it's currently in my ring display box. Is this wrong? If not, would it be wrong if there were identifying characteristics? If there were identifying characteristics and I wanted to track the owner down, what would constitute due diligence, morally if not legally? To date, I have not sold a ring and I'm not sure that I ever would. By recovering a potentially valuable ring that can't be easily attributed to an owner and keeping it instead of selling it, am I profiting by it?
There are lots of gray areas here. Identifying characteristics make the choice easier for me, but sometimes I think that it's not quite that simple.