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Buy a lost and found iPad?

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Orange™ said:
Whatever helps you sleep at night. Karma will present itself in due time.
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leomac08 said:
Karma comes in many forms such as being crapped on by birds, car accidents, tree falling on your car, your LCD TV randomly falling on the ground, getting hit by a foul ball on an astros game with your girlfriend. :D
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Behavior really shouldn't be contingent on fear of the potential retribution visited upon the amoral by the universe; should come from a personal desire to do that which is right for it's own sake.

Additionally the OP was expressing his opinion that most people who espouse virtue would most likely fall short in the dark quiet times when no one is looking. Such cynicism aside, I believe the OP has expressed his thoughts on the matter and is ready to ponder other moral and ethical concerns.

Cheers,
 
Ipad Tied to Owner

How about this logic. The Ipad is not abandoned since it is, or was, still is connected to it's owner in more than one way. It would have been simple to determine who the owner is and offer it back, (the Apple Store could help with this). Certainly a reward would have been in the offing.

Let's see the most meaningful reward might just be, "thanks for finding me and returning my $800 investment". You would be happy for having done the right thing and the owner would be happy because he just met an honest person.

Seems simple enough but it is a sad commentary that your friend didn't understand what rewards really mean.

Maybe next time?
 
saccento said:
I honestly don't think any of you here would do it. What if you buy a stolen/lost&found iPhone or iPad or anything in that matter on eBay, and find out it was stolen? Happens all the time.
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I know this will make me unpopular, but I agree with you. Seems like a lot of posters here are trying to show off their incorruptible ethics. I consider myself a good person. I would absolutely turn in a wallet or iPad I found on the street. I would also tell someone else who found it that they should do the same. However, I would not hound someone over it, or seize it from them to give it to the proper authorities. And I certainly wouldn't call the police on a co-worker, not even if I didn't like him.

Personally I wouldn't buy it from him, but I wouldn't think poorly of someone who did. If he is intent on selling it and straight-out refused to contact Apple, what is the difference between you buying it and someone else. None; except that you would know where it came from. All guilt from the transaction would belong to the seller. Who would expect you to buy it for $400 and then hope the owner will reimburse you and not press charges that you are trying to extort money from him to return his property?


Orange™;10845063 said:
Whatever helps you sleep at night. Karma will present itself in due time.
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Karma is a two-edged sword. What about the karma of the person who lost the iPad. Maybe he was a douche or a rapist. Perhaps the OP has been such an awesome guy that the universe decided to award him with a cheap iPad.
 
HelveticaNeue said:
I know this will make me unpopular, but I agree with you. Seems like a lot of posters here are trying to show off their incorruptible ethics. I consider myself a good person. I would absolutely turn in a wallet or iPad I found on the street. I would also tell someone else who found it that they should do the same. However, I would not hound someone over it, or seize it from them to give it to the proper authorities. And I certainly wouldn't call the police on a co-worker, not even if I didn't like him.

Personally I wouldn't buy it from him, but I wouldn't think poorly of someone who did. If he is intent on selling it and straight-out refused to contact Apple, what is the difference between you buying it and someone else. None; except that you would know where it came from. All guilt from the transaction would belong to the seller. Who would expect you to buy it for $400 and then hope the owner will reimburse you and not press charges that you are trying to extort money from him to return his property?
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Wow finally someone being realistic and honest. Unlike everyone else that's been posting. Thanks
 
saccento said:
thanks for the info guys. although I don't know how it would be considered stealing if he found the damn thing.
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Probably has something to do with the fact that he didn't pay for it.

saccento said:
Wow finally someone being realistic and honest. Unlike everyone else that's been posting. Thanks
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I think it has more to do with the fact that some people (I know they are getting hard to find) are actually honest people.

Your friend is obviously not one of these people. I hope he gets arrested.
 
msduncan said:
Your friend is obviously not one of these people. I hope he gets arrested.
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You know, you're ridiculous. I hope you get arrested for bringing home a pen from work, since you're so moral. People don't get arrested for finding and keeping stupid gadgets, get over it.
 
likemyorbs said:
You know, you're ridiculous. I hope you get arrested for bringing home a pen from work, since you're so moral. People don't get arrested for finding and keeping stupid gadgets, get over it.
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A pen? A stupid gadget? This thing costs north of $700. If you "find" a clunker car worth $700 on the side of the road and drive it home, you will go to prison for grand theft auto. How does it being an iPad make this any different?

If you find a credit card on the ground and buy a coke with it... you will go to jail.

Both of these items have account or VIN numbers that associates them with their owners. The iPad has a serial number that does the same. This is theft, not finder keepers. How old are you two anyway? This isn't the playground in school anymore...
 
msduncan said:
A pen? A stupid gadget? This thing costs north of $700. If you "find" a clunker car worth $700 on the side of the road and drive it home, you will go to prison for grand theft auto. How does it being an iPad make this any different?
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Simple, actually you just answered your own question. There's different laws regarding theft of automobiles that make it different, and you can't really "find" a car. So if i find a first gen iPod touch at the gym, which is work maybe $75, and i decide to keep it and use it, i should be arrested? Where's the cut off line?
 
I think maybe this thread should be closed. All that could be said has been said. The OP isn't buying it. The OP didn't find or steal it. All we are left with is kindling to start a flame war.
 
likemyorbs said:
Simple, actually you just answered your own question. There's different laws regarding theft of automobiles that make it different, and you can't really "find" a car. So if i find a first gen iPod touch at the gym, which is work maybe $75, and i decide to keep it and use it, i should be arrested? Where's the cut off line?
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It's worth a lot of money, and it can be traced to the owner. The traced to the owner part is where it becomes stealing in my book. Deliberately 1) not turning it in or 2) not making an attempt to locate the owner via information on the device or tracking via Serial Number from the Apple Store.

It's theft. And if you want to get technical with me on the automobiles part -- let's just call it Grand Theft then. Most states define Grand Theft as valuables over somewhere around $500 in value.
 
Give your friend $50 for a finders fee & contact the owner thru' whatever means available.
Explain that you paid the $50 to retrieve the $800 unit & ask for reimbursement. I'll bet you get it no questions asked.

My own question is, if it's a 3G unit, can it ever be connected to a phone service or to iTunes without exposing it's unit #?
 
These are the situations where I think Apple should be operating a "Lost & Found" window.

Not for people to report something "Lost/Stolen", but a place for the finders to allow Apple to alert the registered owner through email/phone that their equipment has been found.

---

Understandable that most companies don't want to tread into the legal mire of operating a Lost/Stolen database since fraudulent entries can cause problems. Which is why most companies only act on warrants and filed police reports.
 
My biggest problem with this is that even if one person does the right thing...it won't necessarily matter. So you are saying that apple should be contacted since they have the users information. So this means that either a.) apple has to give you this persons private information so you can contact them (which i don't think they legally can) or b.) you can give the iPad back to apple and assume that whoever you give it to is going to do the right thing. c.) turn it into the police and hope whoever you turn it into does the right thing.

Personally I don't trust people...not the apple people...not the police...and just because you turn something over to them does not mean it is going to end up in the hands of the rightful owner.

Chances are that unless the owner is looking extremely hard for it that even if turned over to the proper authorities it would get lost in the shuffle. Even if the owner is looking for it...chances are still that it will get lost unless they can track it down themselves through mobileme...which since it was already wiped I don't think is possible....but with apple's inability to get involved...i just don't see the original owner getting back their ipad even if the effort is made to return it.
 
likemyorbs said:
Yeah i think thats pushing it a little. I don't think he should buy it, but its also none of his business to call the police. If i find something and decide to keep it, even if that might be wrong, i definitely wouldn't expect a friend to call the police on me. I'd never speak to them again, people just need to mind their own business sometimes.
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It depends on the type or world you want to live in and the type of people you want to surround yourself with. Personally, I don't surround myself with dishonest people who would take advantage of other people's misfortunes. I guarantee that every single one of my friends would attempt to return a lost cell phone or other such item if they found one. Anyone who wouldn't simply isn't worth having as a friend.
 
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